My Life Begins!
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the celebrated author of Sarah, Plain and Tall, Patricia MacLachlan, comes another humorous and poignant early middle grade novel. My Life Begins! explores how life begins for Jacob when his triplet sisters are born, and how siblings get to know each other as time, and love, evolve.
Jacob is nine years old when his life changes.
He wants a litter of puppies. But instead his parents have a different surprise. Jacob will be an older brother soon. And there won’t be only one new baby. There will be three! When the triplets are born, Jacob thinks puppies are cuter. The babies look identical to him and he gives them a name: “the Trips.”
For a school science project, Jacob decides to study the Trips. It feels like magic as they begin to smile, talk, and grow. Slowly, he gets to know each of them. They call his mother “Mama” and his father “Da.” But what will they call him? One day, one of the Trips calls him “Jay.”
As each of the triplets become unique and more special with each day, Jacob starts to wonder if “the Trips” is still a good name for them. They aren’t puppies, or a bunch of bananas, and they aren’t just “the Trips” anymore. What should he call them that will show what they mean to him? Can he figure out their “forever name?” And will he ever get a puppy?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An only child until the age of nine, Jacob Black views his solitary baby picture on the living room wall as "lonely" and wishes for a litter of puppies, like his friend Bella has. Instead, he gets a "litter of Trips," as he affectionately calls his new baby sisters, triplets Charlotte, Katherine, and Elizabeth. Late Newbery Medalist MacLachlan's slender, resonant novel traces Jacob's adjustment to life as an older brother in his own calm and reasonable, often questioning, voice as well as in his documentation of the Trips' growth (unnaturally swift—they crawl and drink juice out of sippy cups within months) for a school research project. MacLachlan's understated language is effective and evocative, the characters consistently thoughtful and kind. The conflict-free story takes measured steps through Jacob's small inner discoveries, his formation of a new identity as older sibling, and his growing relationships with each of his sisters. Miyares's (Big and Small and In-Between) inky, sketchlike b&w art enhances the book's tender tone. Characters present as racially ambiguous. Ages 8–12. Author's agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content.
