Special Delivery

I love the MAIN STREET series. I love the simplicity and innocence of the stories, but they are not by any stretch of the imagination cheesy or weak. This installment was about Aunt Allie's adopting a new baby. Both Flora and Ruby are greatly surprised by this, and also delighted. While Flora narrates some of what happens, this story was told mainly by Ruby. Ruby has a few problems, such as not practicing for the Thanksgiving concert and messing up. She needs to accept responsibility for herself. That was a great side story, along with how all these different characters celebrate Thanksgiving. I especially loved the trip to New York City. I highly recommend these books because of their simplicity and innocence, but also because they are entertaining, too. SPECIAL DELIVERY was another great installment. My fifth grade girls have been picking up these books and have been wanting more. Reviewed by: Marta Morrison

Flora and Ruby have had a life as adventurous as any Charles Dickens hero. Orphaned, they live with their grandmother, Min, in the lovely little town of Camden Falls, Massachusetts. Most of the changes in their young lives have been difficult, but the one that is coming soon will alter their daily existence in a profound way. When Aunt Allie, their mom's sister, comes to visit, the recently single woman explains that she wants to be a mother and has found a way to become one on her own: she is going to adopt a baby who is about to be born prematurely to a young couple. She started the process when she and ex-fiancé Paul were planning their doomed wedding, which ended with Paul leaving Allie on her own. This rather intense and personal declaration is taken in stride by the girls, who are glad that Aunt Allie is "having" a baby. Ann M. Martin's characters, who are filled with so much homespun wisdom and strength, make SPECIAL DELIVERY a grand addition to the Main Street series. Contemporary orphans, especially those who were in the car crash with the parents who died, would be expected to be a little more mature than other kids. But Martin infuses the girls' natural personalities with gentle humor and an understanding that befits children who have persevered through such a difficult experience. The way Flora and Ruby embrace the possibility of their new "cousin" is heartwarming, and Min's affection for the girls and her daughter Allie make the reader know that, no matter how real and fierce the situations may get in their lives, these wonderful characters are safe and well loved. This security helps make the troubling aspects of subsequent events unfold without histrionics and without scaring the reader like so many books do for middle-graders. Martin's sleight of hand and less-than-precious gentility make for appropriate reading matter that girls of all ages can enjoy. The book's chapters are broken down into the mornings and afternoons that make up the days after Aunt Allie's amazing announcement. But the focus of the story is still the children. As the holiday approaches, Ruby finds herself enmeshed in a difficult and emotional situation regarding her solo in chorus, and Flora makes some...interesting new friends. Martin is also able to give the book secondary characters who enrich the story, those with difficult financial matters and serious family dysfunctions that affect them deeply. Clearly, she doesn't shy away from big topics, hitting on such subject matters as adoption, Alzheimer's disease and commitment issues. It is an interesting and mostly successful means of building drama into a story that otherwise could have fluffed over the grown-up particulars of some of the situations. Martin gives the girls an opportunity to learn and grow along with her young readers while enjoying the latest addition to the Main Street series. --- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano

In the eighth of Martin's "Main Street" books, the mystery of Aunt Allie's closet is revealed: if you hadn't guessed it by now, she is planning to adopt a baby. The impending adoption forms a wheel around which all the other activities lie in this Thanksgiving-set entry. Egotistical Ruby, who constantly reminds me of Posy in Ballet Shoes, gets a lion's share of the plot this time around, although it feels like a couple of storylines got dropped in mid-book and never were mentioned again, like Ruby's business to earn money to buy Christmas gifts. I like this series because the adults' problems often figure in as much as the four girls': in this installment, Nikki's mother has some startling news for the family, along with the story about Aunt Allie. If I have any complaint it seems as if the character depth was a little shallower in this story compared to the past ones. I wish Martin had had a few more chapters to flesh out everyone.