When My Sister Started Kissing

by Helen Frost

Overview

A Boston Globe Best Children's Book of 2017
A 2017 BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
A 2017 New York Public Library Best Book for Kids
A 2017 VOYA Top Shelf Fiction Pick for Middle School Readers
A 2018 NCTE Notable Verse Novel
A 2018 CCBC Choices Book

Claire and Abi have always loved their summers at the lake house, but this year, everything's different. Dad and Pam, their stepmom, are expecting a new baby, and they've cleared out all of Mom's belongings to make room. And last summer, Abi was looking at boys, but this summer, boys are looking back at her. While Abi sneaks around, Claire is left behind to make excuses and cover up for her. Claire doesn't want her family to change, but there doesn't seem to be a way of stopping it. By the end of their time at the house, the two sisters have learned that growing up doesn't have to mean their family growing apart. WHEN MY SISTER STARTED KISSING is Helen Frost's beautiful novel-in-verse about summertime and coming of age.

A Margaret Ferguson Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374303037
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	03/14/2017
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	690L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Helen Frost is the author of several books for young people, including Keesha's House, selected an Honor Book for the Michael L. Printz Award. Helen was born in South Dakota and currently lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with her family.

Editorial Reviews

03/13/2017
In Frost’s contemplative novel in verse, sisters Claire and Abigail have recently gained a stepmother and are soon to have a newborn sibling. Claire, 10, is resistant to these changes and is especially bothered by the growing distance between herself and her older sister, who insists on being called Abi and has “betrayed” her by accepting their stepmother. Last summer, Abi had her first kiss; this summer, she’s torn between two boys. Poems from the perspective of the lake the family has visited for years provide calming, ageless counterpart to the girls’ emotional and immediate concerns. Frost (Applesauce Weather) adeptly uses different poetic forms to differentiate her characters (mostly quatrains for Claire, free verse for Abi), as well as acrostics and concrete verse, lending a sense of movement to poems in which Claire is kayaking. Although both sisters’ perspectives are represented, Claire’s motivations and personality are better established. Readers will easily identify with her efforts to honor her late mother’s memory while accepting her shifting relationships with Abi and her growing affection for the new members of her family. Ages 10–12. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2017
Gr 5–7—Claire, 11, and her older sister Abigail, 13, have always been close. Their mother died when the girls were young, but their father made sure they had a happy childhood. An important part of their family history has been the month they spend each year at their cabin at Heartstone Lake. Although it was the site of their mother's death, Claire and Abigail love it because their mom loved it, and they feel connected to their mother through their shared experiences on the lake. This summer, however, the girls have a new stepmother and a baby brother on the way. When Abigail, now "Abi," starts spending time with a boyfriend rather than with her sister, Claire feels isolated from everyone in her family. The story unfolds in a series of quatrain, free verse, and acrostic poems that present the perspectives of Claire, Abi, and the lake itself. Each new image adds to the last, creating a complete mosaic by the end of the month at the lake. Some of the poems contain both text and a subtext so that readers can decode added meaning through certain words or letters in bold type. Frost, the author of Keesha's House and Salt, uses the verse format effectively, showing the development of each of the characters in brief, well-chosen vignettes. VERDICT An insightful portrayal of a family in transition. For tween readers who appreciate lyrical writing and coming-of-age tales.—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA

School Library Journal

★ 2016-12-06
A young girl and her sister share a pivotal summer at the lake with their family. Following on Applesauce Weather (2016), her recent book for young middle graders, Frost again explores familial intimacy from a number of revealing perspectives. In poems told mostly from 10-year-old Claire's vantage, her 13-year-old sister, Abigail, negotiates her budding adolescence and feelings for two boys at the lake where the white family vacations each summer. Claire marvels at Abigail's transformation into "Abi," the "queen / of Eastside Beach," who's developed a "whole new talking-to-boys voice." Both girls also reckon with the infusion of their new stepmother and a baby on the way into the family dynamic they've known with their father since their mother died suddenly when Claire was an infant. Frost deftly shows the value of openness to compassion and personal growth among parent, child, and sibling, using her mastery of poetic form to subtly introduce differences of voice in the poems of Claire, Abi, and the somewhat omniscient perspective of the lake itself. With her signature formalist touch, Frost plays with acrostics and other forms, occasionally embedding well-known lines of famous poems into her own; notes to these are in the backmatter. Frost pulls out all the stops in this heartwarming tale of family in the remaking: everything a novel-in-poems should be. (Verse fiction. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews

Frost deftly shows the value of openness to compassion and personal growth among parent, child, and sibling, using her mastery of poetic form to subtly introduce differences of voice in the poems of Claire, Abi, and the somewhat omniscient perspective of the lake itself. With her signature formalist touch, Frost plays with acrostics and other forms, occasionally embedding well-known lines of famous poems into her own; notes to these are in the backmatter. Frost pulls out all the stops in this heartwarming tale of family in the remaking: everything a novel-in-poems should be.” —Kirkus, starred review

"Skilled poet Frost employs several different verse forms (explained in an afterword) in poems from the viewpoints of Claire, Abigail, and the lake itself; the result is a pleasing absence of villains and an understanding of the challenges of family change and individual growth. Both Claire and Abigail are sympathetic despite and because of their flaws, and the book is particularly deft at depicting patterns of growth in one accessible step at a time as Claire negotiates her relationship with her brand new half-brother and Abigail tests the limit of her growing maturity . . . [W]hile the poetic element will give the book a place in curricula, the story of summer change and growth will resonate with any kid negotiating adolescence directly or by proxy." —Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, starred review

“Frost, the author of Keesha’s House and Salt, uses the verse format effectively, showing the development of each of the characters in brief, well-chosen vignettes. . .An insightful portrayal of a family in transition. For tween readers who appreciate lyrical writing and coming-of-age tales.” —School Library Journal

From the Publisher