Baby of the Family [Hardcover]

Tina McElroy Ansa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1989

An evocative, delicately comic story of a girl’s coming of age. From the moment of her birth in a rural black hospital in Georgia, Lena McPherson is recognized as a special child, with the power to see ghosts and predict the future. Named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this engaging coming-of-age novel by a new black writer, young Lena McPherson leads a charmed life, secure in her family and in the world Ansa evokes. Born in 1949 in a private blacks-only hospital in rural Georgia, Lena is the third child and longed-for first daughter of Nellie and Jonah, who own the local bar and liquor store. Considered "special" because she was born with a caul, believed to bestow sight into the future, Lena learns as a toddler that her special powers have more to do with the past: she can see and talk with ghosts. Despite her extraordinary talent, Lena is most memorable for the ordinariness of her everyday life. Following Lena's first friendships, her years at school, her observations of her parents' sometimes stormy relationship, her grief at her grandmother's death, Ansa beautifully renders Lena's stable, well-off world. Readers get a view of middle-class black small-town life in the relatively placid mid-century, a time when a grandmother scorns the black families who vacation at the beach, and where a little girl often feels her life is dictated solely by demands that she keep her hair dry and combed. Ansa's thorough and affectionate portrait marks her as a writer of both promise and achievement.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A coming-of-age novel with ethnic and supernatural threads that weave reality with the mystical. Born in Georgia in the late 1950s, Lena McPherson was special at birth--she was born with a caul or veil over her face, indicating the presence of magical and psychic powers. Young adults are sure to relate to Lena as she grows up with her family, her peers, and the other adults who frequent her parents' successful bar and liquor store business. Besides the human characters, Lena also learns to deal with apparitions that only she can see, such as Rachel, a young slave who gives Lena insight into what slavery was like and the emotional effects it had on the individual. Ansa's dialogue is realistic, and her characters are colorful. The supernatural elements are well blended into the novel, adding to the richness of the fiction.
- Krystal K. Irven, Willowridge High School, Sugarland, TX
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 265 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt; 1st edition (October 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 015110431X
• ISBN-13: 978-0151104314
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to take the long route and still not get there., March 14, 2001

By 

Blackworm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baby of the Family (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

BABY OF THE FAMILY read like two seperate novels, and that was a problem for me. The first few chapters dealt with Lena's sixth sense and I was captivated. Then, the book shifted into a coming of age story that took up the majority of the novel. Lena's powers were not addressed anymore until the last three chapters, and by then, I didn't care anymore. Had the novel stayed true to the plot, I am sure it would have been a great read, but because it deviated and didn't jump back on track until the end, the entire novel was a let down.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat Disappointed..., October 18, 2001

By 

Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Baby of the Family (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

I had read so many great things about the author that I decided to check out all her books starting from the beginning with Baby of the Family. Although I think the author did a great job with imagery and detailed description, I was somewhat slightly disappointed with the plot. It started off great - Lena's birth with the veil over her face, visits from ghosts, and the superstitious undertones set the tone for a juicy plot and then NOTHING for the majority of the book. I was so disappointed; the novel had great potential to be so much better.

It went on to become an elongated coming of age story that concentrated on select moments of Lena's adolescence. Interesting characters were sprinkled in the book; but often exited with no closure to their story lines. I actually found myself wanting to know more about other characters, as they were more interesting than the mediocre clips into Lena's teenage years.

I enjoyed the author's style but questioned the delivery of plot. I haven't given up on the author, I hope to jump into Ugly Ways next.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wasn't what I expected, the potential was there but failed, July 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Baby of the Family (Harvest Book) (Paperback)

I liked this book mainly for the realism. The story line was excellent but I felt there could have been more to it. When I read the synopsis before purchasing the book, it made me think there was going to be a whole lot of ghosts, good and bad, and the nurse was going to constantly enforce the importance of the caul and the formula that she had made. But the story read to quickly through everything. Lena's teenage years were no more than a couple of chapter's, her young years in school was recognized only a few times in the novel and a lot of other stuff that should have been included, wasn't. I think it would have been a great story if it had a little more time put into it.