Sister of Quints [Paperback]

Pevsner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1988

Thirteen-year-old Natalie's life undergoes chaotic changes when her stepmother has quintuplets and their roomy Chicago home becomes a huge nursery.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's quite believable that an eighth grader, the stepsister of toddler quintuplets, would have trouble getting her father and stepmother's attention. Natalie wants to be known for herself, not just for her troublesome siblings. She wants to get to know a new boy in town and to excel in soccer, but both goals are waylaid by her ongoing duties at home. And she's still adjusting to her real mother's move from Chicago to Colorado. After the news media makes a big deal of the quints' first birthdays, Natalie's family starts getting threatening phone calls. One of the quints disappears. She is found, but not before Natalie starts thinking of herself and each sibling as individuals. She moves to Colorado. Many issuessibling rivalry, child-custody decisions, young love, mental illness (one of Natalie's friends kidnaps a quint; another is behind the phone calls)are glossed over here; the quints are window-dressing for a fairly standard postdivorce story.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8 Natalie's parents are divorced, her mother has moved to another state, and her dad has remarried and fathered quintuplets. The quints, cute and lovable as they are, drastically interfere with Natalie's social life and her participation in after-school sports. Feeling put out and put upon, Natalie thinks of living with her mother, but changes her mind. Following the kidnapping of one of the quints, though, Natalie realizes how much a mother needs her child and so decides that she should live with her own mother. One of the problems with this novel is that it has too many problems. On top of Natalie's above mentioned troubles, it is her friend who, having lost touch with reality, kidnaps the baby. Each of these situations gets only surface treatment. The characters seem flat, one dimensional, and unrealistic. Natalie often sounds too whiny and self-centered even for a young teen. Both of her parents come across as insensitive and obtuse. The best written part of the book is the last chapter, in which Natalie and her father finally begin to understand each other. A better book for those girls interested in life with quints is the adult nonfiction title Full House: the Story of the Anderson Quintuplets (Little, 1986) by Karen Anderson and Jo Robinson .Elaine Lesh Morgan, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Oreg.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (May 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671659731
• ISBN-13: 978-0671659738
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,547,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting book, March 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sister of the Quints (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book- it's something original. The book is about a young girl named Natalie who is the stepsister of quintuplets. She is dealing with the problems of friends, family, and finding her own identity within a world where she is continuosly labeled the "Sister of the Quints." Any pre-teen girl will enjoy this book, particularly those interested in young children. However, while reading Sister of the Quints, I noticed many frequent spelling errors, as well as punctuation errors. It looks almost as if the author was in a hurry, and the publishing company was VERY sloppy. Reading the book, it can be frustrating to find such obvious spelling errors that could have been prevented with a proof-read. But overlooking all of this, the book was fairly satisfying.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A different sort of YA story..., May 7, 2008

By 

Joanna Mechlinski (CT, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sister of the Quints (Paperback)

When Natalie Wentworth's stepmother became pregnant, no one imagined there might be FIVE babies! Yet now, a year later, the household is chaos as the quintuplets become more active, tearing around the house, scaring away babysitters and causing the family financial worries. It's hard enough being thirteen, but Natalie's getting sick of being a constant second place to her father's *new* children.

She sees a clear solution -- moving to Colorado to live with her mother. After all, Natalie's mother has always wanted her, and it'd be wonderful, just the two of them in a peaceful apartment.

Yet despite her daily irritation, Natalie knows she loves her brothers and sisters, as well as the life she's built with her father and stepmother. How can she just leave the quints? Not only that, but there's her friends at school, as well as a new crush, Noel...

Pevsner does an excellent job, interspersing typical adolescent interests and worries with the unique situation of being "sister of the quints."