Someone to Love [Paperback]

Francess Lin Lantz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1998

Dear Mystery Baby. . .

So begins a journal written by Sara, addressed to the unborn baby her parents plan to adopt.

Sara, an only child, is already going through a rough time with her over protective, control-freak parents and has mixed feelings about the new sibling. . .

I guess they figure I'm a lost cause so they'll start over. . .Anything that keeps them off my back is a definite plus...

But when fifteen-year-old Sara meets Iris, the pregnant teenager who wants to give her baby up for adoption, Sara becomes totally involved with a new kind of lifestyle. While she lives with all the comforts of a middle-class home, she has to deal with her parents' values and restrictions. Iris is free-living with her fun-loving, bike-riding boyfriend, making jewelry, and coming and going as she pleases. It's a life Sara envies...

There 's so much I can learn from Iris- about leaving home, making it on my own, falling in love, living with a guy. . .

And bit by bit she and Iris become closer, as the gap between Sara and her parents widens...Dear Mystery Baby. . .

So begins a journal written by Sara, addressed to the unborn baby her parents plan to adopt.

Sara, an only child, is already going through a rough time with her over protective, control-freak parents and has mixed feelings about the new sibling. . .

I guess they figure I'm a lost cause so they'll start over. . .Anything that keeps them off my back is a definite plus...

But when fifteen-year-old Sara meets Iris, the pregnant teenager who wants to give her baby up for adoption, Sara becomes totally involved with a new kind of lifestyle. While she lives with all the comforts of a middle-class home, she has to deal with her parents' values and restrictions. Iris is free-living with her fun-loving, bike-riding boyfriend, making jewelry, and coming and going as she pleases. It's a life Sara envies...

There 's so much I can learn from Iris- about leaving home, making it on my own, falling in love, living with a guy. . .

And bit by bit she and Iris become closer, as the gap between Sara and her parents widens...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-10. Sara's parents are adopting an infant, yet to be born. Does this mean she's a "lost cause" and they want to start over with a "new one" ? Not really, but the decision throws the family into an unexpected emotional turmoil. Iris, the unmarried, pregnant, older teen whose baby the Dewhersts plan to adopt, fascinates Sara. Runaway, poor, living with abusive boyfriend Eddie, and with little education and few skills, Iris symbolizes freedom and a certain recklessness that Sara craves in her well-ordered, predictable, upper-middle-class suburban life. She aggressively befriends Iris, encouraging her to be part of her child's life even after the adoption. This increases tension at home to the point that the two girls run off to Los Angeles together, hoping to make it on their own once baby makes three. Sara pours the story out in letters to the unborn child. Obviously a cautionary tale (in which morality supersedes literary quality) about the grim realities of teen pregnancy and the "glamour" of running away and living in danger and poverty, the novel explores all sides of adoption very well, a topic not often covered in recent YA fiction and one that will hook readers. Anne O'Malley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Sara, 15, is the only child of her 40-something parents, who own a successful steak-and-seafood joint on the California coast. A vegetarian who lobbies for all sorts of politically correct causes, Sara finds her parents impossibly self-serving and materialistic. When they announce that they are considering the open adoption of an infant, she doesn't know what to think. Iris, the baby's birth mother, drifts in and out of an abusive relationship, has a dead-end job and no prospects for the future. To Sara, however, Iris represents everything she yearns for- -independence, romance, adulthood. Identifying more and more with her idealized image of Iris, Sara drives an emotional wedge between herself and her parents. The book is written in first person in the form of letters from Sara to her sibling-to-be; the narrative usually captures the conflicted feelings, rebellious tone, and self-righteous attitudes of teenagers. But there are times when Sara is almost a caricature--her blindsided adolescent opinions won't ring true for readers, and the dose of reality that cuts her down to size has the feel of manipulated hysterics. (Fiction. 11- 13) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Flare (February 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380775905
• ISBN-13: 978-0380775903
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,640,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Love of a Family, October 18, 2002

By 

Darrell Traylor (Oxford, MS USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someone to Love (Paperback)

Someone To Love
By: Francess Lantz

This is a fascinating story of a middle class family that wanted to adopt a baby from a poverty stricken unwed mother. This couple had everything to offer a baby. They were strict parents to their fifteen years old daughter Sara. Sara want to adopt Iris baby as much as her parent did but for different reason. She thought if her parents had a baby to look after they would have less time to be in her business. As the story unfolds, the couple's teenage daughter Sara envies the pregnant teenager lifestyle and want to be like her, and Iris wanted to have the life style that Sara had. After overhearing the couple discussing not wanting Iris around, the two girls ran off together. They both realize this was not the thing to do and they need the couple's help to get though the pregnancy and the birth of Iris baby. This is a great story about adoption and the love of a family. This book would be interesting to students in the seventh grade and above. Parents and teacher could use this book to promote the study of social relation, science, art, geography and health.

5.0 out of 5 stars Someone to Love, November 29, 2001

By 

Janet Mata (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someone to Love (Paperback)

In the story "Someone to Love" by Francess Lantz, Sara, on of the main characters who is 15 is an only child. Sara's parents are really strict. Her parents decided that they wanted to adopt a baby. At first Sara feels bad because she thinks that she isn't good enough and thats why her parents want another baby. Later she realizes that maybe that her parents will give all the attention to the baby and they'll stop being so strict. so she agrees with it. Iris is an 18 year old girl who has very little money and is pregnant and decides that giving the baby up for adoption would be the best thing to do. Sara envies the freedom that Iris has and Iris envies the safe home Sara has. This story is written in diary format, Sara isn't writing to her diary, but to the "mystery baby", who is Iris' unborn baby. Even though we only get to hear Saras thoughts, the author still explores all sides of adoption. I would recommend this book to anyone because it keeps you interested and has a vey good plot I rate this book a 5 out of 5.

4.0 out of 5 stars Someone To Love, November 27, 2001

By 

Bela Desai (KC , MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Someone to Love (Paperback)

The book I read was called Someone To Love by Francess Lantz. It's a young adult novel about a girl with odd parents over their decision to adopt a baby, fifteen year old Sara finds herself drawn to the birth mother, who is having second thoughts about giving up her child.
What struck me that is so different about others books I have read is that I always read mystery books and romantic books I have never read a adoption book or a young adult book. None of the books that I read were similar.
" I love being the youngest child why do u have to adopt another child so that baby will take my place thats not fair," said Sara. My reaction compares to this because I am the youngest child and my parents were going to adopt a child but ai told them about my feelings and they understood so we never adopted one so that's how this qoute supports me.
I think this book is not for everyone it could be but I don't think it as to be because this book is about adoption so whoever wants to adopt a baby heres a book you should read. I think this book is great only for those who wants to adopt a baby.