Someone to Love

Claire Rosser

Selected as an ALA Best Book for YAs, 1998, this novel tells the story of an open adoption from an unusual viewpoint: that of the teenage in the adoptive family. Sara has been a rather pampered, only child for 15 years, and when her parents tell her they want to adopt a baby, she pours out her confused feelings in letters to the "Mystery Baby," which become the structure for Sara to tell the story.
Because of the arrangements in the open adoption, the pregnant mother Iris, a teenager herself, becomes involved with Sara's family as they await the birth. Sara befriends Iris, but when things deteriorate the two girls choose the dangerous plan to run away together and raise the baby themselves. They are unrealistic, to say the least, about basics of survival on the street. Sara becomes a much wiser person because of this ill-conceived adventure, and eventually all is resolved as Iris's baby is born and Sara's family becomes the baby's adoptive family. Sara's friendships at school are also a major development in the story, as she learns there, as well, to be more shrewd in sizing up people and situations.
Lantz has told an interesting story, a California story, with an intriguing angle on the mechanics and the meaning of adoption.--Kliatt, May 1998

Santa Barbara News

"....Lantz knows how to put the tensions and problems between teens and parents into words. Sara's emotions have as much validity as those of her parents, not easy in YA fiction." -Santa Barbara News- Press

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

An open adoption sets into motion this overwrought story. Written as a series of letters from 15-year-old Sara to the unborn child her parents are planning to adopt, the novel describes an increasingly tangled scenario. Sara, who wears Question Authority T-shirts and is aggressively vegetarian, has a combative rapport with her parents; when they decide to adopt the child of the unwed, 18-year-old Iris, Sara sets about becoming Iris's friend, even though Sara's parents do not want Iris to play an ongoing role in their lives. Following a fight with her parents, who angrily announce they don't want to adopt the baby after all, Sara runs away with Iris. The tale's credibility slips considerably as the two penniless girls find digs in a seedy section of L.A. and Sara announces she will help Iris raise her child. Sara's narration can be excessively detailed and narrow, and the epistolary format poses a strain, particularly in the upbeat conclusion, where Sara tidily distills her soap-opera-ish adventures into a string of obvious psychological insights. Despite this novel's timely subject, many will find the execution labored. Ages 12-up. (Feb.)

Children's Literature - Gisela Jernigan

When fifteen-year-old Sara, the only child of caring but over-controlling Yuppie parents, hears that her Mom and Dad plan to privately adopt the future baby of Iris, an unwed, teenager, she has very mixed emotions. She uses a journal to the unborn, or "Mystery Baby," to help herself work through these emotions as well as to share the story of the baby's adoption. As this suspenseful young adult novel progresses, we share and understand the increasingly complex concerns and feelings, especially from Sara's point of view, as she defies her parents by befriending Iris and tries to convince her to keep the baby. The author does a good job of presenting current social problems related to adoption, while still telling an entertaining, well-written story, with well-developed characters.

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.