I appreciate the shorter middle grade stories, those that meet the needs of 3rd/4th grade, but I just couldn’t find myself thoroughly enjoying this story. As someone who is adopted it was definitely an odd way of introducing it, but it did have great family connection portrayed. For my struggling readers needing a shorter realistic fiction story, this would serve those needs. Especially if they’re a Patricia reader.

I was really looking at that author when I requested this book; I tried to listen to the auto narrator, but just couldn't keep with it.

This is story of what it means to be a family and how we become a family. The Characters in the book well developed.. For a small story it had a strong message

I thought that this book was so, so sweet. I think that this story is one that shows that love is beyond just the blood that flows in our veins. I was a little confused honestly by the story in the sense that I felt that a lot of the stuff that happened didn't seem all that plausible? I do recognize that I am a bit older than the intended audience, but I did find myself enjoying the story more for the character relationships rather than the story itself. I think that the pacing at time felt to be too slow, and just overall the story while it was short and sweet didn't always feel that way. I just feel like this was missing something.

This was an interesting story about adoption and family. When Birdy's mother decides to get a DNA test, Birdy spits into the tube; too. And when the results come back, it turns out that Birdy is not related to Nora and Ben.

This book kept me reading and interested in the story, and I grew attached to Birdy as a character.
All in all, I liked this book, though I felt it was a bit slow at times and the writing could have "shown" more instead of "told". The children refer to their parents as "mother" and "father", which feels outdated.

Patricia MacLachlan has a talent for writing books about topics important to kids. In A Secret Shared, twin siblings Nora and Ben discover that their beloved little sister Birdy was adopted. They feel betrayed by their parents, who have kept this a secret all of Birdy's life. The story also shows the transformation of their mother into someone more emotionally open as her secrets are revealed. This is a short book, yet we get to know each member of this family and can appreciate the family dynamics. This is a terrific short novel (160 pages) for children ready to begin reading standalone novels about real-life topics - 3rd grade is probably the sweet spot, but I'd recommend for 2nd-5th grade readers.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audio arc!

A Shared Secret is a middle grade story about twins Nora and Ben and their younger sister Birdy. Through the results of a DNA test, Ben and Nora realize that Birdy does not share the same ancestry as their parents, and they begin uncovering the secrets their parents have been hiding.

So I read MacLachlan's Sarah, Plain and Tall when I was in elementary school, and that kind of story was my jam as a kid who loved historical fiction. Reading this book, I felt like MacLachlan does not feel comfortable writing in a contemporary setting. Nora refers to her mom and dad as Mother and Father, which definitely sticks out as antiquated and unnatural. There's also an outdated method of storytelling where the narration is basically "We did this. Then we did this. We went to this place. We felt this way," which you could also call the tell instead of show approach. As someone who reads a lot of contemporary middle grade with younger authors, the writing in this book is pretty bland and uncreative.

Having conversations with kids about adoption is absolutely important to depict in middle grade novels especially, and that was the most redeeming aspect of this story for me. This book is just over one hundred pages, though, and that doesn't feel like enough time to establish the characters and relationships that feel authentic. It also drove me crazy that Ben and Nora are at least three years older than Birdy, and they never questioned why their mom wasn't pregnant before Birdy appeared in their lives. Yeah, three-year-olds don't understand the mechanics of pregnancy, but they can understand that a mom has a baby in her belly before the baby is born. I've hung around enough toddlers to know that they grasp that concept, so it's very weird to me that Ben and Nora never questioned why they suddenly had a baby sister without their mom being pregnant.

Another thing that bothered me personally were the mom's "columns" for the newspaper. Her job is a columnist, and her columns are just a series of questions that people answer...it doesn't seem like she synthesizes those answers and writes a reflection as a column; she just asks people to submit answers and then moves to writing very average poetry at the end of the book.

With the lack of developed and interesting characters and a writing style that is super out-of-date, I personally did not enjoy this, and I would honestly not recommend it. I'm sure there are other stories that are sharing the same messages that MacLachlan is conveying in a more interesting and technically better way.

In this audiobook by Patricia MacLachlan, when a family sends away their DNA samples, the older children learn the secret that their younger sister is not related to them. I was not a big fan of this book for several reason. To start with, the premise that the mother was sending away everyone's spit for DNA analysis so she could write an article was very tenuous at best. Also, although not stated in the book, the younger sister looks 4 years old on the cover but acts like 8 going on 80 in the book. The whole family was so saccharine sweet and unrealistic to me. Finally, nothing really happens in the book. There is no action. For these reasons I gave it a 3, but it could honestly be 2.5.

Thank you NetGalley, HarperAudio, and HarperKids for the gifted book!

This is a slow and reflective, family centric middle grade novel. It all starts when the mom of the family takes a DNA test and Birdy, the baby of the family, spits in a tube too. When the results come back, it seems that Birdy is not biologically related to the rest of the family. This secret causes Nora and Ben (the twins and older siblings) to evaluate what matters and what this means for their family. Something about the way this story was told held me back from really connecting. I felt like it was done and I was still missing being fully invested in the story.

This is a sweet middle grade about adoption. I don't know that I'd say I liked it, but it wasn't bad either, I just didn't vibe with it. It felt very stilted and strange. Maybe with a little more length it could've been a memorable book but at this point, I read it a few days ago and forgot everyone's name already.

This book was a quick sweet read, but there were many logical plot holes. I tried my best to put myself in the mindset of a young reader to imagine if the plot holes would go over their heads. Unfortunately, I think some of them would cause even the younger readers to have some questions and confusions (spoilers below for my biggest example of this). Despite the plot holes, this had a sweet message for kids and was a heartwarming read. Not the best middle grade book, but worth the read.

SPOILERS AHEAD:
My biggest plot hole hangup was the fact that the older siblings did not know that their younger sibling was adopted. There was enough of an age difference that the older siblings would have been of an age to remember a baby coming home without their mom having been pregnant. No, young readers may not know how and where babies come from, but as someone who works with children as young as four, they definitely understand that “mommies have babies in their bellies.” This just made the whole book unbelievable and therefore the emotional impact harder to click.

I loved listening to this with my younger cousins! It was the perfect book for our 2 hour road trip to the beach. They loved it and so did I! Highly recommend for young ones

Thanks to the publisher for an e-ARC of this novel.

A fan of Patricia Maclachlan, I was looking forward to this one. The story of twin siblings who discover their beloved little sister is adopted, this novel was fine. It was one that was short and sweet, but almost too short. It didn't develop the story enough for me, and as a reader, I am one who often feels the story is too long. Finding it was too short, was almost a shock.

I listened to the audio and it left much to be desired. The story was good easy to follow and well written the audio on the other hand was monotone and I found myself drifting in and out of awareness because the voice had no inflection. I was insuccient overall neither good nor bad.

I listened to this with my kids who both really enjoyed it. We all agreed that a couple of the plot points required suspending some belief. But, all in all, this was a cute story of family love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

This is a very sweet audiobook centered on adoption and secrets. While tidy endings, easily solved dramas, and some suspension of disbelief are essential in most pieces of children's literature, this one requires more faith from the reader than most examples of targeted contemporary realistic fiction.

I really enjoy the exploration of good and bad secrets as well as family structures here, but I do wish there were a bit more complexity, even relative to the target audience.

Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to review this audiobook. A very easy read for juveniles when it comes to adoption, secrets and mystery. Great story!