The Vine: September 10, 2014
Hey, Nation. Sarah here; let’s find a kids’ book.
I read it in the early ’80s; I don’t think it came out much before that. It was a chapter book. The cover may have been chalkboard green with stick figures on it. The protagonist is a grade-school girl, and her parents are expecting another child — but the child dies, either in utero or shortly after birth. The mom then gets pregnant again, with triplets, and the story follows the family through the first year (could be longer) of craziness with three new babies in the house.
The protagonist’s grandmother comes to live with the family, I believe, but where I run into trouble, actually, is that I’m afraid I’m conflating two different books (I keep remembering that the grandmother dies, but I do think that’s a second book entirely — and the miscarriage/stillbirth could also be a different book).
Not that I wouldn’t reread them both! But I’m definitely looking for a book in which a second-grader-ish-aged girl gets triplet siblings, and I may also be looking for a book in which a girl’s grandmother (whom she calls “Gramma”; I distinctly remember being annoyed by the alternate spelling) comes to live with them and then passes away.
I could probably chase this down via Google but my initial attempts have turned up some somewhat disturbing news stories involving house fires, so I’d like to turn it over to you in the hopes that we can find it/them without having to wade through quite so much real-life horror.
Thanks in advance,
SDB
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
“Dorrie’s Book” is the name of the book. Marilyn Sachs is the author. As I recall, the mother actually had a miscarriage before Dorrie was born, and when the triplets are born, they reuse the name they were going to use for Dorrie’s older brother and she gets upset. I don’t remember the grandmother, though I remember Dorrie writes this ridiculous fake ending to the book where she solves a murder and gets adopted by a police detective. And “Dorrie” is short for “Pandora,” I think.
This rings the faintest of bells for me, but I couldn’t pull it out of my brain. However, I tried a search for “triplets” on What Was That Book? and got “Dorrie’s Book” by Marilyn Sachs (http://marilynsachs.com/IMAGES/booksGallery/pages/dorriesBook.html). Not sure if it covers the grandmother angle, but the basic plot seems close and the green cover is school-room-ish if not chalkboard-ish exactly.
I think the triplets book is “Dorrie’s Book” by Marilyn Sachs. I don’t remember the earlier deceased sibling but I definitely remember the baby triplets and the cover looked like pen and ink stick figure drawings.
Is it Dorrie’s Book by Marilyn Sachs?
http://www.amazon.com/Dorries-Book-Marilyn-Sachs/dp/0380761394
I think the triplets book IS “Dorrie’s Book.” And I think the Gramma book is a separate one. She has her own room, I believe, and the heroine goes in it after she’s died and it’s very sad; I remember loving that that grandmother could live with their family but then also being STRICKEN when she passed, and I would reread the first part and then stop.
Could the other book be The Rose Beyond the Wall by Kristi Holl?
@Sol, I don’t think that’s it because it’s not spelled “Gramma” — and I would have read this in early grade school, so an ’88 pub date is too late. Thanks for looking, though!
I vaguely remember reading a book when I was young where the grandmother came to live with the family, and the daughter was mad that the grandmother used her shampoo. I don’t remember if the grandmother dies, though. I wonder if that’s the same book.
I’m still looking for this one. I don’t remember the shampoo part but maybe?