This review pertains to the 2003 hardcover edition.This first-person narrative is about twelve-year-old Annabel, a Manhattan pre-teen navigating radical changes in her family. Her parents, Jack and Angelina, divorced following a rocky marriage. Jack moved to Australia to live with his second wife, leaving Annabel in New York with Angelina. Annabel is jealous of her Australian blended family, particularly towards twelve-year-old Lucy. When Annabel has a chance to visit Australia, she envisions ways to get Jack back to the U.S. Determined to dislike everything about the strange new family blend, she and Lucy embark upon a transformative, radical adventure.The cover is very appealing and amusing, showing a family tree of the bazillions of steps, (stepbrothers, and stepsisters) with Annabel in the middle. The narrative is very pleasant, funny, and seems appropriate for the character. There are no excessively bitter, violent, or offensive occurrences. There is one brief scene referencing a change of life. Culturally, there are many opportunities to sample Australian culture. Characters find accents amusing, and terminology confusing at times, e.g. brushing teeth vs. cleaning teeth. Kirkus Reviews suggest an age range of 11-14. The Lexile rating is 860L. For slightly younger readers, Shug (Jenny Han, ISBN: 9781416909439, Lexile 680L) is about a twelve-year-old girl with bickering parents and similar preteen themes. Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan (ISBN: 9780064410441, Lexile 820L) is about a boy sent to live at an unusual home school, featuring similar themes of blending with different families.In a classroom setting, themes related to diversity of families serve as a basis for activities. Students might engage in a quick-write, including definitions, phrases, etc. to define family. Small groups might discuss their ideas, then creating a larger poster for a gallery-walk activity. Groups or individuals then rotate to the posters, adding new ideas. Other themes include jealousy and conflict resolution, and tolerance towards cultural differences.
2003- I first fell in love with Rachel Cohn's writing with her book Gingerbread, which focused on teenagers. This story is focused more on the preteen set. Annabel has quite the confusing family, as demonstrated by the family ""tree"" on the cover, which I thought was a nice touch. During Christmas break, her mother decides she should spend some time with her father, who happens to now be married, have two stepchildren and a new baby with his new wife, and oh yeah, lives in Sydney, Australia. I noticed a lot of similarities between this story and Gingerbread, however, I still thought it was an entertaining read. Annabel is a awesome kid, someone you'd want as your younger sister. I only wish the story had been longer and developed some of the characters a little more fully.
What do You think about The Steps (2004)?
Twelve-year-old Annabel was planning to stay home with her best friend in Nyc for Christmas, but everyhting gets ruined. Her mom decides that she should visit her dad and his " new "family in Australia. Disappointed, she goes and meets "the steps", a twelve-year-old fashion-disaster stepsister,a five-year-old stepbrother, and a baby half sister. She is determined to win her father back with this trip. During this time, she learns more about her other family members and realizes that her dad still loves her even though he is with someone else. She returns back liking her step family more. This book was okay and it had a lot about family issues. People that like family issues should read this. This book was really that interesting though!
—Xiao Yan
A pretty good book for kids about to enter middle school. Annabel is twelve and her parents are divorced. During Christmas vacation, she's leaving her mom and grandmother to travel to visit with her dad and his new family in Australia, and while she's there she finds out that her mom is remarrying the father of her class nerd. Annabel is not happy about any of her new step brothers and sisters, but as the book continues, she figures them out and actually comes to a happy ending. Easy to read, funny and addresses a common issue for many kids.
—Judi Paradis
Annabel is off to Sydney, Australia. This was not her idea and doesn't sound like fun--she had a perfectly lovely winter break planned in New York, thank you very much. But Annabel's dad has remarried and lives in Australia now with his new wife, two kids from her first marriage, and their new baby. Annabel's mission? To bring her dad back to the US where he belongs. With her. Of course, it doesn't end that way and we have several heart-warming moments about the meaning of family. On the cover of the edition I read, there was a very helpful family tree because there are a lot of crazy relationships!
—Jennie
