Secret Shared

Patricia MacLachlan, a Newbery Medal winner, centers this story on a family whose youngest member is full of surprises. Birdy, the younger sister of Nora and Ben, keeps her private matters to herself. She smuggles a kitten into her room, writes poems, and often catches her family off guard.

One day Birdy watches her mother collect a saliva sample for a home test meant to uncover where the family came from. Birdy, out of sight, collects a sample of her own. When the results arrive, they point to something no one expected: Birdy does not seem to be biologically related to her parents. If she was adopted, how could the children have never known?

Nora and Ben must figure out when keeping a secret is harmful and when it is necessary, and whom to turn to for guidance. Their search tests their trust in each other and asks what it takes to hold a family together while resolving the mystery for everyone involved.