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Not only is this book special to me because Ann M. Martin herself signed it for me at BEA but I really liked it. After devoting 7 straight years to teen fiction, I've been reading children's books again on a regular basis. This book started out as a typical younger/older sister conflict. I loved the younger sister, Pearl, because she was flawed: she didn't always care about getting her homework done and she played minor tricks on her older sister. But what I loved about this book is that it introduced the very real element of a grandparent with Alzheimer's into the story. That made it so touching and smart that I can't wait to recommend it to readers!

Kate pretty much writes like she speaks and since I'm a huge fan of the show I feel as if I know her personally. She talks a lot more about her family in this book than she does on the show. On the show I only ever recall her brother Kevin and his wife Jodi. As a matter of fact, in one episode she says something that kind of led me to believe that she and Jon had very little to do with either of their familes except for Kevin and Jodi and Jon's dad. But in the book she seems to say otherwise. She mentions her mother a lot, her sister Kendra (quite a bit) and another sister Chris. She mentions her father only once. She says that Jon is the middle of three boys. She mentions his father very lovingly and his mother. She also speaks very fondly of her grandparents who both died during the course of this book. So I was glad to see that they DO have bonds with their families. She comes off as being very religious in the book. She quotes scripture profusely and really stresses how God has provided for them in many a bleak hour. They seem to be pretty well-off in the TV show, but there were days, pre-show, where they barely had a potty to pee in. She also comes off a little softer in the book. Poor Jon, we've all seen the abuse he takes. She also mentions that prior to J & K + 8 they appeared on a short-lived NBC Universal daytime home makeover show called "Home Delivery". Their episode originally aired 9/13/04 on WPHL Philly's WB17. Kate was less than thrilled with the results when she brought the babies home. Here's a link to see the before and after photos. http://www.fauxinteriors.com/nbc.php