"Since the day I found out about Emma, I seemed to have gone to the bad. I was rude. I told lies. I listened at doors and read other people's letters if they left them about. I was always losing things . . . watches, cameras, and silver bracelets. And whenever my mother reproached me, I screamed at her, 'Look who's talking? Who lost her own baby? Who lost my sister? Just because you wanted a new dress?'"
Convinced that her family's problems will end if only Emma is returned by the person who snatched her from her baby carriage, Kate longs for the older sister she never knew. But when a thin, spiky-haired stranger with hard eyes shows up with a letter claiming she's the long-lost sister, there's more trouble than ever. This "Emma" is certainly not the sister Kate imagined.
Cuckoo Sister ANNOTATION A scruffy, undernourished teenager appears at the door of Kate's parents' London home, bearing a note that she is their long-lost child, stolen from her pram as a baby.
FROM THE PUBLISHER "Since the day I found out about Emma, I seemed to have gone to the bad. I was rude. I told lies. I listened at doors and read other people's letters if they left them about. I was always losing things . . . watches, cameras, and silver bracelets. And whenever my mother reproached me, I screamed at her, 'Look who's talking? Who lost her own baby? Who lost my sister? Just because you wanted a new dress?'"
Convinced that her family's problems will end if only Emma is returned by the person who snatched her from her baby carriage, Kate longs for the older sister she never knew. But when a thin, spiky-haired stranger with hard eyes shows up with a letter claiming she's the long-lost sister, there's more trouble than ever. This "Emma" is certainly not the sister Kate imagined. FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly PW called this a "tense, funny mystery" in which a tough-talking, long-lost daughter's arrival creates upheaval in a London family. Ages 10-14. (Aug.)
School Library Journal Gr 6-10 At age five, Kate accidentally learns that she had had an older sister who was kidnapped as a baby. This discovery changes her from a reasonably pliable, pleasant child to one who is manipulative, untrustworthy and rude. The first-person narrative begins with Kate at age five, then skips to Kate at age 11when an equally arrogant slum child, Rosie, comes to their door bearing a note from her ``mother'' stating that she is the missing Emma. Rosie squawks; Kate sputtersboth are furious. This is not the loving sister Kate had envisioned; Rosie is smothered by the propriety of this London household and the parental doting. Alcock's skillful use of clues keeps readers guessingRosie could be like the young cuckoo who ``pushes the true fledgling right out of the nest''or she could be the real Emma. Although the subject is heavy and the emotions intense, the story is not without humor and wit. Kate and Rosie are dynamic characters, their charged emotions clear and believable. The scenes depicting the girls' wavering attitudes toward each other, as well as their disdain for the insensitive adults who believe that they alone are affected by Rosie's appearance are vivid and often funny. A colorful story that radiates with life. Trev Jones, ``School Library Journal''
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