With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?

Three of a Kind #1

by Marilyn Kaye

After spending years together at the Willoughby Hall Home for Children, Cat, Josie, and Becka face the prospects of being separated when the Morgans arrive looking for a daughter to adopt.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

I was born in New Britain, Connecticut, and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. I also spent a year (5th grade) in Montgomery, Alabama, and a year in Ann Arbor, Michigan(8th grade). As a child, I always wanted to be a writer, but I had lots of other ambitions too. I wanted to be a teacher, a librarian, a movie star, the president of the United States, and a ballerina.

I didn't achieve all my goals. I never became a movie star, the president of the U.S., or a ballerina. But I've been a teacher and a librarian and most of all, a writer. I've been writing for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I always kept a diary. I wrote poems, stories, plays, songs and lots of letters. Writing wasn't easy for me, but it felt natural and right.

I've always read a lot, too. I was an English major at Emory University (I love Shakespeare), and I also received a master's degree in library science at Emory. I earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Chicago, and I taught children's and teen literature at St. John's University in New York for over 20 years. Now, I'm a full-time writer, living in Paris, France - the most beautiful city in the world.

Reviews

[Mary MacKintosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the book I read. I think the title is Home is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there, and it may be #2 in a series. I found it in my Little Free Library. I enjoyed it, and know a girl would love reading about these three young teens trying to fit themselves into a new life with adoptive parents. I do not know why a youngish couple would want to take on 3 middle-school aged girls, but it makes for a good story. Cat is aching to be the most popular girl in school, Jo is a tomboy, and ??? wants to be in a "Little Women" situation, and is an introverted bookworm.

[Kirsty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and re-read this book so many times when I was younger. For some reason I really wanted to be one of these girls - god knows why, because they were living in an orphanage praying to be adopted! I think it was the sense of friendship in the book. The 3 girls are fighting with eachother for everything, but yet theres still that bond that holds them together no matter what. A great read.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I used to LOVE this book when I was younger. But I found it in a charity shop and never found any more of the series!

[Farheen Farwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know who gave me this book but I have had it ever since I can remember. I must have read it a gazillion times by now... Everytime I sort my stuff, I have to give it a read!

"A shrill bell rang through the halls of the Willoughby Hall…"

Enter Josie (whom I liked very much), Becka (who was kind of ok as she always had good intentions, but girl you have got to stand up for yourself!) and Cat (whom I plainly despised because she was mean and cared too much about being popular) are three orphans stuck at the orphanage Willoughby Hall since time immemorial.

All three of them are fighting all the time. All. The. Time. And can't wait to move away from one another. And their fights are really funny, too.

Cat is always trying to dump her chores on poor Becka. Becka is always crying over her favorite characters dying in books and daydreaming about getting adopted someday. Josie is just sick and tired of all the drama and would rather go out and ride horses (like a true texan that she is), or cook food with the ever caring Mrs. Parker, her favorite person in all of Willoughby Hall!

When the prospect of one of them getting adopted becomes a certainty, they realize they don't want to be separated at all! All the tricks and gimmicks they pull on their prospective adopting parents after this are just hilarious. Ending is the best part!

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book about three very different orphans who do not get along at all. On the other hand, they live in an orphanage with, really, only each other. Each of them is given a chance to go and stay with a couple interested in adoption. Naturally each of them wants to be chosen, at first. After that, you'll have to read the book yourself. I've kept an eye out for others in the series (there are six) and her other series, of which there seem to be many. It'll never be a favourite book, but it's certainly an interesting take on the usual teenager-series.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another childhood favorite- three adolescent orphans who've known each other for years become a family when a couple adopts them. Each of the three girls, very different from the others, takes up narrating part of the story as she tries to acclimate- or not- to her new home. An ultimately uplifting tale.

[Leesa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book I read when I was about 10 or 11... and reread many many times! I had the first 3 books in the series... I had no idea there were more! I don't think I will ever reread it now. It will probably spoil it for me.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved these as a kid!