The Baby Project

by Sarah Ellis

Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Book Prize in Canada, The Baby Project tells the poignant story of a family forced to make hard adjustments. Jessica and her brother Simon are somewhat shocked when their high-powered engineer mother announces she is pregnant. While Simon is off in his own teenage world of sports and music, 11-year-old Jessica is more focused on home, the punk tenant in the basement, and her best friend Margaret. She and her stay-at-home dad share excitement in anticipating the new baby, and when Lucie arrives it is the happiest time in Jessica's life. But soon the entire household is turned upside down by the tragedy of the baby's sudden death. First published in hardcover as The Family Project, this realistic story, by turns funny and sad, tender and moving, is a powerful and sensitive look at a child coming to terms with death and grief. The Baby Project will long remain in the memory of young readers.

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Young Adult, Canada, Teen

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Writer, columnist, and librarian Sarah Ellis has become one of the best-known authors for young adults in her native Canada with titles such as The Baby Project, Pick-Up Sticks, and Back of Beyond: Stories of the Supernatural. In addition to young adult novels, Ellis has also written for younger children and has authored several books about the craft of writing. Praised by Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman as "one of the best children's literature critics," Ellis "writes without condescension or pedantry. . . . Her prose is a delight: plain, witty, practical, wise."

Ellis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 1952, the youngest of three children in her family. As she once noted, "[My] joy in embroidering the truth probably comes from my own childhood. My father was a rich mine of anecdotes and jokes. He knew more variations on the 'once there were three men in a rowboat' joke than anyone I've encountered since.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books ever to make me cry. Even knowing what was to come, I still did re-reading it 20 years later. Didn't realize how much I related to Charlene and her desire to know what her head looks like.

[Leone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully written story that takes place in Vancouver.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me some time to finish this book because I wasn’t really into it. The beginning was boring, the middle was interesting and the end was bittersweet. It was quite sad towards the end because of Lucie’s death. It really showed what grief could do to a person. I’m glad that Jessica and Simon became friends again after their little sister passed.

[Mallory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did a book report on The Baby Project in grade 8, and it ended up being one of those books I often think of. Beautifully written, and powerfully moving the Baby Project is a story for the ages.

Jessica is excited to hear that she will soon become a big sister. She decides to base her class project on her new little sister, Lucie, and begins before she is even born. Parts of the project include reading him stories and singing songs while she is still in the womb. Tragic events cause our heroin to turn her back on this project, breaking the heart of the reader.

[A.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fresh from reading Mercy Among the Children: A Novel I thought 'I need something a bit less traumatic, a lighter, easy read. Maybe a YA book will do the trick'.

This book was light-hearted, easy to read and funny. Great, just what I needed. Then - wham - I end up spending another ten minutes in tears.

Thanks a lot, Sarah Ellis. ;-)

[Vandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

shiela egoff

[Martha · Rating 5 out of 5]

children's literature; adults will like it too