I'm struggling with rating this because:
a) it's a fun, lighthearted book, but
b) it shouldn't be.
The way this narrative treats the children of sperm donors completely glosses over the real-life implications of this method of assisted reproduction, using it as nothing more than a vehicle to deliver a predictable message about celebrating different kinds of families, with some interplay between family of choice vs family of blood. Nothing about it is remotely close to realistic, and the fact that three kids, same age, same school, simultaneously decide to post to an online message board and discover they are half-siblings is actually the least of the offenders. There is an attempt at conveying the emotional turmoil Katie and her half-brothers feel, but it always disappears within a page and then it's back to their jovial (occasional illegal) escapades. This novel does a disservice to real people who truly have no way of uncovering that part of their parentage, and have to deal with the fallout - emotionally; physically, as they may not have any medical history for half their DNA; and even legally, as child support battles have been waged over this issue.
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop as a series of (purposefully, one must assume) fantastical circumstances lead the trio to their biological father, but that moment never came. Everything skates easily into a happily ever after that is in no way reminiscent of real life, and puts forth dangerously misguided notions about the effects of sperm donation on the donors, children and families involved. This is a fantasy masquerading as contemporary YA fiction.
a) it's a fun, lighthearted book, but
b) it shouldn't be.
The way this narrative treats the children of sperm donors completely glosses over the real-life implications of this method of assisted reproduction, using it as nothing more than a vehicle to deliver a predictable message about celebrating different kinds of families, with some interplay between family of choice vs family of blood. Nothing about it is remotely close to realistic, and the fact that three kids, same age, same school, simultaneously decide to post to an online message board and discover they are half-siblings is actually the least of the offenders. There is an attempt at conveying the emotional turmoil Katie and her half-brothers feel, but it always disappears within a page and then it's back to their jovial (occasional illegal) escapades. This novel does a disservice to real people who truly have no way of uncovering that part of their parentage, and have to deal with the fallout - emotionally; physically, as they may not have any medical history for half their DNA; and even legally, as child support battles have been waged over this issue.
I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop as a series of (purposefully, one must assume) fantastical circumstances lead the trio to their biological father, but that moment never came. Everything skates easily into a happily ever after that is in no way reminiscent of real life, and puts forth dangerously misguided notions about the effects of sperm donation on the donors, children and families involved. This is a fantasy masquerading as contemporary YA fiction.