THE SHY ONE

It's as enjoyable as the relative who can reminisce well. And for the girl who's also known as The Shy One, there's the special bonus of being able to agonize right along with young Dorothy (Nathan?) and laugh too. Dorothy and her younger sister Anabelle come from a genuinely warm family in a small town in Oregon in 1921, and part of their appeal is their Russian jewish attributes, although primarily they are typical of their time and place. Dorothy is not just shy, she's self-consciously, introspectively shy and her trials include having to meet and live with her grandmother and Uncle Max when they come from Russia, having Uncle Max join her in her fifth grade class, collecting for the newspaper drive, and worst/funniest of all--playing endlessly at a piano recital when she couldn't remember the ending of her piece. And eventually, of course, there's the triumph when dorothy does manage to make a public appearance proudly. It's gentle but full of well-timed anecdotes, and the fully conceived family is a pleasure to meet.