THE OTHER HALF OF ME

While Jenny Fitzgerald contemplates what painting to create for the Downtown Studios art show, her ultra-competitive, sports-obsessed family is busy picking teams for backyard matches. Is the reason she feels disconnected to her family because her younger brother and twin sisters are only half-siblings and her biological father is Donor 142? A magazine article and an unlikely new love interest, jock Tate Brodeur, persuade the teen to search the Donor Sibling Registry, where she meets another half-sister, Alexa. When this new sister arrives unannounced for a long visit, the cautious yet hopeful Jenny is surprised to discover that Alexa is impulsive, flirtatious and athletic. After reality takes over Jenny’s idealized vision of sisterly love, she begins to learn the true meaning of family and her own place in it. Franklin’s thoughtful story recognizes the questions and answers teens need, as today’s definition of family continues to evolve and expand. (Fiction. YA)