Jacob is an only child for the first nine years of his life. He thinks a puppy will fill the gap but mum and dad have other ideas - triplets. Charlotte (Char), Katherine (Kath) and Elizabeth (Liz). They are completely identical so Jacob calls them the Trips. Mum uses different colours so everyone call tell them apart. Luckily the family can hire a nanny to help - she is a truly special person.
Jacob's teacher sets an assignment. Everyone has the whole term to research a topic of their own choice. Jacob decides to use his notebook to record his observations about the Trips.
Part of the blurb: As each of the triplets become unique and more special with each day, Jacob starts to wonder if “the Trips” is still a good name for them. They aren’t puppies, or a bunch of bananas, and they aren’t just “the Trips” anymore. What should he call them that will show what they mean to him? Can he figure out their “forever name?” And will he ever get a puppy?
I love Jacob's tenderness toward these tiny babies - in this scene he gets up late at night because he hears a baby crying.
"I go into the nursery, where the Trips sleep. It is yellow Liz. She stops crying to look up at me. I pick her up. I know how to do this. I can warm a bottle. I can change a diaper. Her diaper is dry. Liz doesn't want a bottle. She wants to look at me. Her eyes are a dark colour I can't name. She watches me in the moonlight. I sing her 'All the Pretty Little Horses' and she is very still, listening the way she does when Father sings to her. I touch her hand and she curls it around my finger ... she smiles!"
I adore Patricia MacLachlan which is why I spent $30 for this slim (119 pages) book. I do hope a paperback version is available soon but I am happy to have a small shelf of hardcover books by Patricia MacLachlan.
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