From School Library Journal
Grade 2-4-In this beginning chapter book, Codie is about to become a cousin. Her favorite aunt is two weeks away from giving birth and, though she's been pregnant before, "This is the closest she's come to a baby full done." This overnight visit at Aunt Alix's is different from the numerous others, because in the middle of the night the woman goes into labor. The child's anxiety over the birth and her worries about losing her special place in Alix's life are handled sensitively and realistically. Hesse incorporates a touch of symbolism with the blanket that the girl is sewing for the infant Lavender-a finished blanket will insure a full-term, healthy baby. The simple language allows for easy reading, and the full-page pencil illustrations break up the text nicely. Codie is a caring youngster eager to please, even when experiencing some doubts about the arrival of her first cousin. A fresh, gentle approach to a standard theme.Rita Soltan, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MICopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Gr. 2-4. At the center of this first chapter book in the fine Redfeather series is a child's joyful relationship with a loving relative. Codie has always spent lots of time in her Aunt Alix's messy, muddled home. Now that her aunt is to have a baby, Codie's feelings are muddled. On the one hand, she can't wait to have a cousin; but at the same time, she worries that her aunt won't have time for her anymore. When the baby comes early, Codie stays up all night finishing the quilt she has secretly been sewing for months. In a satisfying ending, Aunt Alix wraps her baby in the quilt and Codie holds her new cousin for the first time. Codie's secret adds excitement to the usual new baby/displacement story. Her first-person, present-tense narrative is understated; the plain words intensify the meaning of extended family. Illustrations were unseen in galley. Hazel Rochman


From Kirkus Reviews
Codie has a special relationship with her aunt Alix, who lives up the block; though Alix's first child is due in two weeks, she welcomes the little girl for her usual Saturday night sleepover and assures her that, despite the big belly where Codie can see the baby move, ``There will always be room'' for her. Secretly, Codie is making the baby a patchwork quilt--a perfect gift for a seamstress like her aunt. When Alix is rushed to the hospital the night of the sleepover, she's concerned: she knows that ``Aunt Alix has tried having a baby lots of times. This is the closest she's come to a baby fully done.'' The quilt is two weeks short of completion, and so, perhaps, is the baby. Working through the night, Codie finishes her gift with a border of lavender, Aunt Alix's favorite color; morning brings news that the baby's fine, and that ``Lavender'' is her name. This simple, easily read little story is a gem. Each telling detail--Alix's dogs comfortably settled on a lumpy sofa, licking cookie crumbs from each other's whiskers; Codie's joyous powdered sugar fight with her aunt and uncle the night before the baby is born, echoed in Alix's tone (``sweet and light, like powdered sugar'') when she finds the patchwork neatly tucked among the baby's clothes-- is a gentle brush-stroke in this tender, but never sentimental, portrait of a particularly nice family welcoming its newest member. Illustrations not seen. (Fiction/Young reader. 5-9) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Review
"This simple, easily read little story is a gem. Each telling detail...is a gentle brush-stroke in this tender, but never sentimental, portrait of a particularly nice family welcoming its newest member."--Kirkus Reviews, pointer



Review
"This simple, easily read little story is a gem. Each telling detail...is a gentle brush-stroke in this tender, but never sentimental, portrait of a particularly nice family welcoming its newest member."--Kirkus Reviews, pointer



Book Description
Codie is secretly sewing a blanket for her favorite aunt Alix's new baby. Will the blanket be "fully done" by the time the baby is "fully done"?



Card catalog description
When Codie's favorite aunt is having a baby, Codie has lots of worries: Will the baby and her aunt be all right, will Codie's baby quilt be done on time, and will her aunt still have time for her?

ANNOTATION

When Codie's favorite aunt is having a baby, Codie has lots of worries: Will the baby and her aunt be all right, will Codie's baby quilt be done on time, and will her aunt still have time for her?

FROM THE PUBLISHER

When Codie's favorite aunt is having a baby, Codie has lots of worries: will the baby and her aunt be all right, will Codie's baby quilt be done on time, and will her aunt still have time for her?

FROM THE CRITICS

School Library Journal