TAKE ME WITH YOU by Carolyn Marsden (Candlewick Press, March 2010, $14.99) brings the reader into a home in Milan, Italy, for babies abandoned after WWII. The girls, Susanna and Pina are best friends and have lived at the Istituto di Gesu Bambino as long as they can remember. We meet the friends at a Sunday service where some potential adopters are present. The girls know they are not considered candidates as they each have a parent in contact with the orphanage.
The nuns run the facility with iron gloves and offer little sympathy to the girls. To earn money for upkeep the nuns put the girls to work doing various jobs. At one point they crochet black berets to wear and sell; other times they are taken into the city of MIlan to sing at funerals and wakes. The two friends are constantly thinking of the parent(s) who have left them there.
They know Pina’s mother was sent a telegram but never responded. The girls get the address of the telegram and head into the city to approach Pina’s mother. Shortly thereafter Susanna’s US Navy father makes contact and arranges a visit at the Instituto.
Things seem to be looking up for the girls. But in an attempt to emulate a saint suffering the stigmata and bring more suffering into her life, Susanna falls very ill. Her father’s reappearance after all these years aids greatly in her recovery. Pina however meets a different kind of reception.
By the end of a very quick moving story both girls are in much improved positions with more positive futures.
This author has written so many distinguished books for young readers independently and has co-authored a significant number also.