num_pages: 176
description: Hopes of adoption test the friendship of two girls  one biracial  in a lyrical novel touching on themes of identity and the meaning of home.Pina and Susanna. Susanna and Pina. For as long as theyve lived at the Istituto di Ges Bambino  a home for babies abandoned after the War  they have been best friends. As children they played rag dolls under the watchful eyes of the nuns and hide-and-seek among the lemon trees on the rooftop terrazzo overlooking Naples. But now strangers are coming to the chiesa couples hoping to adopt children. Susanna thinks Pina  pale pretty Pina with her gleaming yellow braid  will be adopted at once. Susanna on the other hand is a mulatta. Her father was an American soldier a nero. No Italian has hair or skin like hers. But when a surprise visitor comes to the istituto just to see Susanna will the friends be separated after all? Or will a miracle make both of their dreams come true?
language: English
title: Take Me With You
publisher: Candlewick Press