From the Newbery Medal-winning author of 'Maniac Magee' and 'Loser' comes a new middle-grade novel about a summer of friends and bullies, growing up and growing apart, told from the alternating points of view of 11-year-old twins Jake and Lily.
This is a story about me, Lily. And me, Jake. We're twins and we're exactly alike. Not exactly! Whatever. This is a book we wrote about the summer we turned eleven and Jake ditched me. Please. I just started hanging out with some guys in the neighborhood. Right. So anyway, this is a book about goobers and supergoobers bullies clubhouses true friends things getting built and wrecked and rebuilt and about figuring out who we are. We wrote this together (sort of) so you'll get to see both sides of our story. But you'll probably agree with my side. You always have to have the last word, don't you? Yes!
Good Reading Review
Even though Spinelli tells a similar story with new names and faces each time, it's the kind of story you can never hear enough of, because in reading it you become just a little bit better.
This story resembles Spinelli's Crash, except that with both a male and female narrator this will appeal to girls as well as boys. Jake and Lily are twins who've always had a special connection, but as they get older Jake starts to pull away. As Lily gets closer to her long lost Poppy and struggles to cope with losing her best friend, Jake starts to hang out with the Death Ray boys who entertain themselves by pestering 'goobers', people who are just too much of everything and don't even know it.
It's a fun read with short chapters, but most importantly, kids won't be able to help being impressed as they read it. The twins find out for themselves the true definition of 'having a life': pursuing interests and friends without being overly dependent on someone else, of courage and true bravery: standing up to bullying as opposed to dishing it out, of friendship: winning the respect and companionship of others rather than blindly following the lead of the kingpin, and finally, what it means to be a twin.
Spinelli should be compulsory reading for every middle school child (...and perhaps parent and teacher too.)
