Though I found One by Sarah Crossan a tad predictable, I thoroughly enjoyed this unique story of 16-year old conjoined twin sisters. When I booktalked this with my students, they were very interested in conjoined twins and asked if there were other novels about conjoined twins. I found very little, so if you are an aspiring author, I’m going to put in a plea for more titles featuring conjoined twin narrators. My students are intrigued!
AUTHOR: Sarah Crossan
SERIES: none
PUBLISHER: Greenwillow
PUBLICATION DATE: September 15, 2015
ISBN: 9780062118752
PAGES: 400
SOURCE: my library
GENRE: free verse, realistic fiction
SETTING: present-day, suburb
GIVE IT TO: upper-MS, HS
SUMMARY OF ONE
Tippi and Grace are 16-year old twin sisters, literally joined at the hip. They do everything together because they must, and now, their parents are making them attend a school for the first time in their lives. But Grace and Tippi both know something’s wrong, and neither wants to admit it to the other.
REVIEW OF ONE
I loved this book’s unique topic, which seems to be of especial interest to my middle school library students. The free verse format, ample white space, and relatively simple language makes it accessible to reluctant and struggling readers. I do feel like the free verse format wasn’t fully explored; the story reads more like sentences with random spaces in between than an actual free verse poem.
Grace’s point of view is great, but I would have loved if this alternated with Tippi’s point of view. I felt like only using Grace’s point of view made the story predictable. I also think I might have felt more connected to the characters if we had Tippi’s viewpoint. I liked strong, outspoken Tippi’s character better than meek and mild Grace, who seemed a bit dull.
Overall, One is a huge hit in my library, and I would love to see more YA fiction about conjoined twins. There is definitely an interest in the topic, and I have little to offer these students.
THEMES: sisters, conjoined twins, sacrifice, individuality, family strain (emotional and financial)
THE BOTTOM LINE: A must for libraries serving teens. The conjoined twins topic and free verse format makes this title easy to booktalk.
STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: We have one copy but could use at least one more. After I booktalked this with a few classes last week, we have many holds!
RATING BREAKDOWN
- Overall: 4/5
- Creativity: 5/5
- Characters: 4/5
- Engrossing: 4/5
- Writing: 4/5
- Appeal to teens: 5/5
- Appropriate length to tell the story: 5/5
MATURE CONTENT
- Language: medium–some language; includes F-bombs
- Sexuality: mild–one kiss
- Violence: none
- Drugs/Alcohol: teens drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes