One

Starred review from July 13, 2015
Grace and Tippi are 16-year-old conjoined twins attending private school after only being homeschooled. With an alcoholic and unemployed father, an anorexic sister, and a mother frantically trying to hold her family together, the girls cling to new friends Yasmeen and Jon, two outcasts who defend the girls and treat them as equals. Just when Grace falls for Jon despite Tippi’s warning—“We can never ever fall in love”—the girls learn that an illness in one jeopardizes both. Facing financial hardship, they are asked to make a difficult decision that carries enormous consequences. Crossan’s free-verse deftly conveys the twins’ heightened emotions through repetition, creative spacing, and lyrical similes (“Her breath is as delicate as lace”). Writing mainly from Grace’s perspective, Crossan (The Weight of Water) interjects the voices of friends and family, offering a glimpse of the difficulties conjoined twins and their loved ones’ face. In asking important questions about how bodies shape identity, Crossan’s novel achieves a striking balance between sentimentality and sisterly devotion. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sarah Davies, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

Starred review from July 1, 2015
Two sisters come of age in this thoughtfully crafted, well-researched verse novel of emerging selfhood. Life for 16-year-old Grace and her sister Tippi hasn't been easy: they're conjoined twins-literally joined at the hip. They've spent their lives dealing with staring strangers and invasive questions, but the girls are happy together and wouldn't have it any other way. Grace and Tippi have been home-schooled until now, but when the state decides to pay for the girls to attend a private high school instead, they begin their junior year among peers. After a few unfriendly gestures from other students, the girls befriend outsiders Yasmeen and Jon (Yasmeen is HIV-positive, and Jon is on scholarship) and settle into a life of firsts most "singleton" teens take for granted: learning to drive, getting drunk, skipping class, and for Grace, falling in love. When Grace is diagnosed with a bad heart, the twins have a difficult decision to make: risk the dangerous separation surgery so Grace can qualify for a transplant, or stay together and get sicker until they both die. Grace's elegant and intimate first-person narration combines with her wry sense of humor to create a likable character in a believable situation. This is honest, unapologetic realism from a diverse perspective not often seen in fiction for teens. Not to be overlooked. (author's note) (Verse fiction. 12 & up)

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October 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-Crossan's latest is written in free verse and follows two sisters through their unique high school experience as they make the most important decision of their lives. Tippi and Grace are "literally joined at the hip-united in blood and bone." While they have two heads, two hearts, two sets of lungs and kidneys, and four arms, they are one from the waist down. They are happy together; they embrace life and could not imagine being separated. That is, until their doctor recommends separation as the only fighting chance for them to survive an illness. They must then consider the dangerous operation that could kill them. The author successfully depicts what it is like to be two and then what it is like to be one. Readers will be taken on an emotional roller coaster throughout this book; feelings range from contentment and joy to desolation and anxiety. The supporting characters such as Tippi and Grace's first and subsequently best friends, Jon and Yasmeen, greatly add to the touching plot. Fans of Jandy Nelson's I'll Give You the Sun (Dial, 2014) will appreciate this lyrical world. VERDICT A homage to the love between sisters that readers will remember for a long time.-Morgan O'Reilly, Riverdale Country School, NY

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
Grades 8-11 Attached at the hipliterallyconjoined 16-year-old twins Tippi and Grace have outlived every prognosis for their life span. Employing free verse to chronicle their coming of age, British author Crossan (Apple and Rain, 2015) smoothly embeds historical and medical information regarding her well-researched topic while intently portraying each twin's personality and unique characteristics. Younger, ballet-dancing sister Dragon, earnest Mom, drunk Dad, and free-spirited Grammie comprise their whole world until homeschooling funds run out and Tippi and Grace enter a local New Jersey private school as scholarship students. Their first friends ever, the pink-haired, HIV-positive Yasmeen and sweet, humble Jon, dutifully introduce them to raucous teen fun while serving as vigilantes against bullying and pure ignorance. When separation surgery becomes a potential reality, crucial questions of individuality, friendship, love, and commitment are explored. Crossan trusts her characters and her readers to find their better selves through her gently paced story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)