Three Black Swans

August 16, 2010
Their families may be dissimilar, but 16-year-old first cousins Missy and Claire are all but inseparable and have been for most of their lives. When Missy's teacher encourages the class to think outside the box for a presentation on scientific hoaxes, Missy persuades a reluctant Claire to pretend that they are twins (the cousins bear a striking resemblance to each other) during a video broadcast of daily announcements. They are too convincing: the video spreads quickly through YouTube, and neither girl is prepared for the emotional fallout, as they begin to question their own identities, as does a third girl on Long Island—Genevieve—who sees the video online ("Who were these girls? Were they her? Was she actually in Connecticut with them? Was she one of them?"). Cooney's psychologically probing story darts among multiple characters, forming a complex web of mistrust, economic stress, and parental sins that will keep readers guessing. Although the circumstances of this plot feel especially melodramatic, it remains an exhilarating investigation of displacement, regret, and the bonds of sisterhood. Ages 12–up.

July 15, 2010

Cooney, who has a great interest in families pushed to the edge by anomalous situations, tells the story of best-friend first cousins and a third girl who realizes that she has a surprising connection to both of them. Missy, outgoing and un-academic, talks her quieter and more studious cousin Claire, whom she closely resembles physically, into pretending to be her twin for an unusual class assignment—to create a believable hoax. The tension gears up when the hoax video goes viral and catches the eye of a third girl, who bares an uncanny resemblance to the two cousins. Their meeting and the secret the three girls eventually unearth changes their notion of self and the shape of their families. Cooney devises copious explanations to give her tale credibility, but it's a hard story to swallow. However, the ending, full of good intentions yet unresolved and uncomfortable feelings, is thoughtfully realistic. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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September 1, 2010

Gr 7-10-When her teacher challenges her students to research and fabricate a scientific fake of some kind, Missy calls her cousin and best friend, Claire, for help to do the trick assignment. The plan: bring Claire, who looks startlingly like Missy, to appear on the school's live morning news broadcast as a newly found twin. As it turns out, the Connecticut sophomore perpetrates a hoax that turns out not to be a hoax at all but instead a revelation of the past that her family and two others must try to deal with and accept. Claire's sobs at the moment of revelation on the news show help answer Missy's very real question-yes, the two are identical twins, somehow. That's what everyone who sees the interview at the school and soon on YouTube believes, and with the speed of the Internet, texting, and email forwarding, a third girl on Long Island soon finds herself with a question of her own: How can I look just like these two girls I've never met? Playing on the interest of teens in identity drama, this story will draw willing readers through the suspenseful days that follow. Three sets of parents and three daughters take some time for readers to separate into recognizably different characters, but their experiences delve into the nature of love, family, parenting, and the bond of siblings.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA

Copyright 2010 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2010
Grades 7-10 Sixteen-year-old Missy and her cousin Claire are best friends, with a striking physical resemblance and an even stronger emotional connection. So, when Missys science teacher gives the class an assignment to create a believable scientific hoax backed by evidence, Missy arranges for a filmed interview on their schools morning TV broadcast in which she and Claire pretend they are actually identical twins, separated at birth and newly reunited. The jokes on them, however, because Missy and Claire really are identical twins. Whats more, when the video hits YouTube, another truth surfaces: there is a third sister, identical triplet Genevieve, raised a mere 20 miles away. Far fetched? Perhaps, but for any girl with a best friend who seems like a sister, this will be a riveting read. Although less tightly constructed than the classic, and similarly identity-based, The Face on the Milk Carton (1990), the entwined stories of the three sisters and their families will attract and hold Cooneys many loyal fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)