Brother, Brother

June 15, 2013
With his grandmother dead, 17-year-old Billy "Brother" Grace has nothing...except a family mystery. Mem, Brother's headstrong grandmother, raised him alone. When she dies of breast cancer, he finds a newspaper with a circled photo that looks exactly like him. It's the son of powerful North Carolina senator Gideon Grayson--could he have a twin he doesn't know about? Thanks to arrangements made by Mem's friends, Brother can quit his job at the nursing home and set off in search of family. Unfortunately, his reckless friend Cole has dropped off his 5-year-old little brother, Jack, without knowing that Mem has died. Brother packs up Trooper, his dog, and Jack and heads for Eden, island sanctuary of the Graysons. What Brother finds in this unfamiliar world of privilege is the secret of his ancestry...and of Mem's life. Carmichael's sophomore effort lacks the deft, light touch of her debut, Wild Things (2009). The characters are unbelievably good, from perfect Brother to stranger-becomes-girlfriend Kit to Trooper, the psychic dog; the turns of plot, especially at the outset, are unrealistic. Brother's quest proceeds all too easily, with stranger after stranger going out of their way for him, making his display of control at the close unsatisfying. Though the tale ends with more realism, readers will have to have forgiven a lot of contrivance to get there. A soppy, at times sanctimonious melodrama that still entertains. (Fiction. 12 & up)

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August 1, 2013

Gr 9 Up-Brother Grace, 17, grew up with little to call his own beyond the good sense and uncommon courtesy taught by his grandmother Mem. Waking up after a night of hard drinking with his buddy Cole, a friend from the rest home where both work and from GED classes, Brother finds Mem dead in her bed. He's not shocked that she finally succumbed to cancer, but he is floored by what she has circled in the newspaper: an image of the son of the North Carolina senator she hates. The teen is identified as Gabriel, but the face staring back at Brother is his own. He starts off on a journey to Winter Island, ancestral home of the Graysons where Mem grew up as the housekeeper's daughter, with his dog, Trooper, and Cole's five-year-old brother, Jack, in a Buick from his elderly neighbor. The Buick doesn't make it that far, but an amazing rest-stop rescue by Trooper puts beautiful, smart, and practical Kit in Brother's path, the perfect ally at the ideal time to get him where he needs to be: the island with all the answers, though they won't be easy to get from the great and powerful senator, his family, or his political minions. More about human nature and relationships than action, this prince-and-pauper tale will have readers poised to learn the truth with Brother, rooting for him. This uplifting underdog story, featuring actual dogs, will draw thoughtful readers with its well-wrought characters and themes of family secrets, romance, and virtue.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2013
Grades 8-12 On the day his beloved grandmother dies, 18-year-old Billy Brother Grace discovers an unexpected legacy: an identical-twin brother who has been raised by wealthy, powerful, and corrupt Senator Grayson. His twin, Gabriel, has material luxuries but not the warm, loving upbringing Brother received. Reckless, dissolute, and unhappy, Gabe is now in a drug-rehab program. Brother sets out on a road trip to the North Carolina island home of the senator, accompanied by his loyal dog, Trooper; Jack, the 5-year-old brother of his best friend; and Kit, a beautiful, capable, feisty young woman he meets on the road. Despite a plethora of plot elements, this is a gentle, character-driven work that rides on the compassionate nature of the protagonist, set in a richly described landscape of sand and sea. Carmichael makes a powerful case for the influence of a loving family, be it blood relatives or family of choice. She has an ear for teen dialogue and captures the teasing energy of flirtation as well as the jocular, determinedly unsentimental exchanges of young men. With a road trip, family secrets, and romance, there's a pleasing fullness and symmetry that should draw readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)