Now 2023 Previous Articles Road Essays Road Reviews Author Black Authors Title Source Age Genre Series Format Inclusivity LGBTA Portfolio Artwork WIP

Recent posts


Month in review

Reviews
All For One by Melissa de la Cruz
Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
Blastaway by Melissa Landers
Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella
Cloaked by Alex Flinn
Death by French Roast by Alex Erickson
Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 8 by Ryoko Kui
The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien
Feast by Lindsay Anderson and Dana VanVeller
Float Plan by Trish Doller
The Hedgehog of Oz by Cory Leonardo
In Your Shoes by Donna Gephart
Julieta and the Diamond Enigma by Luisana Duarte Armendáriz
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Like Home by Louisa Onomé
Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
Lullaby For Eggs: A Poem by Betty Bridgman and Elizabeth Orton Jones
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
Mistletoe Murder by Leslie Meier
Moriarty the Patriot, Volume 3 by Ryōsuke Takeuchi
The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Pho Love Story by Loan Le
Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung
Read or Alive by Nora Page
Rockridge by Robin Wolf and Tom Wolf
Samantha Spinner and the Super Secret Plans by Russell Ginns
Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright

Miscellaneous
March 2021 Sources

March 2021 Summary

Previous month



Rating System

5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

Reading Challenges

Beat the Backlist 2023

Canadian Book Challenge: 2022-2023

Artwork
Chicken Art



Privacy policy

This blog does not collect personal data. It doesn't set cookies. Email addresses are used to respond to comments or "contact us" messages and then deleted.


Twins: 04/01/21

Twins

In Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright, Maureen and Francine Carter have always done everything together. That's how it goes when you're twins in a tight-knit family. But now they're in middle school and they have separate schedules. Shy Maureen feels on her own as Francine rebrands herself as Fran.

Maureen is also faced with being enrolled in the cadet corps instead of p.e. She's terrible at marching and can't face getting her first B or worse. Her drill sergeant / teacher suggests she run for office as extra credit. That's the set up for the core plot, one that's similar to Act by Kayla Miller (2020) except that Maureen is running against her twin.

In this set up there will be a winner and a loser. The question here is how will the stress of the election affect the family and that unique bond that twins share. Midway through there's a moment where it appears their parents will force Fran to drop out, thus giving Maureen an uncontested win. Thankfully the twins manage to convince their parents that this is unnecessary.

What makes this book work is the character growth of the twins, their parents, and their friends. While they're are misunderstandings and miscommunications, everyone does eventually talk. Arguments happen. Feelings are hurt. People apologize. Hurt feelings are mending. Characters grow.

Five stars

Comments (0)


Lab puppy
Name:
Email (won't be posted):
Blog URL:
Comment:

Twitter Tumblr Mastadon Flickr Facebook Facebook Contact me

1997-2023 Sarah Sammis