One: A Young Adult Free Verse Novel About Conjoined Twin Sisters Facing the Impossible Choice

One: A Young Adult Free Verse Novel About Conjoined Twin Sisters Facing the Impossible Choice

Winner of the Carnegie Medal * Winner of the YA Book Prize * Winner of the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award Tippi and Grace share everything—clothes, friends . . . even their body. Writing in free verse, Sarah Crossan tells the sensitive and moving story of conjoined twin sisters, which will find fans in readers of Gayle Forman, Jodi Picoult, and Jandy Nelson. Tippi and Grace. Grace and Tippi. For them, it's normal to step into the same skirt. To hook their arms around each other for balance. To fall asleep listening to the other breathing. To share. And to keep some things private. Each of the sixteen-year-old girls has her own head, heart, and two arms, but at the belly, they join. And they are happy, never wanting to risk the dangerous separation surgery. But the girls' body is beginning to fight against them. And Grace doesn't want to admit it. Not even to Tippi. How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives? Carnegie Medal–winning author Sarah Crossan gives us a story about unbreakable bonds, hope, loss, and the lengths we will go to for the person we love most. 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 “Writing mainly from Grace’s perspective, Crossan 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. - Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Poignant and compelling…Though the sisters have unique physical challenges, they share that universal teen desire to fit in, fall in love, and find a distinct identity.” - Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) “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 young-adult fiction. Not to be overlooked.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Employing free verse to chronicle their coming of age, British author Crossan smoothly embeds historical and medical information regarding her well–researched topic while intently portraying each twin’s personality and unique characteristics. …Crossan trusts her characters and her readers to find their better selves through her gently paced story.” - Booklist “Through her understated, evocative narration, Grace’s coming of age becomes a meditation on difference, a celebration of the deepest bonds of sisterhood, and…a stirring tragedy. Grace’s uniquely moving “story of how it is to be Two” will inspire compassion-and elicit plenty of tears.” - The Horn Book “A tender yet resilient story of closeness and identity…it’s a story of Grace, who’s built her entire identity and existence on being entwined with her sister and who now contemplates what it would mean to be a single person.” - Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review) Grace and Tippi. Tippi and Grace. Two sisters. Two hearts. Two dreams. Two lives. But one body. Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, joined at the waist, defying the odds of survival for sixteen years. They share everything, and they are everything to each other. They would never imagine being apart. For them, that would be the real tragedy. But something is happening to them. Something they hoped would never happen. And Grace doesn't want to admit it. Not even to Tippi. How long can they hide from the truth—how long before they must face the most impossible choice of their lives Sarah Crossan is the author of One , which won the Carnegie Medal and the Bookseller 's prize for young adult fiction and was named the Irish Children's Book