Jackson (The Wildlife Detectives, 2000, etc.) has crafted a fascinating compilation of human-interest stories, mythical, historical, and scientific information, and photographs about twins. Chapter topics include facts about twin bonding, conception and birth, identical and fraternal twins, multiple births, studies relating to the separation of twins, and stories of unusual twins. The text is enlivened by quotes from the many individuals whose stories are told. The neonatal nurse who cared for Brielle and Kyrie, born in 1995, relates how placing the girls together in one incubator saved the life of Brielle, who was dying when lying alone. Raymond Brandt describes how he knew that his twin had died five miles away, and Eva Mozes, a twin survivor of Auschwitz tells of the horrible experience there. Short chapters illustrated by color and black-and-white photographs are also subdivided by inserts on yellow backgrounds about related topics adding to, but not interrupting, the flow of the narrative. In the chapter about the special bonds that twins feel, for instance, Jackson discusses ancient ideas about twins and pictures the legendary twins Castor and Pollux. Another digression describes the annual gatherings of thousands of twins in Twinsberg, Ohio, and a third concerns the lives of Eng and Chang, the most-publicized conjoined twins. Medical procedures such as in vitro fertilization and ultrasound technology are briefly explained in text and illustration and a glossary/index adds simple definitions of the terms. This informative photo essay will amaze and mystify twins and singles alike. (Nonfiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-316-45431-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish.
The dreary prospect of spending a lifetime making caskets instead of wonderful inventions prompts a young orphan to snatch up his little sister and flee. Where? To the circus, of course.
Fortunately or otherwise, John and 6-year-old Page join up with Boz—sometime human cannonball for the seedy Wandering Wayfarers and a “vertically challenged” trickster with a fantastic gift for sowing chaos. Alas, the budding engineer barely has time to settle in to begin work on an experimental circus wagon powered by chicken poop and dubbed (with questionable forethought) the Autopsy. The hot pursuit of malign and indomitable Great-Aunt Beauregard, the Coggins’ only living relative, forces all three to leave the troupe for further flights and misadventures. Teele spins her adventure around a sturdy protagonist whose love for his little sister is matched only by his fierce desire for something better in life for them both and tucks in an outstanding supporting cast featuring several notably strong-minded, independent women (Page, whose glare “would kill spiders dead,” not least among them). Better yet, in Boz she has created a scene-stealing force of nature, a free spirit who’s never happier than when he’s stirring up mischief. A climactic clutch culminating in a magnificently destructive display of fireworks leaves the Coggin sibs well-positioned for bright futures. (Illustrations not seen.)
A sly, side-splitting hoot from start to finish. (Adventure. 11-13)Pub Date: April 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234510-3
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.
Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?
Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-67605-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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