NEVER MIND!

Avi and Vail pair up in this often hilarious and sometimes poignant comedy of errors starring 12-year-old dueling fraternal twins. On the surface, Edward and Meg couldn’t be more different—“like night and day,” as their mother says. Separately, they are struggling to figure out who they are as individuals. The story unfolds in Manhattan in just five days, shortly after they’ve started seventh grade—Meg at a school for highly gifted students, and Edward at Charlton Street Alternative. What starts out as a way for Meg to appear cool—she reinvents her “immature, runty, underachiever” brother as a “brilliant, rock/classical bass player” in a hip band—and for Edward to embarrass his sister, escalates into screwball comedy. Surprised by what happens, they realize they have more in common than they thought, and also emerge with a stronger sense of themselves as individuals. The authors explore complicated early adolescent dilemmas and conflicts with comedic agility. It’s a real collaboration; the alternating voices of their characters ring true, and the narrative is seamless. (Fiction. 10-14)