THIRTEEN GOING ON SEVEN

Twins Dee and Dezzy couldn't be less alike: Dee loves shopping and socializing; Dezzy loves cleaning up garbage in the park. What little fraternizing Dezzy does is with her father during late-afternoon jogs—when she's too breathless to speak. After health-conscious Grandma suddenly dies and Dezzy breaks a leg, Dezzy and her couch-potato grandfather are thrust together. Grampa's character dominates an otherwise undistinguished cast; the sensitive portrayal of his gruff and angry grief resonates with honesty. Unfortunately, Sachs crams her story with sibling rivalry, bereavement, environmental issues, adolescent alienation, first menstruation, and intergenerational relationships—far more than this slim, unfocused novel can hold. Disappointing. (Fiction. 10-14)