Never mind! : a twin novel / Avi and Rachel Vail.

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Title:

Never mind! : a twin novel / Avi and Rachel Vail.

Author:

Avi, 1937-

Vail, Rachel.

ISBN:

9780060543150

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

New York : HarperCollins, 2004.

Physical Description:

200 p.

Abstract:

Twelve-year-old New York City twins Meg and Edward have nothing in common, so they are just as shocked as everyone else when Meg's hopes for popularity and Edward's mischievous schemes coincidentally collide in a hilarious showdown.

Subject Term:

Twins -- Juvenile fiction.

Brothers and sisters -- Juvenile fiction.

Schools -- Juvenile fiction.

Geographic Term:

New York (N.Y.) -- Juvenile fiction.

Genre:

Humorous stories.

Added Author:

Vail, Rachel.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Teen Fiction Book Hardback	120791001420170	T AVI	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Edward and Meg are like night and day, oil and water. Meg zigs while Edward zags. How could two such different people be twins? Well, they are, but they don't have to like it -- or each other.

Seventh grade means different schools for the pair: Brainy Meg's at ultracompetitive Fischer, while Charlton Street Alternative School is the place for freewheeling Edward. Oddly enough, it's just when Edward and Meg are finally out of each other's shadows that the trouble begins.

Within just a week, Meg's aspirations for popularity, imaginary boyfriend, and angst over a terrible yellow ensemble her mother has chosen combine with Edward's devious planning, lack of singing ability, and top-secret soft spot to set off a showdown the likes of which twindom has never before seen.

How is it, then, that this final showdown is so much fun? Could it be that Meg and Edward are more alike than they thought?

Never mind. Read the book!

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

"Collaborating on a novel alternately narrated by seventh-grade twins, Avi and Vail invent a sit-comish plot but redeem it by endowing their characters with strong voices and relaying their mishaps with plenty of wit," said PW. Ages 10-up. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Horn Book Review

(Middle School) In alternating chapters, Rachel Vail and Avi take on the personae of fraternal twins with nothing in common except their disdain for each other. ""It is just a quirk of fate that we shared a womb way back in fetus-hood,"" says Meg, an athletic, straight-A seventh grader with low self-esteem who hopes to get picked for the High Achievers Club at school. Her twin brother Edward, a scrawny underachiever with a smart mouth, goes to a different middle school, which is why Meg, on the phone with the ultra-popular founder of the High Achievers Club, can pretend her twin is a suave rock musician (the real Edward ""can't even hum on key"") named Ted. Meg doesn't know that Edward is listening in on her conversation, and his plot to keep her out of the club escalates the deception to the point that the nonexistent Ted's nonexistent band, called Never Mind, gets booked to play at the popular girl's party. As screwball comedies go, this one is consistently entertaining, and the dual narrators remain sympathetic and genuine-sounding even as the plot's convolutions reach absurd levels. Of course, the twins end up with a new appreciation for each other, and popularity ends up seeming much less desirable than being okay with who you are. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

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) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Gr. 5-7. Meg and Edward are twins, but they couldn't be more different and they don't get along. She is tall, smart, and pretty, and she has just been invited to joint the High Achievers' Club at her special middle school. He is the world's biggest loser, an immature, runty underachiever. She is terrified her fancy friends will find out about him. Two of today's best writers tell the story in the twins' alternating narratives, and they have a huge amount of fun with a plot that cuts down the high-achiever snobs and reveals how smart people can fall for their own vain fantasies. Edward shows that his clever sister is not too swift, and his narrative is hilarious--wry, touching, and very smart. The dialogue is great, especially the conversations that reveal how hard it is to listen and to say what you mean. The twins' caring parents talk to Meg about the need to communicate, but they don't listen when she tries to tell them she lied. Don't look too closely at the plot; it's too farcical to be really credible. But the wit and slapstick carry the story, which has moments of sadness that raise serious issues everyone will recognize. Best of all is the message: laugh at yourself. Readers will. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2004 Booklist

Excerpts

Never Mind! A Twin Novel Chapter One Edward Though my sister, Meg, and I were born on the same day, I am ten minutes older, which -- trust me -- is a lot. True, we have the same parents, live in the same 106th Street apartment, same city, state, country, continent. But I'm nothing like her. No way, big way. So I didn't consider myself her twin. Like, in fifth grade we had to interview our grandparents, asking them sixteen questions the teacher handed out. No offense, but our grandparents are not that interesting. So I made up new answers. Problem was the teacher didn't believe my grandmother hunted armadillos with a bow and arrow or that my grand-father had the world's largest under-glass ant farm. Meg did the boring facts. Got an A. Then there was that time we had to do a report on a favorite animal. Meg wrote about the three-day life of our only pet, a sorry goldfish named Polly. There was nothing to say, really. It lived, it ate, it went belly-up. I wrote about my pet porcupine, which lived in my closet and chased away burglars. When I read it out loud in class, everyone laughed except Meg . . . and the teacher. Fortunately, this year my parents figured out a way to send us to different middle schools for seventh grade. "You each have your own talents and styles," Mom said. "We like it that you're each unusual in your own way," added my dad. "We want to encourage your individuality." So when seventh grade started -- three weeks ago -- Meg went to Fischer High on the East Side. I went to Charlton Street Alternative School, downtown. Meg, as usual, will probably get As in all her classes. An A- or B+ on a quiz means supersulks. My new school doesn't give grades, because they aren't considered meaningful. You pass or fail in small classes where we do lots of projects, field trips, and hands-on stuff. So far, considering that I have to go to school, it seems okay. Meg isn't just a perfect student. She's also great at sports. She has show-off ribbons (swimming) and trophies (soccer). I like skateboarding. Her room is spotless. My room is a mess. Meg expects to become a senator. Maybe president. Grown-ups like that. "Good for you," they say. "Like to see that kind of ambition. You've got my vote." Ha ha. Not mine. If they ask me what I'm going to do, I just say, "Nothing." My hero? Bill Gates. World's richest man -- didn't go to college. Also, Meg looks a lot older than me. She's at least a foot taller -- a frigging giantess -- and thinks she can look and act like an eighth grader. Ninth, maybe. Me? The first day of school, Mr. Feffer, the bald teacher with gross hair tufts in his nose, asked me the date of my birth because he wasn't sure I was even supposed to be in the seventh grade. That's how puny people think I am. My rat's-tail haircut and fake tattoos don't help. Also, Meg has six gazillion friends. If she isn't in a crowd, she feels like she's on a desert island. She and her friends talk to each other on the phone all the time. When she hangs up and I ask, "Who was that?" she'll always answer, "One of my friends you don't know." (Of course I do know. Because I often listen in on the kitchen extension. My sister may be smart, but she ain't too swift.) Until this week I had one friend, Stuart Barcaster. While he is the best dude in the world -- and worth more than all her friends put together -- he was the only one I had. Get my point? She's twelve noon. I'm midnight. We are that different. So, then, how can I explain what happened? Never Mind! A Twin Novel . Copyright © by Sebastien Avi. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold. Excerpted from Never Mind!: A Twin Novel by Avi All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.