She can’t make herself throw away the expired containers of her mom’s favorite yogurt and still dials her mom’s cell phone number to hear her recorded message. She struggles with her friends’ casual mentions of their own mothers and doesn’t feel that she can talk to her bereaved father. It’s only been a few months since Corinna’s mom died of cancer, and her daily life is consumed with reminders of that fact. Owen comes across as much less attractive readers may be surprised by the level of his anger and his childish behavior.ĭespite the differing perspectives, though, it’s never more than a superficial exploration of the differences between brothers, enlivened by welcome infusions of basketball.Ī detailed exploration of grief in one year of an eighth-grade girl's life. Russell's chapters are amusing, as he discovers unexpected talents and abilities. Chapters alternate between the brothers’ first-person accounts, providing readers with a nice look at their diametrically opposed thinking. Owen, no longer the sole star athlete in his family, becomes increasingly jealous as his father, who once more or less ignored Russell, begins to focus on both sons. Then the new coach asks Russell to try out for the team because he's tall, and with that height comes a surprisingly satisfying skill in blocking shots. Russell and Owen don't understand each other's worlds, but previously, it hardly seemed to matter. He's generally regarded as physically inept. Russell, more concerned with academics, serves as leader of his school's Masters of the Mind team, a group that competes against other schools to solve tough mental puzzles. Owen is the quintessential jock: He plays basketball nearly all the time, and when he isn't playing, he's thinking about it. Seventh-grade fraternal twins Owen and Russell are as different as night and day, and that spells trouble when both of them make the basketball team.
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