One of my favourite children's books ever. I can't count the number of times I've read this; I've fond memories of it scaring me half to death as a kid. The Wilberforces are awful, but what strikes me most, from the first reading to this one, is how they're not the only monsters. Gee makes it perfectly plain what the stakes are - 11 year old twins Rachel and Theo either win against the Wilberforces or everyone dies... but to win, they've got to commit what is essentially genocide. The text doesn't shy away from this. Rachel is particular is truly disturbed by her role, trying (and failing) to find an alternative. Muddying the waters are the Wilberforces themselves. They are awful, but if they don't feel compassion or kindness they don't feel vengeance either, or sadism. Once Rachel's done her part she's essentially safe from them - there's no reason to kill her so they apparently don't even think of it. They're monsters, yes, but more monsters in the sense of sharks than of serial killers. And their final scene, the parents and the babies huddling together as a family while two children destroy their race for all time, is a chilling one.

There's just so much to unpack in this story. I love it, and always have done. And it's always so nice to have a NZ setting - every time I go to Auckland I see the volcanoes and think of Under the Mountain.