This book was wonderfully sad. :(

I loved the parallelism of this story to the Jacob/Esau story. I wonder if this tension Paterson draws on is something many twins face in their elementary and teen lives? I imagine it would be.

I actually didn't like any of the characters, but I still loved this book: Paterson was upfront about all of their flaws--Louise was jealous, Caroline was arrogant, Call was annoying, Captain was creepy, grandma was psycho and jealous. I felt the deep hurt that Caroline never called her sister by her real name--but Louise had her own issues as well. This was definitely deserving of a Newbery.

Pairings: My Sister's Keeper.