APRIL YABOTM: One by Sarah Crossan | review

 Hi Everyone!

Welcome to this month's YA Book Of The Month pick! As you have seen by the title, it is One by Sarah Crossan.

This book has won the Carnegie Medal, but also so many more prizes such as the CBI Book Of The Year Award. This is an author who has also won multiple awards for her other books, which I will definitely read! The prizes themselves don't mean anything really but it does show that not all Carnegie winners are undeserving, which is what I have seemed to find the two past years when I've done Carnegie (post coming about this year!).

One is about conjoined twins Tippi and Grace, written from Grace's perspective in verse. It follows them as they go to school for the first time, meet Jon and Yasmeen and are forced to make a  heart-wrenching decision, changing their lives forever. 

Wow...this book gives such a fascinating insight into the lives of conjoined twins. It made me cry, it made me laugh (my friend thought I was very weird in silent reading at the start of English- I was giggling away!) but most of all, I think it changed the way I view not only conjoined twins, but also disability in general and it also had some important coming of age moments. It also showed how friendship doesn't have to be dictated by your disability and the friendship that they had with Jon and Yasmeen was so heart-warming. 

The whole novel was so powerful. The ending (although vaguely predictable) was very moving and poignant...the whole book has really stayed with me. 

Grace is the quieter, more reserved twin so having it from her perspective I think is so important to the book overall. It means we can see how she views her sister and how Tippi often does the talking. She is a character I really related to and felt like she was my friend!

The writing style, similar to Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, was just stunning and I found it very personal and touching. I've really grown to love novels written in verse and this was another wonderful example. I also read it very quickly because there is a lot of blank space on the page and it flowed beautifully. The way that Sarah Crossan creates this story with so little words and in the confines of verse is truly so magical and I can't recommend it enough!

I don't want to say too much about what I thought and my reflections because I loved the fact I didn't know much about it! There will be a discussion post, unpicking a few of the themes in this book, so look out for that!

I hope you're excited to hear more about this book and maybe even give it a go yourself! Thank you so much for being here, happy reading!

Have you read this book? Do you like the sound of it? Do you read many novels in verse? Have you read anything about conjoined twins?

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