Customer Reviews

Lost and Found (Junior Library Guild Selection)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just maybe, being a twin is not what the rep says it is. No privacy. No chance to experiment a little. Always that other voice yammering in the background. Always the necessity to seek agreement from the other.

Until Jay Grayson goes alone on their first day to sixth grade at the new school in their new town. His identical twin Ray stays home sick. Since Jay has never done anything alone, he enjoys the solitude, the separateness. Ahhhh. The strange thing is that all day not one teacher calls his brother's name. In the afternoon he has a chance to take a quick peek at the student folders. There's not one for his brother! Then he discovers the mistake. The two folders are stuck one inside the other. No one knows there's a twin. There's only Jay Grayson.

Therein is hatched the plot to pass the twins as one. They take turns going to school. After all, their own mother has to look for the one identifying birthmark to know absolutely which twin is which. No one ever chooses to be friends with just one twin. How does a kid decide, when they look alike? It has always been a threesome. Then there's the name thing. Their parents named them Jay Ray and Ray Jay. Yes, they did. That really enhances their identical identities. Yet, they are very different. Where one excels, the other declines. Even their tastes in girls differ as they find out during their week as one boy.

Andrew Clements has written another winner to join Frindle, The School Story, and A Week in the Woods. His inimitable laid-back style of writing draws in the reluctant reader and just sucks in the one who loves reading. See, the boys know early on that they will get caught eventually and decide to pass as one for just a week then accept their punishment. They want to do this to savor the freedom of just being one person, and not part of a pair. They know they are different, but they know they are treated like, well, twins.

What they discover, maybe not right away, but later when they think about it, after the story is over, is that people DO KNOW the difference between them, or at least people who matter to them. Therein lies half the story--to make this discovery. Clement treats the issues of rebellion, individuality, and initiative provocatively yet responsibly.

Oh yes, where did Clement get his source material on twins? His own twin sons, now grown. And that title--Lost and Found--very thematic!

I've got twin boys and this story was so cute for them to read. They could identify with the story and it has quickly become a favorite bedtime read for the whole family. Illustrations was pleasing to the eyes and the font is a great size for beginning readers.

Twelve-year old twins Jay and Ray are starting at yet another new school but when Ray is sick on the first day, Jay finds out that the school has no record of his brother. For the first time, he finds out what its like to have no twin - and he likes it. He hatches a plan and convinces his brother to go along. They will take turns going to school so they can both enjoy being on their own for the first time ever. It's great at first but then things get complicated . . . .

This is a fast moving, fun book without complicated plots or characters. Great for slightly older kids wanting a short, easy to read book.

Three stars for this book (Maybe three and a half?).

All their lives, 12-year-old Jay and Ray Grayson had been in the spotlight, what with being identical twins. So, plenty of being pointed out and being made much of, everywhere they went. It's fun being part of a set, yes, but, sometimes, it does get annoying. Having just moved to Ohio, the Grayson family embarks on a fresh start. And when a clerical snafu fails to register one of the twins to their new elementary school's roster, well, it was really too good of an opportunity to pass up...

LOST AND FOUND is Andrew Clements' latest, and it isn't his best. But let me backtrack a little. I've read quite a bit of Andrew Clements' stuff. Mr. Clements is an ex-teacher who became a wonderful writer of children's books. In 2002, he ventured into Young Adult territory with THINGS NOT SEEN, a truly marvelous novel and a recent favorite of mine. Clements has a way with words. His style isn't at all fancy. Instead he writes with a directness and an unassuming simplicity, and you, whether young OR old, find yourself instantly connected and immersed. Guy's a born storyteller. His tales manage to be both hugely entertaining and thought-provoking. His run of excellent books is tremendous: Frindle, The Landry News, The Report Card, No Talking, Lunch Money, Things Not Seen, Things Hoped For, and so on. In cracking open his books, I have never, ever been disappointed. Which brings us back to LOST AND FOUND.

So weird. Just the other day I was lauding him in another review. Now this. But something's missing with this one. Oh, LOST AND FOUND isn't bad; it's actually a decent page turner. But here's the thing. I guess I've been placing Andrew Clements on a pedestal higher than other pedestals. So it's a bit jarring when an author I regard so highly comes out with a merely decent product. Yes, he again comes thru with several insights, as this time he focuses on the downsides of twinhood (ie: the loss of individuality, the constant comparison checks).

But for the reader to care, the lead characters have to be interesting enough. To me, Jay and Ray Grayson aren't compelling characters, and I ended up not caring so much for their story. Maybe, probably, it's because Clements didn't differentiate between the two as much. Oh, there's the surface personality traits. Jay is bookish and excels at sports, while Ray is the charmer, good with girls, and is musical. But neither stood out in my mind's eye. Too, this time, Clements had a tendency to overexplain things, so intent was he on making sure that the readers aren't confused by who is pretending to be whom, at certain points in the story. This results in too much "Ray" and "Jay" being bandied about in too many passages (it just got exasperating). I think the middle grade reader could've followed events just fine without the over-coddling. And I never thought I'd say this, but the ending and resolution, when they come, read a bit weak.

Am I being too critical, too harsh on the guy? Dunno. Probably. I hope I don't sound bitter, because its not that strong of a feeling; rather, it's more a lower tier of disappointment. Andrew Clements is simply amazing at what he does, and he's provided me with hours of reading nirvana. And I guess I expected him to keep knocking it out of the park. I happen to think he's that capable. But, unlike all his other stuff which I've read, LOST AND FOUND didn't leave me thinking, "Man, what an awesome book to read!!" Yes, LOST AND FOUND is a decent read. It's just not up to Andrew Clements' standards. That's not too harsh, is it?

How this book came to me: I requested an advance reading copy of this book from the Amazon Vine program for the purpose of writing a review. I selected it because I have liked previous books by this author. In fact, Andrew Clements was my older son's favorite author the year he was ten years old, and I though the book would be a good fit for our family.

The story as described on the back cover is the classic tale of switching places with someone and fooling people, but with a twist. Identical twins Jay and Ray, in their first day of sixth grade, find out upon starting at a new school that due to a mix-up the school only knows about one of them. Due to issues with being a twin and watning to see what life is like as a non-twin, they devise a plan to fool everyone. One twin gets to stay home and goof off while the other goes to school. They switch back and forth. Of course the issue is how and when will they be discovered or reveal the truth? And what kind of tangled web does lying weave? I thought the plot was a great idea and figured my boys would love the idea of the switching and the suspense.

The thing that surprised me the most about this story was that the focus of the action in the story was something never revealed on the book's description: it is about the boys getting crushes on girls and vice-versa. Right off the bat one boy is attracted to a girl and tells his brother to tell him to be sure to tell him if he kisses her. The other brother has a love interest in a different girl, so things start to get confusing. The publisher states this on my copy of the book is for children ages 8-12 and frankly I'm a bit surprised that the focus is on physical attraction, crushes and hopes of kissing. In fact one boy feels worse about deceiving his crush than he feels about lying to his own parents.

Lest you think I am a prude, I'll share that my eleven year old son read the book and said it was his least favorite book by Andrew Clements. He said he was not at all interested in reading a book about boys having crushes on girls and talking about dating and kissing. I asked if the `switching places' plot was exciting and fun and he said no, the story was boring and moved slowly without much suspense, and he just didn't care about to find out what happened.

As further proof, before I read it I also let my eight year old read it as he has enjoyed reading some of the author's other books and this is within his independent reading level. That son said he didn't at all like the talk about the girls as he still thinks that the idea of dating, romance and kissing girls is gross. He said the book was not very exciting either, regarding the entire story and the `switching places' part.

Back to my perspective the author does make many points regarding being an identical twin. The information on the book's back cover explains that Mr. Clements has identical twin sons so he knows this information firsthand. As a parent these issues interested me. However gauging on the reaction of my two, non-twin boys within the publisher's stated target age range I can say my non-twin boys didn't care to hear about the issues facing identical twins, they could not relate to it. I bet all twins would love this book though.

Perhaps girls would be more interested in the budding romance of the characters of this book and about the emotional relational issues regarding the challenges that identical twins face?

Perhaps the story would have worked better and found a better fit with its audience if the two main characters were girls and this was targeted mainly at girl readers?

And the final reason why I don't like the book was the surprise in the end, when the school wanted to punish the boys for their school skipping the father threatened to sue the school and to go to the media with their mistake unless they dropped the punishment, as he did not want their school record marred with a bad mark of behavior! Talk about issues of not getting consequences for children's actions! That is so typical of what many parents today do. I bet that teachers will be disappointed to see that happen in the story as that very thing is a big complaint of many school teachers. If you don't believe me go read some teacher's blogs and read the stories they tell of their students and their families!

I'm saddened to say that it was not just me but my two Andrew Clements-book loving boys who felt disappointed by this story. Ouch, it pained me to write this review but I am being honest. I'll rate the book a 2 because I can't bring myself to rate anything written by Mr. Clements a 1, we enjoy his other books too much and he is a favorite author of our family's. I actually feel badly writing this review. Sorry, Mr. Clements.

Andrew Clements has added another great middle grade novel to his list of successful titles. LOST AND FOUND is a sure winner.

Identical twins fascinate us. It seems amazing to look so much like someone else that people can't tell the difference. There are fantastic tales of switching places, having their own special form of communication, feeling one another's pain, and reading each other's mind. All that is intriguing to those who are not twins, but when you are an identical twin, there are many times when you wish you were one of a kind.

Jay and Ray are entering the sixth grade at a new school, and each is feeling the frustration that their new classmates will not be able to tell them apart. Jay will be Ray, and Ray will be Jay more than they care to think about. However, things don't go as expected when Ray comes down with a cough and a fever that keep him at home on the first day of school.

In their homeroom class, Jay is surprised when only his name is called off by the teacher. Shouldn't Ray be called right after him? As the day continues, all the teachers do the same. No one mentions Ray at all. It is not until Jay accidentally notices a blue file with his name on it that looks twice as thick as everyone else's that he realizes the two files have been combined. The school seems to have no idea that his twin brother Ray even exists.

As soon as Jay gets home after school, he tells Ray about his interesting discovery. By then Jay has enjoyed one entire day not being a twin. He's even worked out a plan that would allow both boys to experience that wonderful feeling of being one of a kind. They can take turns attending school. One can go and one can stay at home. What can go wrong?

Knowing that they can't keep up the ruse forever, they agree to try it for as long as possible. There will be consequences when they are caught, but both decide it is worth the risk. Little do they know, by pretending to be one another, they must be more alike than ever before.

LOST AND FOUND is an entertaining story guaranteed to hold the interest of the 9-12 age group. Clements has a way of making the story sound like it could be happening right in the reader's own classroom. In addition to humor and suspense, there are opportunities for good classroom discussion including plot predictions, cause and effect relationships, and decision-making consequences. Whether inside or outside the classroom, LOST AND FOUND is a fun read.

Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

"Lost and Found" is an entertaining story about twins who, due to a clerical error when they enroll in a new school, are registered as one student. So one twin hides in the garage (until the parents leave for work, then he goes in the house) while the other goes off to school, and they switch roles every day.

As you can imagine, this sets up several interesting little problems (involving soccer, girls, etc...) that finally get resolved at the end when the truth comes out.

An easy, breezy read, this book is sure to please kids. It's not as substantive, perhaps, as Clements' "Frindle", "School Story", or "Week in the Woods", but that won't stop kids from enjoying it. My 9 yo daughter picked this book up the minute I set it down and read it in one sitting. She loved the idea of the twins' secret prank and said it was a great book.

A solid offering from an imaginative author. Recommended for ages 7-11.

Andrew Clements's new book, Lost and Found, tackles one of life's oft-imagined scenarios: What if twins somehow found a way so that only one of them had to attend school while the other took the day off? I suspect twins all over the world have at least given this a thought at one time or another, but Clements goes further and sets up the possibility realistically when an errant school file gets inserted into another and suddenly Jay Grayson realizes that his absent twin isn't even on the school's roll. And when he experiences school as a single, independent of his ever-present identical other half, he discovers the advantages to be had. So after a bit of pestering, Jay is able to convince twin brother Ray to give the plan a go, but the boys soon discover it's not quite so easy to pretend to be the other because, as we all know, school doesn't just stop when the last bell rings. What if someone spies both boys in the yard? What if they're caught at the mall? It's a tale worth following to see its inevitable conclusion.

Reading this book from an adult (and teacher) point of view probably hampers me a bit in my review, as I could poke holes in the story fairly easily. I found the adults in the book a bit dim, but I suppose that's part of the appeal to its intended audience. But this is a seriously fun book, and I love that Jay and Ray actually tried an experiment that seems fairly easy on the surface. I liked how the boys' trick was ultimately discovered, but it did seem that they may have gotten off a bit lightly in the end. But I do see huge appeal in the story and I think Clements has another winner on his hands. Perfect reading for kids from third grade on.

The school makes a big mistake and the twins take advantage. Palindromic
Jay Ray and Ray Jay are changeling, doppelganger and duffus, like a Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer who look alike. There is always in their lives an "I want just to be me, not the twin." element: in this book these identical twins get a unique way to show that they aren't mirror images, but individuals.They are different: they like different girls, different sports and different subjects. But the clerical error is caught and so are they...
This is a good children's book about individuality
and what it really means.

My 8 yr old son said -- Mom, I couldn't put this book down. It was really fun and exciting. He refused to come to dinner until he had finished the book cover to cover. He is an only child, but he could really identify with the 12 yr old twin boys featured here, and with the scrapes they got into in their quest for their own identity and place in this world as individuals rather than just twins who come as a package. I like to read the books my son does, so that I know what he is exposed to, and while it didn't have the punch of Frindle by the same author, it was an extremely engaging and well characterized book, with no plot holes.