Jake and Lily [Hardcover]

Jerry Spinelli (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 8, 2012 | Age Range: 8 and up | Lexile Measure: 480L (What's this?)

Beloved Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli, author of Maniac Magee and Wringer, addresses issues of identity, belonging, family, and bullying in this humorous and heartfelt novel about twins. 

Jake and Lily are twins. Despite their slightly different interests and temperaments, they feel exactly the same—like two halves of one person. But the year they turn eleven, everything changes. Their parents announce it’s time for separate bedrooms. Jake starts hanging out with a pack of boys on the block. And Lily is devastated, not to mention angry. Who is she without Jake? And as her brother falls under the influence of the neighborhood bully, he also must ask himself—who is the real Jake?

This is an often funny, poignant, and profound story of growing up, growing apart, and the difficult process of figuring out who you really are.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Spinelli adroitly balances emotional tension with introspective moments in this smart and funny story.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

“Spinelli is a poet of the prepubescent…Nobody is better than Spinelli when it comes to creating the grade-school world of qualified innocence—and treading a fine line between challenge and reassurance.” (New York Times Book Review )

“Each character is portrayed with emotional subtlety and conviction, while their juxtaposed viewpoints bring the energy of opposing forces to the story.” (Booklist )

“Double the feelings, double the fun.” (Kirkus Reviews )

“Spinelli’s hallmark issues—individuality, nonconformity, alienation, standing up for the little guy—figure prominently, and the messages are convincingly worked into the story.” (Horn Book Magazine )

From the Back Cover

This is a story about me, Lily.
And me, Jake.
We're twins and we're exactly alike.
Not exactly!
Whatever. This is a book we wrote about the summer we turned eleven and Jake ditched me.
Please. I just started hanging out with some guys in the neighborhood.
Right. So anyway, this is a book about
goobers and supergoobers
bullies
clubhouses
true friends
things getting built and wrecked and rebuilt
and about figuring out who we are.
We wrote this together
(sort of)
so you'll get to see both sides of our story.
But you'll probably agree with my side.
You always have to have the last word, don't you?
Yes!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Balzer + Bray (May 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060281359
• ISBN-13: 978-0060281359
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Growing up, Jerry Spinelli was really serious about baseball. He played for the Green Sox Little League team in his hometown of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and dreamed of one day playing for the major leagues, preferably as shortstop for the New York Yankees.

One night during high school, Spinelli watched the football team win an exciting game against one of the best teams in the country. While everyone else rode about town tooting horns in celebration, Spinelli went home and wrote "Goal to Go," a poem about the game's defining moment, a goal-line stand. His father submitted the poem to the Norristown Times-Herald and it was featured in the middle of the sports page a few days later. He then traded in his baseball bat for a pencil, because he knew that he wanted to become a writer.

After graduating from Gettysburg College with an English degree, Spinelli worked full time as a magazine editor. Every day on his lunch hour, he would close his office door and craft novels on yellow magazine copy paper. He wrote four adult novels in 12 years of lunchtime writing, but none of these were accepted for publication. When he submitted a fifth novel about a 13-year-old boy, adult publishers once again rejected his work, but children's publishers embraced it. Spinelli feels that he accidentally became an author of children's books.

Spinelli's hilarious books entertain both children and young adults. Readers see his life in his autobiography Knots in My Yo-Yo String, as well as in his fiction. Crash came out of his desire to include the beloved Penn Relays of his home state of Pennsylvania in a book, while Maniac Magee is set in a fictional town based on his own hometown.

When asked if he does research for his writing, Spinelli says: "The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that I seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first 15 years of my life turned out to be one big research project. I thought I was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now I can see that I was also gathering material that would one day find its way into my books."

On inspiration, the author says: "Ideas come from ordinary, everyday life. And from imagination. And from feelings. And from memories. Memories of dust in my sneakers and humming whitewalls down a hill called Monkey."

Spinelli lives with his wife and fellow writer, Eileen, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. While they write in separate rooms of the house, the couple edits and celebrates one another's work. Their six children have given Jerry Spinelli a plethora of clever material for his writing.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

(What's this?)

#86 in Books > Teens

#86 in Books > Teens

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Sotry! June 2, 2012

By This Kid Reviews Books

Format:Hardcover

Jake and Lily are twins and they have this kind of super power connection. Once when Lily was inside coloring, she yelled out loud "I'm stuck!" and it turned out that Jake was stuck under a fence in the yard. Another time Lily was about to run into the street chasing a ball, Jake yelled out "STOP!", but he was at the dentist five miles away. When they were younger Jake and Lily were best friends and always together. They called their special connection their "goombla." Their goombla starts to fade as the twins get older. Jake and Lily start to grow apart. Lily wants the goombla to stay, but Jake wants to grow up. Will the twins get their goombla back or will they learn to live their own lives?

This Jerry Spinelli book is full of humor and good stuff! I liked the idea of the twin "link," but the story is not really all about the link. It's more about the kids trying to be their own person rather than a twin and I think it made a good story. I like how the chapters alternate between Lily's and Jake's perspective. I really liked both main characters a lot, but I think I liked Lily a little more because of how she acted and her general attitude. The story really kept me interested and I cared about what would happen to Jake and Lily. The book is great for young advanced readers. I think kids and adults of all ages will like this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book! September 6, 2012

By Mandy Matosky

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Jake and Lily are twins, but not just any twins. They have a sort of special bond that they call goombla. Goombla lets them know things about each other, like what the other is thinking. This brings them close and they are like two pieces of one whole. They do everything together, until one day after they turn 11 Jake starts hanging out with their neighbor, Bump. Lily hates Bump but as summer goes by Jake spends every single day with him. This tears Jake and Lily's relationship apart until they hardly speak. As Jake and Bump begin hanging out more, Jake beings to change. He is mean to Lily and he and his friends are constantly picking on "goobers." For a while, Jake just laughs along with the others. One day Bump takes the bullying too far and Jake begins to feel guilty. He struggles with himself as to what he should do, lose his friend and stand up for the goober, or just sit back and say nothing.

Meanwhile, Lily becomes depressed because she feels like she is losing herself. Her grandpa helps her to find a life that is not centered around her twin brother. She struggles with this because she does not want a new life; she just wants her brother back. Lily sees her brother having fun everyday while she remains miserable. She starts to think that maybe the goombla and her brother will be lost forever.

Eventually, Lily finds a new friend and Jake befriends the goober, leaving Bump behind. Will the goombla come back? Will Jake and Lily's relationship go back to the way things were? You've got to read it to find out. This is a comical book about two twins growing up and growing apart. It is written from both perspectives (every other chapter is written by Jake and every other is written by Lily). At first, this may be confusing for younger readers. However, as the book progresses the two personalities become more distinct. This makes it easier to discern whose chapter it is, and the reader does not have to flip back to the title to see.

The short chapters and simple vocabulary make for a pretty simple read. I would recommend this book for children grades 3-6. I think all types of students could enjoy this book. It is well written and the characters development is inspiring. There is just a right mix between comedy and other feelings (regret, sadness, jealousy, etc.).

I think there is a good lesson in this book about bullying. Through this book the boys bully quite a few people, but we get to know one of the kids they pick on a lot. We also get to see how this impacts Jake. He begins to realize that not only is bullying wrong, but so is standing by while someone else does the bullying. Laughing is just as much of a crime, and just because someone is different doesn't make them any less of a person. There is also a good lesson about finding yourself and being true to who you are.

As a warning to parents and teachers: In this book there are a few choice words that you may not want in your classroom or your home. They are not cuss words exactly, but some may not be comfortable with their younger children reading it. A few examples so that you can decide for yourself without buying the book are: bull, freaking, moron, crap, etc. Because there is a lot of teasing in the book there is a lot of name calling.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good middle grade contemporary June 29, 2012

By Liviania VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Jerry Spinelli is one of my favorite children's authors. MANIAC MAGEE, THE LIBRARY CARD, and STARGIRL were three of my absolute favorite books. JAKE AND LILY might not be an instant classic, but it is a wonderful story for boys and girls.

Jake and Lily are fraternal twins who sleepwalk to the train station on their birthday. It's one of many ways they're connected, including a sense for where the other is and what they're doing. But as they mature, they can't stay glued to each other. Jake starts hanging out with a group of neighborhood boys, led by Lily's archnemesis Bump Stubbins. Lily's left to her own devices, but she doesn't know who she is without her brother.

Spinelli manages to write about two very different subjects in a very natural way. There's a plotline about bullying and one about developing your own life. I liked that the bullying was something insidious - not deliberate maliciousness, but going along with the crowd because it's fun. It takes Jake awhile to realize into the consequences of his behavior, but he does eventually get a clue. (And the kid his friends bully, Ernie, is priceless.) Lily's storyline takes a little while longer to get going, but the force of her emotions carries her half of the book. She's sometimes sad and often angry. Lily's a girl of action, but she just doesn't know what to do when her brother pulls away from her.

Growing older is never easy, and JAKE AND LILY is a terrific tale of two kids getting it wrong and getting it right in turns. The dual point of view is a terrific device that helps point out the difficulties Jake and Lily have in assessing their own attitude. This title will especially appeal to kids having trouble with their siblings or with a bully.