Be First In The Universe (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [School & Library Binding]

Stephanie Spinner (Author), Terry Bisson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2001 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

THIS EDITION IS INTENDED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. While staying with their hippie grandparents, ten-year-old twins, Tod and Tessa, discover an unusual shop at the nearby mall, where they find a lie-detecting electronic pet, a Do-Right machin

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For their first collaboration, Spinner (coauthor of Aliens for Breakfast) and Bisson (Pirates of the Universe) concoct a sluggishly paced tale centering on twins Tessa and Tod, who happen upon "Gemini Jack's U Rent All" at the Middle Valley Mall. When the two hold hands and walk backward, the store materializes "at the end of a narrow corridor they hadn't seen before." Inside, a man with too-smooth skin and too many fingers knows what they have come to the mall to buy--baking pans for their grandmother--and offers to rent them to the youngsters. Well before the siblings catch on, the authors let readers in on Jack's alien identity and mission on earth, which entails saving his planet by taking a DNA sample from entirely ruthless earthling twins. Gemini Jack also lets Tessa borrow a pink "electronic pet," which the following day is stolen--along with other students' e-pets--from the twins' school. Tessa uses another gadget on loan from Jack to track down the culprits--a set of twins nasty enough to fulfill Jack's needs. Occasional funny moments surface in this convoluted caper, yet extraneous detail and an obvious conclusion considerably weaken its punch. Ages 8-12. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 3-5-Nine-year-old twins Tessa and Tod think the guy who runs Gemini Jack's U Rent All at the local megamall is so weird, he could be an alien. It turns out they're right: Gemini Jack is on a mission to collect DNA from a pair of nasty human twins and use it to inoculate the residents of his home planet against their own niceness. This contemporary light comedy is successful in places. In the funniest running joke of the book, Jack gives the twins an electronic pet that beeps whenever anyone within earshot tells a lie, showing Tessa and Tod that adults tell whoppers right along with kids. However, the plot is hampered by inconsistencies in pacing and structure, and in small but crucial details. The authors devote many pages early in the book to the twins' hippie grandparents and their opposition to malls; these sections read like foreshadowing but turn out to be irrelevant to the plot. More jarring are contradictions about the nature of Jack's home, sometimes mentioned in the singular as "our planet" and sometimes in the plural as the "the twin planets Gemini." While there are some amusing moments here, the story seems more like a setup for a sequel than a complete entity.
Beth Wright, Dorothy Alling Memorial Library, Williston, VT
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• School & Library Binding: 133 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (May 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0613427009
• ISBN-13: 978-0613427005
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,696,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I know it's supposed to be a kids book..., August 5, 2000

By 

"rockermvp2000" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be First in the Universe (Hardcover)

...but it's a ton of fun for an adult like me. Fun, fresh, and even surreal, "First" teaches readers (especially youth) not just to enjoy reading but also to question what we see and read. Recommended!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rates with the best!, October 4, 2000

By 

Med "medever" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Be First in the Universe (Hardcover)

Anyone who has enjoyed Terry Bisson's SF and Fantasy creations, probably knew it all along. He was bound to be good at this sort of thing. Together with Stephanie Spinner, Bisson has given us (and our kids) a romping good story. There's plenty of humor to offset our anxiety over the twin protagonists. And there's just enough payback for the twin villains! I only hope Bisson and Spinner had as much fun with this book as we did, so they'll think about doing another one soon.

4.0 out of 5 stars Alien's are not scary., January 10, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Be First in the Universe (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book. It let's me know that even if you are twins you are not the same. The author is very imaginative. They did not make the Aliens scary, they are almost humans. It also made me understand that if you do bad things to others that there can be a pay back in the end. It shows that telling the truth is so much easier than telling lies. I had fun reading the book with my mom, it started out slow and then I could not put the book down. I hope that other kids pick up this book and read it because it makes you imagine that Aliens can be real but not scary.