Runaway Twin

by Peg Kehret

Overview

Thirteen-year-old Sunny runs away from her current foster parent in search of her twin sister, from whom she was separated ten years earlier. On the way, she'll face a tornado, bullies, and a stray dog- and the fact that her sister may not be who Sunny hoped she would be.

Customer Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142418499
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	01/20/2011
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	740L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

Peg Kehret was born in Wisconsin, grew up in Minnesota, spent fourteen years in California, and now lives with her husband in Washington State. They have two grown children, four grandchildren, one dog, and one cat.

Peg's novels for children are regularly recommended by the American Library Association, the International Reading Association, and the Children's Book Council. She has won many state "young reader" or "children's choice" awards. Peg's characters are ordinary kids who find themselves in exciting situations and who use their wits to solve their problems. There is usually humor as well as suspense in her books. A long-time volunteer at The Humane Society, she often uses animals in her stories.

Before she began writing books for children, Peg published plays, short stories, articles, and two books for adults. She is a frequent speaker at conferences for librarians and teachers.

At the age of twelve, Peg had polio and was paralyzed from the neck down. Because she can remember that experience and her year of recovery so vividly, she finds it easy to write in the viewpoint of a twelve or thirteen year old. Most of her main characters are that age. Her autobiography, Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio, won the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and the PEN Center USA West Award for Children's Literature.

When she is not writing, Peg likes to watch baseball, bake cookies, and pump her old player piano.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Sunny is compelling and resourceful character whose adventures will keep readers turning the pages to see how things turn out." -School Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

"Sunny is compelling and resourceful character whose adventures will keep readers turning the pages to see how things turn out." -School Library Journal

From the Publisher

[T]he easy first person narrative and consistent action will engage struggling readers.

Booklist

Separated from her twin sister, Starr, when they were three-year-old orphans in Washington state, Sunny Skyland spends the next ten years bouncing around foster homes in Nebraska. Her current foster mother has provided her a good home, but Rita has strict food rules that rankle the thirteen-year-old. When Sunny finds a bag containing $820 in a vacant lot, she decides to use the cash to return to Washington and find her twin. Without telling Rita, Sunny boards a bus and begins the long trek. When the bus makes a restaurant stop in a small town, Sunny discovers a stray dog begging for food. Feeling alone herself, Sunny identifies with Snickers—as she dubs the mixed-breed—and dog and girl bond. Buses don't allow dogs, though, so Sunny and Snickers begin their journey on foot. Many adventures ensue, including a hurricane, an encounter with two bullies who try to steal her backpack, and enlisting a friendly cabdriver to drive them four hours closer to Washington. When Sunny and Snickers reach her former hometown, she finds her twin (a bit too deus ex machina), but their reunion is nothing like Sunny imagined. The writing is smooth and flows from incident to incident with good cliffhanger chapter endings. The book offers insights into the subjects of foster homes, bullying, friendship, self-confidence, and personal responsibility. A few aspects of the plot seem contrived, but overall the story is appealing and lively. Dog lovers will enjoy the relationship between Snickers and Sunny. Reviewer: Florence H. Munat

VOYA - Florence H. Munat

Thirteen-year-old Sunny Skyland has had anything but a sunny life. Orphaned at age three, and separated from her twin sister, Starr, she is now living in her seventh foster home. Her new foster mother, Rita, is kind and loving (except for her mildly irritating refusal to allow Sunny to eat her favorite junk foods), but more than anything, Sunny longs to be reunited with Starr. So when Sunny happens upon an abandoned satchel filled with cash, she sets off on a journey across the country from Nebraska to Oregon to see if she can find the house portrayed in her one surviving photo (taken a decade ago) of the two little girls. Kehret knows how to spin an affecting and engrossing story: right away Sunny meets up with an abandoned, aging dog to be her companion, protector, but also burden (her transportation plans foiled by bus company policies against dogs); she is also menaced by thugs and, for good measure, survives a tornado, as well. Characterizations and plot developments in the last third of the book are exaggerated and implausible, but this really does not matter, for by this point readers will be rooting hard for Sunny and her dog, Snickers, and eager for Sunny to learn the predictable but nonetheless satisfying lesson of what it truly means to be a family. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D.

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

Gr 5–7—Sunny Skyland has missed her twin sister ever since they were separated at age three after their mother and grandmother were killed in an automobile accident. Sunny has kept her memories of Starr alive over the past decade and in seven foster homes. Then, the discovery of a canvas bag containing $800, with no claimant, spurs Sunny to travel from Nebraska to her old neighborhood in Enumclaw, WA. Sunny is an experienced runaway who plans carefully and tells no one. She boards a bus for the first leg of her journey but then complicates her life by adopting a stray dog. Her trip is thwarted by a group of teenage boys, and she survives a tornado. She does reach her destination, but not with the expected ending. At times the plot twists, although possible, are improbable. Nonetheless, Sunny is a compelling and resourceful character whose adventures will keep readers turning the pages to see how things turn out.—Kathryn Kosiorek, formerly at Cuyahoga County Public Library, Brooklyn, OH

School Library Journal

A runaway teen travels from Nebraska to Washington searching for the twin sister she's been separated from for ten years. Haunted by memories of her sister, 13-year-old Sunny decides it's time to start looking when she stumbles upon an abandoned bag of money. A veteran of seven foster-care placements, Sunny doesn't want to leave her current home with Rita, who gives her space, makes her laugh and lets her choose clothes, books and music. Propelled by her dream of finding her sister, though, Sunny carefully escapes by bus, but she isn't prepared for the homeless dog, the bullies or the tornado she encounters en route. Nor is she prepared for what her search reveals. Narrating her tale in a realistic voice, Sunny explains she's not a bad girl. As she crosses the country alone, she's resilient in the face of danger, honest when temptation calls and pragmatic when she realizes Rita may be the family she needs. Although Sunny's resourcefulness and maturity stretch credibility, her dogged determination will inspire. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews