Product Description

I was proud of my sister, but that year, something began to rankle beneath the pride.

Louise has had enough of her twin sister. Caroline is beautiful. Caroline is talented. Caroline is better. Growing up on the small island of Rass in Chesapeake Bay, Caroline seems to do nothing but take from Louise: their parents' love, Louise's chances for an education, her dreams for the future. They have spent their lives entwined -- sleeping in the same room, eating at the same table, learning in the same classroom -- and yet somehow nothing can bring them together. Louise's only hope lies in seeking a place for herself beyond the stretch of Rass's shores and her sister's shadow. What will it take for her to break free?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195573 in Books
• Published on: 1990-09-14
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .69" h x 3.96" w x 7.01" l, .28 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9-Katherine Paterson's acclaimed novel (HarperCollins, 1980) tells of Sara Louise, a girl with a twin so beautiful, talented, and charming that Sara can find no real place or identity for herself either with her family or on the small island in the Chesapeake Bay which is her home. While Sara Louise spends her days in the shadows helping her father with the crabs and oysters that are their livelihood, Caroline becomes a star performer in island concerts, wins a scholarship to Julliard, and eventually claims Sara Louise's fishing buddy as her adoring fiancee. Set during World War II, the story builds slowly to a powerful and believable climax in which Sara Louise realizes that she can come out of the shadows by leaving her family and the island behind. Narrator Christina Moore is more than equal to the difficult task of telling the story from Sara Louise's viewpoint by sounding resentful at times, but never resorting to an unbroken bitterness that would become grating. Her Sara Louise is understandably human with energy, intelligence, and wit that causes listeners to side with and believe in her. The island setting has more than its share of salty, Bible pounding characters, and Moore is able to capture them. All libraries will benefit from owning this outstanding telling of a remarkable tale.?Carol R. Katz, Harrison Public Library, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Sara Louise Bradshaw, or Wheeze, is a twin, but her sister is far brighter and prettier than she can ever hope to be. God, she thinks, has marked her with his especial disfavor, and in the lean times of the Depression, with little enough to go around, Sara Louise has just about the least. Nevertheless, she's a crabber on the Chesapeake and a good waterman's daughter with a fierce desire to make it in the world. Christina Moore reads Sara Louise's story with the same dogged energy and spite expressed by the author. Moore brings to vivid life Sara's droll friend, Coll, and her testy grandmother. But most of all, she manages to gracefully ease us into Sara Louise's joyous awakening when, after a life that has for so long seemed like a betrayal, light dawns at last. P.E.F. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

1991 Newberry Committe, ALA
"With wry humor, Sara Louise recalls her turbulent adolescence on Rass Island and her intense jealousy of her twin sister. Strength of characterization and memorable external and internal action mark this superbly crafted novel about a quest for self-knowledge."