Double Act - Softcover

Wilson, Jacqueline

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0440413745 ISBN 13: 9780440413745

Publisher: Yearling, 1999

Synopsis

Ten-year-old Ruby and Garnet are identical twins who do everything together. Especially since their mother died three years earlier. They dress alike, wear their hair the same, and sit together in every class. In fact, everything about them is the same--except their personalities. Ruby is funny and outgoing, Garnet is sensitive and shy. Together they're the perfect double act--and that's just the way they like it.
Soon the twins' life is turned upside down. Their dad has been spending a lot of time with his new "friend" Rose. Ruby and Garnet can't stand Rose. To make matters worse, Dad and Rose buy a bookstore out in the country and the whole family moves. Ruby hates their new school, but Garnet thinks it isn't all that bad. When Garnet befriends some of their new classmates, Ruby feels betrayed and stops speaking to Garnet. Garnet misses her sister terribly, but has to admit it's nice doing things on her own for a change. Somehow, the girls will have to find a way to maintain their special twin relationship without spending every minute of the day together.

About this title

About the Author

JACQUELINE WILSON is an extremely well-known and  hugely popular author who served as Children's Laureate from 2005-7.  She was been awarded a number of prestigious awards, including the British Children's Book of the Year and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award (for The Illustrated Mum), the Smarties Prize and the Children’s Book Award (for Double Act, for which she was also highly commended for the Carnegie Medal).  In 2002 Jacqueline was given an OBE for services to literacy in schools and in 2008 she was appointed a Dame.  She was the author most borrowed from British libraries in the last decade.

NICK SHARRATT has written and illustrated many books for chidren and won numerous awards for his picture books, including the Sheffield Children's Book Award and the 2001 Children's Book Award.  He has also enjoyed great success illustrating Jacqueline Wilson books.  Nick lives in Edinburgh.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

We're twins. I'm Ruby. She's Garnet.

We're identical. There's very few people who can -tell us apart. Well, until we start talking. I tend to go on and on. Garnet is much quieter

That's ~ because I can't get a word in edgeways.

We are exactly the same height and weight. I eat a bit more than Garnet. I love candy, and I like salty things too. I once ate thirteen bags of potato chips in one day. All salt-and-vinegar flavor. I love lots of salt and vinegar on french fries too. French-fried potatoes are my special weakness. I go munch munch munch gulp and they're gone. So then I have to scarf some of Garnet's. She doesn't mind.

Yes I do.

I don't get fatter because I run around more. I hate sitting still. Garnet will sit hunched over a book for hours, but I get the fidgets. We're both good at running, Garnet and me. At our last intramural sports day at school we beat everyone, even the boys. We came in first. Well, I did, actually. Garnet came in second. But that's not surprising, seeing that I'm the oldest. We're both ten. But I'm twenty minutes older. I was the bossy baby who pushed out first. Garnet came second.

We live with our dad and our grandmother.

Dad often can't tell us apart in the morning at breakfast, but then his eyes aren't always quite open. He just swallows black coffee as he jumps into his clothes and then dashes off for his train. Dad works in an office in London and he hates it. He's always tired out when he gets home. But he can tell us apart by then. It's easier in the evening. My braids are generally coming undone and my T-shirt's probably stained. Garnet stays as neat as a pin.

That's what our grandmother says. Gran always used to have pins stuck all down the front of her cardigan. We had to be very careful when we hugged her. Sometimes she even had pins sticking out of her mouth. That was when she did her dressmaking. She used to work in this exclusive boutique, pinning and tucking and sewing all day long. Then, after ...

Well, Gran had to look after us, you see, so she did dressmaking at home. For private customers. Mostly very large ladies who wanted the latest fashions. Garnet and I always got the giggles when we peeped at them in their underwear.

Gran made all our clothes too. That was awfuL It-was bad enough Gran being old-fashioned and making us have our hair in braids. But our clothes made us a laughingstock at school, though some of the mothers said we looked a perfect picture.

We had frilly dresses in summer and dinky pleated skirts in winter, and di-an knitted tooangora boleros that -made us itch, and matching sweaters and cardigans for the cold. Twinsets. And a very silly set of twins we looked too.

But then Gran's arthritis got worse. She'd always had funny fingers and a bad hip and a trick knee. But soon she got so she'd screw up her face when she got up or sat down, and her fingers swelled sideways and she couldn't make them work.

She can't do her dressmaking now. It's a shame, because she loved doing it so much. But there's one Amazing Advantage. We get to wear store-bought clothes now. And because Gran can't really make it on the bus into town, we get to choose.

Well ... Ruby gets to choose.

I choose for both of us. T-shirts. Ilights. Jeans. Matching ones, of course. We still want to look alike. We just want to look normal.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yearling
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0440413745
• ISBN 13: 9780440413745
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192
• Illustrator: Sharratt Nick, Heap Sue