This novel-in-verse — at once literary and emotionally gripping — follows the unfolding friendship between two very different teenage girls who share a hospital room and an illness.
Chess, the narrator, is sick, but with what exactly, she isn’t sure. And to make matters worse, she must share a hospital room with Shannon, her polar opposite. Where Chess is polite, Shannon is rude. Where Chess tolerates pain silently, Shannon screams bloody murder. Where Chess seems to be getting slowly better, Shannon seems to be getting worse. How these teenagers become friends, helping each other come to terms with their illness, makes for a dramatic and deeply moving read.
Practical information
Publisher: Penguin Random House (Schwartz & Wade)
Publication year: 2014
ISBN: 9780307979742
Age category: young adult
Disabilities portrayed: chronic illness, crohn's disease
Genres: contemporary, verse
Author
Lucy Frank is the author of eight young adult and middle grade novels. Her first, I Am an Artichoke was a 1995 Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Booklist said of Will You Be My Brussels Sprout, its follow-up: “This quirky coming-of-age story will confirm Frank’s place as a fresh new YA talent.” Her books have been praised as “funny, brainy and sweet”, “wise and terrifically well-observed.” In the years before she devoted herself to writing full-time, Lucy worked as a vitamin pill shipping clerk, editorial assistant, children’s clothing designer, low-income housing program administrator, budget analyst, mutual fund portfolio manager, employment counselor, and lab administrator for a neurobiology lab that studied mouse reproductive behavior. She splits her time between New York City and upstate New York where she and her husband have raised one son, five cats, four ducks, and countless flowers and vegetables. She also plays the cello.
Two Girls was the hardest book I’ve written. Not because it was in verse. The poems gave me the freedom to jump from present to past, and between the real world and dreams. What made it such hard going was how uncomfortable, vulnerable, and exposed writing about being sick made me – and still makes me – feel. What kept me writing were the questions I’m still trying to figure out.(LucyFrank.com)
Related posts on Disability in Kidlit
