One by Sarah Crossan is a book that uses free verse poetry to move the story along. It's an interesting read because of the focus of the story.
One is written in free verse and the main protagonists are 'Tippi-and-Grace'. They are twins who are inseparable -- and quite literally so -- because they are conjoined at the hips. The entirety of the story is told in Grace's perspective, but being a thoughtful girl, she always considers how her sister is feeling.
Things change rapidly when the twins are sent to school, instead of being home-schooled, due to financial difficulties. They have to face judging teens and fight for what they believe in, just to be able to survive a day at school. Fortunately, they meet two new friends, Yasmeen and Jon, who are also outsiders in the school community.
While there are few bumps on the road, like Grace falling for Jon while Tippi has no interest in him, it's nothing compared to what was about to happen. The twins had gotten sick and was in a situation where both of them would die if they didn't undergo the separation surgery.
The ending was truly sad, and the fact that the whole story was meant to be an epitaph made it even more memorable. I wanted to say that Sarah Crossan did a great job portraying trivial problems that people have in their lives and how it can affect people in various situations differently. The topic of conjoined twins (often called Siamese Twins) aren't dealt with often, but it was beautiful nonetheless (no wonder it's on the shortlist for the Carnegie Medal Reading Books). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a realistic view on life from a minority.
Want to read it? Check it out HERE!