Jake and Lily are twins that were born on a train called the California Zephyr. When they were little, they were inseparable. They had a special power that they called "goombla". With their goombla they knew what each of them were thinking. Jake and Lily couldn't even play hide and seek because they always knew where the other was hiding. One time Lily got lost at the beach and her parents freaked out but not Jake because he knew exactly where she was. When they turned 11, Jake and Lily's parents told them that they were each getting a their own separate bedroom. While Jake was excited about moving into his own room; Lily hated the idea because she didn't want to be separated from her brother. Jake started to go out and make new friends with the boys down the road (one of them turns out to be a huge troublemaker) and Lily hated it. She felt like she was losing her brother. Their grandfather told Lily that she needed to go out and make herself a Lily life but she really doesn't think that she can do anything without her brother. Will Lily ever make new friends? Will things ever be the way it used to be without her brother? Read the book to find out.I absolutely loved this book. It is such a sweet novel that shows the hardships of growing up with a twin. It shows that even though Jake and Lily were inseparable that there does come a time for them to go out into the world and find their own lives with their own friends. I thought that the way the book was written was awesome too. Each chapter would either be called "Jake" or "Lily" and they would both tell their side of the story. For example, most of Jakes chapters were about how he was having so much fun with his friends and was glad to be away from Lily so much and Lily's chapter would talk about how she couldn't find her own friends or her own life and how much she missed Jake. I would recommend this book to 4th of 5th grade because Jake and Lily were eleven so I think that this age group would be most able to relate to the events that took place in this book. Also, it is a 335 page novel, so i think that anyone below the 4th or 5th grade level would have a difficult time reading it. The only reason that I didn't give this book 5 stars was because I thought that the cover art showed Jake and Lily to look a lot older than they were in the book. Another reason was because I thought that some of the activities that they did in the book made them seem like they were immature. For example, Lily cried and pouted a lot and she also practiced burping. I just think that eleven years old is just too old to be practicing burping and crying. Other than that, I loved the story line behind this and how both of them realized that at the end of the day they were still brother and sister and they should always be there for each other. This book is awesome! I wish Spinelli would make a series to this story! It was a great story and I wish it never ended.Jake and Lily's "Goombla" was awesome and really cool.Mr.Spinelli really added a twist to two normal teenage twins lives.And I have to say, no book of Spinelli's has ever failed to amaze me.Jerry Spinelli is an AMAZING author and I absolutely adore his books.I hope Jake and Lily still hang out.But, overall, I loved this book soooo much!If you really want to see a good book and not wanna stop reading it, read Jake and Lily!
