Suppose there were 12-year-old twins, a boy and girl named John and Abigail Templeton. Let’s say John was pragmatic and played the drums, and Abigail was theoretical and solved cryptic crosswords. Now suppose their father was a brilliant, if sometime confused, inventor. And suppose that another set of twins—adults—named Dean D. Dean and Dan D. Dean, kidnapped the Templeton twins and their ridiculous dog in order to get their father to turn over one of his genius (sort of) inventions. Yes, kidnapped. Wouldn’t it be fun to read about that? Oh please. It would so. Now in paperback, this is just the first in a series perfect for boys and girls who are smart, clever, and funny (just like the twins), and enjoy reading adventurous stories (who doesn’t?!). And now, there’s more!
Families are unique and have different expectations for the books they choose to read. The following is a list of concepts included in this book that some parents may wish to seek out or avoid.
Note that this list is not exhaustive and there may be concepts in this book that are not included or have been insufficiently or incorrectly detailed here.
Ask your child how the twins used their creativity and intelligence to escape and help their dad.
I love how witty the Templeton twins are! This book reminds me a little bit of a Lemony Snicket tale, which I thought brought in some great humor. The twins have a great, smart, inventive father and they are kidnapped and held as ransom, as the perpetrators want their father’s invention as payment. What the perpetrators don’t realize is that the twins have learned a lot from their father–using the lessons and smarts they got from him, the twins save the day! I thought this book was adventurous, imaginative, fun, and clever.
Ellis Weiner was an editor for <em>Spy</em> magazine and <em>National Lampoon</em>. He has also written a lot of funny books for grown-ups. <em>The Templeton Twins</em> are his first books for children.
Jeremy Holmes has illustrated a number of children’s books, including the Templeton Twins series and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. He lives in Abington, Pennsylvania.
To Barbara Davilman.
To Paxton and Charlie Holmes.