The Templeton Twins Have An Idea

Ellis Weiner
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 sometimes 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, I said kidnapped. Wouldn’t it be fun to read about that? Oh please. It would so. Luckily for you, 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? )
This book really appealed to my sense of humour. After a (if I may say so) rubbish blurb and a slightly more informative front flap, I started reading. The illustrations and layout of the book are quirky and clever and the story was funny. The story starts off with the twins, Abigail and John being born. Twelve years on, their mother dies leaving them with their Dad who is a professor at a university. What I forgot to tell you was, when the twins were born the professor had just given one of his students an F. The student was very sad so he tried to talk him into giving him a C but of course the twins were being born so he left without giving the man what he wanted. Now all he wanted was revenge on the professor and the twins. So you think this story is going to be about the student’s quest for revenge but it turns out, however, that this is just a sideline. The story is more about Cassie the ridiculous dog, the one-man helicopter and the twin’s hobbies, as well as how the twins outsmarted the evil student. They cleverly foil kidnap, revenge and manage to persuade their Dad to get a dog along the way.
At the end of every chapter the narrator asks the reader some questions about the previous chapter which were by far the best bits in the story. They were generally so hilariously funny that I was sent straight into fits of giggles. My favourite part in the whole book was when the narrator asked the reader: “How do you think the twin’s lives would have been different if they had never been born?” This and other silly questions were my personal highlights of the book.
Verdict: This is an off the wall, slightly crazy, story of two normal twins… or so you think. I would recommend it to 8-14 year old girls and boys. I loved this book and I think I nearly wet myself laughing at one point in the story. It definitely has the LOL factor!