Puss Reboots: Blog: December 2022: The Templeton Twins Have an Idea

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The Templeton Twins Have an Idea: 12/17/22

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea by Ellis Weiner and Jeremy Holmes (Illustrator) (2012) is an upper elementary mystery / caper. John and Abigail help their father when the devious Dean twins try to steal one of his prototypes.

Like the Terrible Two series by Mac Barnett, Jory John, and Kevin Cornell, The Templeton Twins is written in a very chatty, break the fourth wall method. The narrator who acts as a separate character, think, Powerpuff Girls (1998). The narrator explains and sometimes over explains the situation, but they're part of the charm of this short book.

Puzzle solving, especially in the form of cryptic clues as well as some basic logic, is a big part of this book. These are like those five minute mysteries that were popular when I was a child in the 1980s. Except here, it's roughly a puzzle a chapter, unless the twins are working together in which case there might be two or more. The inclusion of puzzles, gives this book a similar read to the Winterhouse trilogy by Ben Guterson.

The sequel to the book is The Templeton Twins Make a Scene (2013).

Three stars