Double or Nothing with the Two and Only Kelly Twins

by Johanna Hurwitz, Tuesday Mourning (Illustrator)

Overview

“This gentle twin story explores big questions about identity in an approachable way for budding chapter book readers.” — School Library Journal

Arlene and Ilene love so many things about being identical twins. They like sharing a room, sharing friends, and wearing matching outfits. But they’re in different classes at school, and one twin has a scar that the other one doesn’t. One morning, their friends Monty and Joey point out a new difference that takes the sisters by surprise and gets them thinking: if they are identical twins, why are there differences between them at all?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536203721
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	01/15/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.24(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Johanna Hurwitz is the award-winning author of many books for children, including The Two and Only Kelly Twins and four books about Arlene and Ilene’s friend Monty. Johanna Hurwitz divides her time between Great Neck, New York, and Wilmington, Vermont.

Tuesday Mourning is the illustrator of The Two and Only Kelly Twins and numerous other books for children. She lives in Utah.

Editorial Reviews

These realistic predicaments with warm resolutions will fare well with the chapter-book set. Singletons' interest in twins will be piqued while multiples will find much to relate to.
—Kirkus Reviews

Accessible text and frequent illustrations (artwork not seen) make this a friendly pick for young readers tackling their first chapter books. Themes of identity and self-discovery join amiable characters reminiscent of Clementine, Ivy, and Bean, making this a solid addition to early chapter-book collections.
—Booklist

This gentle twin story explores big questions about identity in an approachable way for budding chapter book readers.
—School Library Journal

Double or Nothing with the Two and Only Kelly Twins is a sweet, easy read...Even if you’re not a twin, you can relate to this book.
—Story Monsters Ink

From the Publisher

2017-02-01
The identical Kelly twins return with more stories about their unique relationship.As in the first chapter book featuring Arlene and Ilene Kelly, five episodic chapters form a larger story arc about these white second-graders. The first story reminds readers of the twins' similarities, including their matching clothes, pigtails, and eyeglasses, but it is "a big mystery" why they each like different flavors and kinds of food. Noticing this difference is just the start of the girls' budding individual identities, a theme that continues throughout the book. In subsequent chapters, classmates begin to notice subtle differences between the twins when Ilene loses a tooth before Arlene, but when the girls are given different poetry assignments, they find a way to tackle them together. And in other chapters, the twins question whether they always have to be together and look alike when a misunderstanding about a sleepover with another set of identical twins (part of a set of triplets) leads to the girls' spending the night apart and a school lice outbreak leads to new haircuts. These realistic predicaments with warm resolutions will fare well with the chapter-book set. Singletons' interest in twins will be piqued while multiples will find much to relate to. (Fiction. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews