Review: Double Cross

Double Cross (Twintuition #4) by Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2018.
MG fantasy, 202 pages.
Lexile: 600L .
AR Level: 4.2 (worth 5.0 points) .
NOTE: Review will contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

The final installment of a quartet about tween twins with visions of the future.

Twintuition: Double Cross by Tia and Tamera Mowry.

I’m glad I persisted with this series as this last book was definitely the best of the four. Honestly, if the social hijinks of sixth graders don’t highly interest, an older reader could probably skip ahead and read just this book without missing too much. All the major plot points important to this finale are summarized within the text somewhere anyway.

Review: Double Dare

Double Dare (Twintuition #3) by Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2017.
MG fantasy, 204 pages + excerpt.
Lexile: 610L .
AR Level: 4.4 (worth 5.0 points) .
NOTE: This review may contain spoilers for previous books in the series.

Twins Cassie and Caitlyn Waters can see into the future, but they never anticipated a surprise grandmother showing up or a classmate taking on a life-or-death prank. Can they balance foretelling training, using their visions to prevent disasters, and their schoolwork without becoming social pariahs?

Twintuition: Double Dare by Tia and Tamera Mowry.

Finally some action. Although some MG fantasy novels appeal to a wide range and can be enjoyed by older readers or read aloud to younger children, this is definitely meant to be read alone by the target audience.

After being teased about the family legacy for two whole books, there are finally some answers (and more questions, there’s still another book). The future visions this time were showing a legitimately dangerous possibility and had real consequences while also feeling like something that could happen in middle school.

This book ends on what I’d normally consider a pretty heavy cliffhanger… if the result hadn’t been so heavily foreshadowed that it’s inevitable.

Review: Share a Birthday

Ling & Ting: Share a Birthday by Grace Lin.
Little, Brown, and Co., Hachette Book Group, New York, 2013.
Early chapter book, 48 pages.
Lexile:  320L  .
AR Level:  2.0 (worth 0.5 points)  .
NOTE: This is part of the Ling and Ting series.

Six birthday short stories from the life of Chinese-American twins Ling and Ting.

Ling & Ting Share a Birthday by Grace Lin.

My children were so enamored with the first book in the Ling and Ting series, and read it so many times, that I went ahead and purchased the rest of the books.  There isn’t really a clear indicator of order in this series, and I don’t think that the order really matters to most readers, but I like to know.

So extrapolating from the publication date the series is:

1. Ling and Ting: Not Exactly the Same!
2. Ling and Ting: Share a Birthday
3. Ling and Ting: Twice as Silly
4. Ling and Ting: Together in All Weather

Again, you could easily read these out of order though, as there is no numbering to the series.  Some books do make reference to others, but there definitely isn’t a strict chronology to this particular series, which is great for young readers who tend to pick things up randomly, or teachers who would like to break students up into groups that read different-but-similar materials.

Review: Double Trouble

Double Trouble (Twintuition #2) by Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Harper, HarperCollins, New York, 2017.
MG fantasy, 202 pages +excerpt.
Lexile: 590L .
AR Level: 4.2 (worth 4.0 points) .
NOTE: Review contains mild spoilers for the previous book in the series.

As identical twins Caitlyn and Cassie get closer to their twelfth birthday, their unexpected visions of the future are only getting stronger. Can it have something to do with the father who died when they were young? In Double Trouble, the girls have reconnected, made peace with their new hometown and between their two very different friend groups, and are now planning their birthday party. They receive a strange package that seems to have something to do with their powers…

Twintuition: Double Trouble by Tia and Tamera Mowry.

True confession: after finishing my review of the first book, I originally accidentally picked up the third book instead of this second installment. It was slightly confusing but I was excited that the plot moved forward so vigorously… until noticing the 3 on the spine. My main complaint here is the same as the previous book – the pace is incredibly slow and the plot oversimplified. I’ve been struggling to get a handle on what the intended age range for these is – the stories seem a bit simple even for lower MG, but I don’t see elementary students wanting to read about football games, crushes, and tween interpersonal drama. Maybe hi-lo readers?

The two voices didn’t bother me as much in this book. It’s still not my favorite, but at least I can tell the twins apart now. Caitlyn also stopped being quite so saccharine and showed her opinions. While most kids this age would probably have more interest in the friendship drama, I’m more interested in the fantasy aspect, which only mildly develops in this particular installment.

Review: Double Vision

Double Vision (Twintuition #1) by Tia and Tamera Mowry.
Scholastic, HarperCollins, New York, 2016.
Tween fantasy novel, 204 pages.
Lexile: 690L .
AR Level: 4.6 (worth 5.0 points) .

Identical twins Cassie and Caitlyn Waters are both struggling with their mom’s sudden move to small town Aura, Texas. Nerdy Caitlyn’s eternal optimism is strained, while pessimistic, fashion-conscious Cassie is trying both to break in to the popular crowd and to convince their mom to move back to the big city. But as their twelfth birthday nears, both girls start having strange visions of the future…

Twintuition: Double Vision by Tia and Tamera Mowry.

We first got this book when it was released, around when I started this blog. This review was challenging. You all know how I feel about novels in two voices. I have loved some, but those tend to be few and far between. While I intellectually understand the need for shared narration, it just didn’t work for me here. The story moves back and forth between the two twins who have some commonalities (family, love of music, having strange visions) and many differences (messy vs. clean, nerdy vs. fashionista, optimistic vs. pessimistic). Yet I never felt like the two voices were fully distinguished and was constantly checking to see whose viewpoint we were in. Thankfully that was announced in the header of each chapter – I just wished the main characters had more specific voices.

Review: Not Exactly the Same!

Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same! by Grace Lin.
Little, Brown, and Co., Hachette Book Group, New York, 2010.
Early chapter book, 48 pages.
Lexile:  390L  .
AR Level:  1.8 (worth 0.5 points)  .

Six short stories from the life of Chinese-American twins Ling and Ting.

It’s extremely difficult to find suitable early chapter books at all, let alone diverse and culturally appropriate ones.  While the availability of novels and picture books are slowly improving, these essential early reader and early chapter book categories remain ridiculously white, able-bodied, etc.

I’ve written about a few we tried back when my last reader was transitioning, but got away from this series of reviews as he turned toward more complex books.  Now that my next child is ready to make this transition, I’m going to try a few new-to-us series (and hopefully complete reviews for the ones we bought last time around).