The Templeton Twins Have an Idea

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea
by Ellis Weiner, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes
Chronicle, 2012. 227 pgs. Fiction

On the day John and Abigail Templeton were born their father, Professor Elton Templeton-- genius-but-scatterbrained inventor--has to cut short a confrontation with a failing student to attend his children's births. Twelve years later that student Dean D. Dean wreaks revenge when he and his evil twin Dan D. Dean kidnap the Templeton twins to force their father to sign over proprietary rights to his one-man helicopter invention (a work in progress). Ellis Weiner is an intrusive narrator, always barging in to instruct, but mostly to insult, the reader; sort of like Lemony Snicket only not so snarky and, dare I say it, funnier. Questions for Review at the end of each chapter give the reader a chance to lavish compliments on the author and to answer ridiculous questions ("What is the difference between escaping and leaving? Write your answer in the form of a poem.") Fortunately the Templeton Twins have lots of ideas, all of which are better than Dean D. Dean and Dan D. Dean's ideas and they are reunited with their father with the hope of even more escapades of inspired silliness in the (hopefully near) future.

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