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Summary
Summary
Kate DiCamillo meets Lemony Snicket in this darkly comic novel about two sisters who learn they are each others' most important friend
Imagine two twin sisters, Arabella and Henrietta--nearly identical yet with nothing in common. They're the best of friends . . . until one day they aren't. Plain and quiet Henrietta has a secret plan to settle the score, and she does something outrageous and she can't take it back.
When the deed is discovered, Henrietta is sent to live with her eccentric great-aunt Suddenly life with pretty, popular Arabella doesn't seem so awful.
And, though she's been grievously wronged, Arabella longs for her sister, too. So she hatches a plan of her own and embarks on an unexpected journey to reunite with her other half.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Arabella and Henrietta are twins, although they were born on different days, thanks to their late night/early morning arrivals. Arabella is prettier, smarter, and more popular, and as the girls approach their teens, their sisterly love is strained. When Henrietta gives Arabella an unattractive haircut, Henrietta is banished to live with reclusive Aunt Priscilla in another town. Arabella eventually misses her twin and sets out to find her. The novel occasionally plays with fairy-tale imagery, such as a helpful goatherd and a friendly giant, though it is grounded in a real world, with commentary from "the girl" (who is listening) and "her mother" (who is reading/telling the story). The mother/daughter comments can feel intrusive at times, though they help define vocabulary and frame lessons from the story. Katherine Kellgren brings a great variety of voices, from humble to haughty, to the narration. There are frequent shrieks, shouts, wails, cries, sobs, and yelling toward the end. Cassandra Campbell soothes and reassures as the mother and daughter outside the main text. The initial emphasis on surface attributes (looks, popularity, clothing choices for Aunt Priscilla, and possessions) may be off-putting to some listeners. Most characters find more depth by the end of the tale. VERDICT A middle-of-the-road choice to consider for large audiobook collections. ["Filling a need for children's titles without an edge, this is recommended for most middle grade collections": SLJ 7/16 review of the Knopf book.]-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Twins Arabella and Henrietta Osgood were inseparable when they were younger, but although they "were both beautiful girls... Arabella was somehow more beautiful than Henrietta. And that is where the trouble began." When Henrietta's jealousy takes a vindictive turn (her sister's bangs are involved), she is sent away to live with a grim, demanding aunt, which separates the girls for the first time in their lives. Meanwhile, the adults in the story have more than a whiff of Dahl-frequently ridiculous, useless, and even downright nasty. Henrietta and Arabella's journey to overcome numerous obstacles to reunite is filled with physical trials and emotional growth as they realize how much they need each other. An unnamed mother recounts this tale to her daughter, whose frequent interruptions (" 'Spectacles?' asks the girl. 'Glasses,' says the mother") create a clever, warmhearted overlay to this eccentric adventure. Sardà's angular, Gorey-esque spot illustrations capitalize on the story's gothic atmosphere, a promising debut for Siebel. Ages 8-12. Author's agent: Miriam Altshuler, Miriam Altshuler Literary. Illustrator's agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A mother recounts a story to her daughter about twin sisters: beautiful, perfect Arabella and sullen, unfavored Henrietta. They're close, despite unequal treatment, until a big fight drives them apart. Henrietta, sent to live with their peculiar great-aunt, is essentially forgotten by their cold parents, but not by Arabella, who sets out to find her. Black-and-white illustrations enhance this quirky, darkly humorous story. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Twin sisters Henrietta and Arabella may look exactly alike, but their personalities are very different. Arabella has lots of friends and confidence, while Henrietta is reserved and unnoticeable. Their close companionship at home slowly gives way in middle school to tension and jealousy. One day, Henrietta attacks Arabella and is sent to live with their reclusive aunt Priscilla, where Henrietta begins to discover her individuality. Meanwhile, Arabella must conquer her own fears in order to be reunited with her sister, whom she misses in spite of their fight. With an abundance of quirky characters and odd plotlines that call to mind Roald Dahl or Lemony Snicket, this first novel offers a gently mischievous exploration of both family ties and sibling rivalry. Young readers will laugh at the foolish adults, who cannot remember what is important in life, while Siebel's message of self-reliance comes through loud and clear. Sardà's black-and-white illustrations lend a tongue-in-cheek playfulness to the story and will make the book an easy sell to fans of Dahl's Matilda (1988).--Moore, Melissa Copyright 2016 Booklist
Excerpts
Excerpts
And so it begins in front of the fire, the story of two twin sisters. One remains with her family in their lovely country house, where yellow roses perfume the air. The other waits for her in another house, where she stands alone at huge arched windows. She is restless, pacing wooden floors that creak in the night when a cat jumps down from the bed to chase at shadows. "What are their names?" the girl asks. "The sisters." "Arabella and Henrietta." "Are they lonely?" asks the girl. "They belong together," says the mother. "And it makes them sad to be apart." "Can't you tell a happy story?" the girl asks. "With puppies and a garden?" "Yes!" says the girl. "I'm only telling it the way my mother told it to me," the mother says. "And will there be puppies?" the girl persists. "Or only gloomy girls at windows?" "Well, their dog, Muffin, wasn't exactly a puppy, but she was very small. And, there was a beautiful garden. I can picture it perfectly. But we should start at the beginning." Henrietta and Arabella Osgood were born on the second and third days of April. When they were little, they were everything to each other. They slept in the same crib and wore matching baby outfits. They dreamed the same dreams and played together. People said they learned to talk their own secret language that no one else could understand. They were both beautiful girls, but from the start Arabella was somehow more beautiful than Henrietta. And that is where the trouble began. Since everyone knew they were twins, nobody could understand why they seemed so different. Arabella was always smiling and laughing, her pink cheeks creased by deep dimples, a charming gap between her two front teeth. Her clothes were spotless, and her glossy blond hair was perfectly combed. Every day their nanny, Rose, arranged it in a new and elaborate hairstyle, tying off the ends with bits of colorful ribbon that blew gently in the breeze. Henrietta, on the other hand, was as quiet and serious as an elderly professor. She seldom spoke, rarely smiled. Crumbs tumbled down the front of her clothes. And her hair! Well, Rose always meant to get to it, but she had such fun fixing Arabella's that she never did. Their differences had never mattered to the two of them, but they had always influenced how others treated them. When they were babies, Rose always fed Arabella first and held her more. When they grew older, Arabella was the one the girls' parents asked to perform for guests. Arabella would recite a poem or sing a song for the grown-ups before they went off to dinner. The adults would smile at her and clap their hands in delight, and they barely noticed Henrietta as they passed her on the way to the dining room. And even when nobody else was around, Mr. and Mrs. Osgood were always praising Arabella. "Have you ever seen such blue eyes?" they would ask each other, gazing fondly at Arabella. "Doesn't she have the most delicate fingers? Born to play the harp." Of course they were never mean to Henrietta. At least not at first. But it was clear to everyone who ever met them that the Os-goods liked Arabella best. Watching them fawn over Arabella, Henrietta stood back, saying nothing and feeling too much. At school the girls sat near each other: Arabella at a clean, perfect desk from which she unfailingly gave the right answer, and Henrietta at an older one with gum under the seat. Inside were forgotten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Henrietta hadn't wanted to eat and smudgy homework papers that showed, as her teacher Mr. Stilton-Sterne was always saying, that Henrietta couldn't be paying very much attention. Outside the house, Arabella was always busy with friends. The other girls invited Arabella to their birthday parties, where they ate tiny, delicious chocolate candies from pink paper cups under birthday streamers and balloons. On the playground, they hopscotched together and gathered in tight circles, giggling, whispering, and pulling up their socks. Arabella didn't mean to leave Henrietta out of all the fun; she just seemed to lose track of her sister, and Henrietta had to either find someone else to skip rope with or make peace with standing off in a corner all alone. But at home they built their own world. They lined up dolls and stuffed bears, poured them invisible tea, and invented their conversation. When the sun shone, they dressed each other in their mother's old dresses; they added paper crowns and wings and ran through the garden, playing fairy princess. When it rained, their heads were bent over drawing paper as they passed crayons to and fro in companionable silence. They were mirror images, touchstones. The sight of the other steadied each of them. They ate the same meals, listened to the same conversations between their parents at dinner, received the same gifts in different colors. Both sisters knew with a look what the other was thinking, and words were seldom necessary. They ended each day whispering good night across the short space between their matching beds. Yet as soon as they arrived at school every morning, things changed. There was so much more going on there, and Arabella was always at the center of it all, encircled by her adoring friends. Henrietta, on the other hand, spent her days by the wrought-iron fence on the edges of the playground, staring at Arabella and her friends. "Mother," asks the girl by the fire, "if Arabella and Henrietta are twins, how could they be born on different days?" "It does happen sometimes," the mother insists. "Henrietta was born just before midnight at the end of April second. And Arabella was born a bit after, in the wee hours of April third." "Well, that's very unusual, don't you think?" "They were very unusual sisters." "And that bit about dreaming the same dreams. How could anyone know that?" the girl asks. "I know these two girls quite well," the mother says. "Do you want to hear their story or not?" Excerpted from The Trouble with Twins by Kathryn Siebel All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.