Mallory And The Trouble With Twins (1997) - Plot & Excerpts
man, i was so into this book when i was a kid. i think a lot of kids that are not twins harbor a little fantasy of having a twin, & this book tapped into that desire for me. plus, my parents had led me to believe that everyone in the world DID have a twin floating around out there somewhere, & it was the especially lucky twins that happened to be born into the same family. i have no idea why my parents taught me that, because it's obviously untrue & also seems to have an undermining affect on a kid discovering her individuality in some ways. but whatever.this is mallory's first full book after joining the BSC. she is hired for a regular twice-a-week sitting job for seven-year-old twins marilyn & carolyn arnold. is there anything more cruel than giving twins rhyming names? when i was in grade school, i was friends with a twin named sara. her sister was named tara. sara was awesome & tara totally sucked. i always felt kind of bad that sara had to be sisters & have a rhyming name with a jerk like tara. anyway.on mallory's first day sitting for the arnolds, she notices that mrs. arnold is big on accessorizing--she's wearing rings, necklaces, earrings, pins, lacy socks (if i am not mistaken), a headband...apparently she never heard that rule about removing one accessory before leaving the house. mallory also notices that the twins are dressed alike, have the same haircuts, & are 100% indistinguishable to the untrained eye aside from their beaded name bracelets. not long into the sitting job, mallory remarks on how adorable the twins look lying on their beds reading, like matching bookends. the twins do not appreciate this observation. they start muttering in their secret twin language, & then they remove their name bracelets & turn into terrors. mallory has no idea what she did wrong & just tries to survive the job.a few other sitters watch the twins over the next few weeks, with mixed results. sometimes they're fine, but the twins actually pull a major switcheroo on one sitter (mary anne, maybe?) & carolyn goes to marilyn's piano lesson (marilyn likes piano, & carolyn likes science--good ol' ann m. martin, making sure every character in stoneybrook has one defining interest). mary anne gets in trouble with mrs. arnold.but mallory is beginning to figure something out: the twins are tired of being a precious matching set. she realizes that they took off their name bracelets & terrorized her after she commented on their too-cute sameness. they want to be individuals. so she starts treating them as individuals, commenting on their unique interests & personalities. she eventually gets them to open up about how they want to dress differently & get different haircuts, etc. they teach her how to tell them apart (tiny mirror image moles on their cheeks) & she encourages them to talk to their mom about getting new clothes & hairstyles. she further curries their favor by being the only guest at their birthday party to give them unique presents geared toward their individual wishes.the twins win their mom over & she sends them shopping with mallory. carolyn cuts her hair short & marilyn starts growing hers out. carolyn picks up some new trendy clothes (i believe a sweatshirt with a lightning bolt on it is involved), & marilyn goes for classier, more mature looks. inspired by the twins' success, mallory lobbies her parents for more freedom in the way she looks, asking for new clothes, a haircut, contact lenses, & pierced ears. her parents let her get a haircut & pierced ears & go halfsies with her on some new clothes, but make the wise decision that eleven is too young for contacts (i didn't get contacts until i was sixteen--& i'm still not the best at taking care of them now that i am thirty & paying for them single-handedly). mallory accepts this because the contacts were really just a bargaining chip she was willing to part with in exchange for other freedoms. i remember that really vividly--i thought it was so genius of mallory to "trick" her parents like that, even though i know realize that parents are totally on to it.the BSC goes "malling" so mallory & jessi (who was inspired by mallory's bargaining techniques & successfully lobbied her parents for pierced ears) can have their ears pierced. claudia also gets new holes in her ears, & at the last second so does dawn. they buy earrings & mallory buys new clothes (as does claudia, of course), & man. i LOVED this part of the book. when i was like eight, i couldn't wait to be a sophisticated middle schooler who would go "malling" with her friends. & a-malling we went, but of course, by the time i was twelve, i was a total misfit who wore leather jackets & earrings shaped like piles of skulls (i had my ears pierced when i was four), so it wasn't all as innocent & fun as the BSC trips were. it seemed like every friend i ever had in junior high & high school saw the mall solely as a place to meet guys who would smoke them out in the parking lot, & despite my metalhead tendencies, i knew better than to go out to some dude's van in search of warm beer. it's all kind of a bummer to recall. those girls were not the best friends i'd ever have, i guess.once again, a BSC book that ably captures my nostalgia for a late 80s/early 90s idyllic clean-cut teenagerhood that i never actually experienced.
I like books about multiples, and read many books that featured twins when I was a kid; therefore, I expected to like this one. And I got some of what I liked in reading this; it was memorable to me many years later. However, I thought it was REALLY predictable. Mallory has to babysit for twins who are dressed alike, treated alike, and given rhyming names (Marilyn and Carolyn). They're unhappy and they take it out on the people who care for them. What could they possibly be frustrated over? Especially since they get two of everything they play with and don't get any chance to express their individuality? Right.So of course Mallory figures it out, treats them differently, and they turn into different kids for her. She has to encourage them to explain to their mother that they want to be themselves, not half of a matched set. This is a great message, sure, but the ways the twins misbehaved (using a "secret twin language" and mixing themselves up on purpose by removing their labeling bracelets) was really annoying. I still remember that Mallory was the only guest at the twins' birthday party who got them presents that didn't match, and that she got the twin who liked piano a piano-shaped pin to wear. Also, Mallory wants to make some changes to her own looks and has to follow her own example to bargain with her parents, and ends up getting to get pierced ears. Because a couple of the older sitters in Mallory's club get second holes in their ears at the same time, I think that's what made me want to do the same. (I got to.)
What do You think about Mallory And The Trouble With Twins (1997)?
Y'know, it could've just been because I was sheltered (not, like, Amish-type sheltered, just kind of naive), but the earrings in this made me almost Mal-levels of excited as a kid. I think it was the amount of worshipful description. And who could forget what is possibly Mallory's most iconic outfit ever: a red jumper with her name on it in glitter and white tights with red hearts? I liked the twins' individual outfits too (moon and stars jumper OMG), but that goes without saying. I also learnt about Ig-pay Atin-lay from this book. ...I'm sorry, I actually have no real reasons beyond nostalgia for liking #23. I do think it's one of the better books, and certainly one of the better Mal books, where she hasn't metamorphosed into a bleating eleven-year-old caricature. It's a little more interesting than #14, as well.
—Tanvi
Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
—April
This book was better than I remembered, and although not one of my favourites in the BSC series, it was an enjoyable story that covered, as usual several issues. Mallory and Jessi want to "grow up" and be allowed to change their haircuts, get their ears pierced and choose their own clothes - and issue that all preteen girls have to deal with. Mallory is babysitting for two twin girls who have a similar issue - their mother always dresses them alike and they want to develop their own identities. Also in this book we can see Mallory and Jessi becoming closer friends, and hints that Claudia still misses Stacey, who moved back to New York. All in all, a great comfort read for exam time and a book I'd be happy letting my kids read! 8/10
—Rachel Brand
