The Tapper Twins Tear Up New York by Geoff Rodkey

Rating: WORTHY!

I favorably reviewed this author's The Tapper Twins Go to War in December 2015, and I got this other volume from the library and read it through very quickly. it was in a way, more of the same, which is why I liked it, but the story was different, and equally as inventive as the first one, and it was highly amusing.

It's told in the same way as the previous volume, wherein Claudia, the female half (or maybe two-thirds) of the Tapper twins, gives an oral history of an event. This isn't, of course an oral history - it's a written history, or at best, a transcription of an oral history. You'd have to listen to the audio book to get the actual oral history! That aside though, the story was well told, being both funny and inventive. The premise is that Claudia organizes a scavenger hunt in order to raise money for the Manhattan food bank. The hunt consists of groups of four children from the school - each group with an adult escort, I'm happy to report, taking pictures of landmarks and other not-so-readily-visible items. In order to prevent cheating, each photo must include the school mascot, a small plush toy of which each group has in its possession.

The first prize is front row tickets to an event at Madison Square Garden, which features both sports and music events, so it appeals quite widely The fembots (spoiled rich kids) are cheating (or are they?), and so is Claudia's brother's group. Things get out of control. Children go astray. Liverpool fans are angered...wait, what? But it all works out in the end and the winner is completely unexpected. A fun romp which entertained me and which I'm convinced will entertain its target audience. I recommend it.

The Tapper Twins Go to War by Geoff Rodkey

Rating: WORTHY!

This novel was flat-out hilarious, and I breezed through it super-fast. Of course, it's not aimed at me, but at middle-graders, but that's never stopped me! Not if the novel is engrossing and entertaining enough. This story is about Claudia and Reese Tapper, not-so-fraternal twins (or nutso fraternal twins if you like) who enter into an escalating war against one another. It's not even clear how it began because both twins disagree. Afterwards, Claudia decided to write a book about it, although she mistakenly calls it an oral history. Her twin gets to say his piece here and there, and other people are drafted in for comments, including Claudia's parents, whose texts she managed, somehow, to obtain.

Perhaps her decision to slip a fish into Reese's soccer backpack was a mistake. The weird thing was that he didn't even notice, and when he tried to retaliate later by putting Gorgonzola cheese into Claudia's backpack, she discovered it immediately. While Reese seems to have been endowed with more than his share of physical prowess, Claudia definitely got most of the brains between the two of them. her problem though, is that her brother seems incapable of being embarrassed or put off his stride by anything, so her attempts at retaliation seem to be entirely ineffective, until she decides to hit him where he lives - which is inside an online video game

I lived this story. I loved the humor, and the way the story twits Minecraft (which here is disguised as 'Metaworld'). I loved the photographs used to illustrate the tale, and the Claudia comments 'handwritten' in the text, which looks like it's typewritten. I loved the way it took Claudia three attempts to get chapter one started, and the way both Reese and Claudia reference their babysitter, who is rather less than on top of things. I liked the way Claudia plans and steams and fumes about things, and I especially liked the happy ending. This was a really great, fun novel and I recommend it. it's also part of a series so there's more to go read if you like this one.