Rodkey, Geoff. The Tapper Twins Tear Up New YorkSeptember 29th 2015 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
ARC from Baker and Taylor
Claudia and her brother Reese are back after The Tapper Twins Go To War, and this time Claudia has arranged a fundraiser to benefit the Manhattan Food Bank. The students at Culvert Prep are divided into teams and they have to travel around NYC and find items on a list, worth varying amounts of points. For example, a bookmark from The Strand Bookstore is worth 3 points, but a photo of a stuffed school mascot (Calvin the Cat) being kissed by the famous singer Deondra is worth 500. Each team needs a sponsor and a chaperon, and the twins overworked parents are once again roped into the activity, and their presence is shown mainly through texts to each other. Competition is fierce, and some of the teams are using less than savory methods. With the twins involved, things are always apt to go awry, and they do in a spectacular fashion.
Strengths: Strong sense of place, with discussion of NYC landmarks, and the mixed media format is appealing to the target demographic, if not to me. Supportive, if harried parents.
Weaknesses: Private school books tend to rub me the wrong way, since there is so much privilege. (I taught at a private school a long time ago.)
What I really think: Since there are pictures, and the books are short and funny, they are popular. I had a student desperate for this before it was even published. The Tapper Twins Run For President comes out 12 April 2016.
No comments:
Post a Comment