SHOW & TELL

For readers who enjoy the slapstick humor of the Ready, Freddy! chapter-book series, there’s now a female perspective in the new spin-off series, Double Trouble, featuring Freddy’s identical twin cousins, Kasey and Kelly.

Kasey narrates this first installment, in which the twins, who like to finish each other’s sentences, begin a study on pets and (unrealistically) convince their teacher to hold a show-and-tell–style Pet Day. Because their dad is a veterinarian, the girls easily discuss various types of pets, from cats and hamsters to tarantulas and geckos. Graphite illustrations heighten the comedic results as Kasey and Kelly become entangled in one antic after another. They give their little brother, Kenny, doggie treats while he pretends to be a dog (after first sampling the treats themselves) and set up a race to determine which of their large stock of pets will accompany them to school. A classroom full of pets? Of course, it’s an accident—and hilarity—waiting to happen. In this case, it’s Kasey’s gecko that escapes when her bubble gum fails to secure a broken cage door lock. As in the Freddy titles, an activity page concludes the book. The twins’ second escapade, April Fool’s Surprise, will be released simultaneously.

Simple reading before moving on to the more sophisticated Ivy + Bean.