Double, Double, Twins and Trouble

Witches of Peculiar: Double, Double, Twins and Trouble
Luna Graves
Aladdin, 2022
144 pages
Grades 3-5
Horror/Humor

Welcome to Peculiar, Pennsylvania, where supernatural families live alongside traditional human ones. Witch twins Bella and Donna are new sixth grade students at a private middle school for magical and monster kids. Starting middle school is bad enough, but it's even worse when you haven't yet learned to control your magic. After and unfortunate incident in spell casting class that both sets a desk on fire and causes a destructive rain storm, the twins already have a bad reputation with the administration and their fellow students. Lunch looks like a lonely preposition until young monsters sit with them and a tentative friendship is formed. As the quartet solidifies more adventures ensue stemming from accidentally raising the mayor's cat from the dead. Can the witch twins keep their new friends, lean to work together, solve the problem of the dead--now alive--cat, and escape detection from the authorities? If they get in trouble again their two fathers may have to move them to a new town and that would be a nightmare for everybody.

Young readers will love this new series starter that combines horror, humor, and a lot of sass. Y.I.K.E.S.S.S, the supernatural middle school, is reminiscent of Hogwarts and will make readers long to attend. Bella and Donna have a rough start to their school experience, but it doesn't seem to slow them down and they keep diving into new experiences and try to fix their mistakes. The twins have distinct personalities and at one point have a bit of a realistic sibling-clash, that many kids will relate to. We see them work it out, and through the story learn how to cooperate with each other. The premise of the series has a lot of room for exciting adventures and readers will want to go on in the series. The twin's have two dads and one of their friends is non-binary, offering a LGBTQ+ connection. The cover is interesting, the book includes some pictures, and the author's name (which must be a pseudonym) is pretty cool, making this title attractive to browsers and reluctant readers. The second entry in the series Thriller Night is already available and an except is included at the end of the first installment.