Kid Konnection: The Tapper Twins Go To War

Every Saturday, I host a feature called Kid Konnection -- a regular weekend feature about anything related to children's books. This week, I'm going to share with you a fantastic middle grade book that's a features one heck of a sibling rivalry!

Summary: This brand-new series by a popular screenwriter is a pitch-perfect, contemporary comedy featuring twelve-year-old fraternal twins, Claudia and Reese, who couldn't be more different...except in their determination to come out on top in a vicious prank war! But when the competition escalates into an all-out battle that's fought from the cafeteria of their New York City private school all the way to the fictional universe of an online video game, the twins have to decide if their efforts to destroy each other are worth the price.

Told as a colorful "oral history" by the twins and their friends, and including photos, screenshots, chat logs, online gaming digital art, and text messages between their clueless parents, The Tapper Twins is a hilariously authentic showcase of what it's like to be in middle school in our digitally-saturated world. -- Little, Brown

Booking Son isn't crazy about reading -- I know, it absolutely breaks my heart; however, when THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) by Geoff Rodkey arrived at our house, I noticed him checking it out. Tell me that this cover doesn't appeal to kids -- it's absolutely adorable. And fortunately, the cover wasn't the only thing special about this book. I thought it was a lot of fun... and it even had a few good messages in it,

THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) is an account of the "war" between 12 year old twins Claudia and Reese. These two are total opposites and fight over just about anything and everything. Heck, they can't even agree to how this war started! Their battle is absolutely hilarious and neither one will stop until they "win!"

This book is part graphic novel/part oral history and provides both kids' accounts of their part in the war. The story takes them from their home to their school cafeteria to an online virtual world in a video game. There is no "agreeing to disagree" as the two continually one-up each other in this war of wills. Can this brother and sister find any common ground? Will they ever quit?

I thought THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) was hysterically funny and truly a creative story. I loved the characters as well as the way the story was presented, and I think even reluctant readers are going to be drawn to this book. I especially appreciated that the book included not only personal accounts from Claudia and Reese, but also photos, texts, chat logs, screenshots and more!

Of course, Claudia and Reese's pranks were entertaining; and I truly was impressed with how creative they were when it came to outsmarting (or embarrassing) each other. As a reader, it was laugh out loud funny. However as a mom, I really appreciated that there were some valuable lessons included in the story. Both kids eventually came to their senses realized that they were being unusually cruel, and they also admitted that there do have an underlying love for each other... well kind of.

I was delighted to learn that THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) is the first book in a new series. The next one, THE TAPPER TWINS TEAR UP NEW YORK, will be available in September. I don't know if I can wait!

THE TAPPER TWINS GO TO WAR (WITH EACH OTHER) is a great addition to middle school fiction, and I highly recommend it! Check out this video to get an even better idea of the book:



Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

If you'd like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children's books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, please leave a comment as well as a link below with your name/blog name and the title of the book! Feel free to grab the little button too!