Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #21: Mallory and the Trouble with Twins

So Mallory is 0-1 when it comes to books I like. And really, none of that was the fault of Mallory as a character at all, rather the annoying structure of the book itself. But now that she's become more of a regular in the main character rotation, it's time for her second attempt. And we have a book that appears to be about a pair of bratty twins. Oh. Goody. Well, still hoping for a decent book at least. It's time to talk about Mallory and the Trouble with Twins.

Covers this time around are all similar. Not much in terms of real variation, save for the graphic novel, but they all convey the overall plot of the book. The Arnold twins are a pain that Mallory is going to have to deal with. Of the three covers, I'll go with the original for Mallory's more annoyed expression which sells that this is more of a problem than she thought it would be. The reprint is more miffed than frustrated and the graphic novel is more suspicious than annoyed. Wish they were more interesting but ah well.

The story opens with the Pike family at the Washington Mall to buy shoes, while the kids mostly are acting annoying as usual. Mallory and some of the others walk off as Mallory goes to watch kids get their ears pierced, which she hasn't been allowed to get yet and she's envious. This leads into the preamble about the club. Yep, it's a first chapter alright. They watch as a girl gets her ear pierced, which freaks out Claire and makes Margo want to vomit. So in other words a mall visit well spent. Mallory then heads to the club meeting giving us our second preamble about the club. This book is 108 pages (at least the ebook version is) and already we're at page 14 because so much of the first few pages are eaten up by the preamble. And yes, I am going to keep bringing that up until that changes, which I'm starting to doubt ever will. At the meeting, they get a call from Mrs. Arnold. She has identical twin daughters, Marilyn and Carolyn. With Mrs. Arnold helping the school fundraiser, she needs someone to watch the twins for the next few months. Everyone's schedules are bad, save for Mallory who takes up the job. 

Mallory sits for the Arnold twins, who dress exactly alike save for bracelets that identify one from the other. Mrs. Arnold is also described as very overdressed with jewelry and clothing with bows on it. After Mrs. Arnold leaves, it seems all is well, that is until Marilyn and Carolyn remove their bracelets and act like pains, both not telling Mallory which is which. After that, she and Jessi sit for Mallory's family, with them talking about wanting their ears pierced and having a million dollars. Well, I'd buy you a monkey. Haven't you always wanted a monkey? Mallory watches the twins again and they play hide and seek and try to trick Mallory out of extra snacks, all while talking in their own secret language which, is that an actual thing some twins do? Namely the identical ones? Claudia also sits for the twins who decide to again remove their bracelets and Carolyn leaves for Marilyn's piano lessons to prank Claudia. I hear they can be murder. Speaking of murder, the Arnold parents want to murder their kids for being pains in the ass. But that's enough for Claudia to leave the twin sitting to Mallory.

At the club meeting, the girls realize that the Arnold twins are a problem and they don't quite know why. But they still have to honor their commitment to their job. After the job's over, then maybe they'll have to ghost the Arnold family, which isn't something they've done to this point, even with some of the more pain in the ass jobs they've done. They suggest maybe Logan or Shannon can do the job which oh that's nice. Ship the shit jobs to the NWO B-Team. Mallory sits for them again and they use their language on her, so she counters with Pig Latin, which annoys the girls enough to call a truce. They all finally talk for a bit and Mallory realizes that the twins are frustrated with looking identical, save for a mole on one of their faces. And despite one liking science and the other playing piano, they seem like they wish they could be more different so that maybe they wouldn't need identification. We then get a quick chapter where Karen and Hannie pretend to be twins so Kristy joins in for a bit. A surprisingly less chaotic appearance of the agent of chaos for this book. 

The twins have their birthday so Mallory, Mary Anne and Dawn head to the party. And we learn the crux of the issue here. The girls WANT to look different, but their mother prefers them dressing alike. Mallory gives them pins, one of a piano for Marilyn and a science book for Carolyn, which they like since they're actually unique gifts. The next day Mallory sits, the girls get along with her better, still happy about the pins. She also manages to get the girls to convince Mrs. Arnold to let them dress differently. Mallory even convinces her parents to let her get her ears pierced, so we're definitely closing in on that mega happy ending. We have like 20 pages or so left, but sure. Mallory takes the girls to get new clothes to finally look different from one another. Then Mallory, Jessi, Claudia and Dawn get their ears pierced as sort of a memorable moment for Mallory and Jessi. Afterwards Mallory tells the club that the twins are happier and easier to get along with so yeah, there's that mega happy ending right on time.

This one was good. Not amazing, but good. Definitely a step up for Mallory after her debut book. But by that token there really isn't too much to say about this one as the plot is very straightforward. And maybe the most sitcom feeling plot we've gotten in the series. I do like the conflict as while the Arnold twins are a pain, you can at least understand their plight. I mean, when you've spent most of your young life with the only identifying thing being having to wear freaking name tag bracelets, I can see why you'd have a horrid disposition to most people. And I do like that Mallory manages to get along with them and their interactions as the book goes on are more fun and cute. I like that it also mirrors Mallory wanting to feel more like an individual and change some things about herself. Granted, the furthest she gets is her ears pierced, but it's progress. The book is also another one that feels rather short compared to previous books, so that also doesn't help in giving me much to talk about with this one. Kind of hate having this be a one paragraph review, but sometimes these books just don't give you much to talk about. I guess this is at least some good character development for Mallory? That's enough I guess. Easy recommend. Not a top tier book, rather filler in the long run, but not bad either. Mallory and the Trouble with Twins gets a B. 

Washington Mall

Reebok

Avia

Paddington

Paddington Abroad
Paddington Helps Out

Paddington Marches On

Candy Land

Winnie-The-Pooh

Raggedy An