The Twits Next Door

December 15, 2024
The Twits rise again, as revolting as ever, to play and be the victims of further gooey, gluey pranks. This follow-up to 2023'sWonka, inspired by Roald Dahl's sourball satire, stirs plenty of characters as well as riffs and references from the 1980 original into a storyline that pits the mutually abusive titular twosome against Mr. and Mrs. Lovely, new neighbors who are stubbornly dedicated to making the world a nicer place. As it turns out, good intentions only go so far. After Mr. Twit endangers 10-year-old twins Ruff and Tumble Lovely by tricking them into climbing the Big Dead Tree, an escalating prank war ensues. In a lovely nod to Judith Kerr, the chapter "The Tiger Who Came for Breakfast" features a mistreated circus tiger, acquired from a contact the Twits have retained from their circus training days, who quickly becomes a Lovely pet, rather than gobbling them up as intended. The authors drop in a few major twists, liberal quantities of garbage and glue, stomach-churning foods, and alliterative imprecations ("Jiggly...jabbering...jam head!" "mean, mangy, mumbling MOO COW!"), and savage just deserts once again play significant roles. In Jones' energetic and humorous illustrations, Mr. Lovely reads Black, and Mrs. Lovely appears white; racially and culturally diverse crowds witness the crabby white-presenting Twits' climactic comeuppance. Delivers entertaining hijinks and fresh Twittery.(Fiction. 8-12)

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