Boston Globe–Horn Book Award–winning author Brandy Colbert gives The Parent Trap a fresh, funny, and delightfully unexpected update in this story of two girls—one raised by her single father, the other in the foster care system—who meet by chance…only to discover they’re identical twins.
Kenya Norwood likes things just the way they are. She's lived all her life in Pasadena with her dad and grandmother, she's attended the same school with the same friends since pre-K, and she's always the center of attention. Even as she's about to start middle school, she knows one thing for sure: none of that is going to change.
For Liberty Perry, change is all she's ever known. Her mother disappeared when she was a toddler, and ever since, she's never stayed in one place for very long. But things seem different with her new foster mother, Joey. Maybe in this home, in this school, change won't come so quickly.
Except everything changes the day Liberty and Kenya meet—and discover they are identical.
Neither of them is ready to find out she has a twin sister (in fact, they're unsure if they even want one), and when the girls learn the truth of how they were separated, it's clear that no one else in their lives was ready for this, either. But the connection they share might be even stronger than the things that kept them apart—and teaming up might be the only way to set everything right.---from the publisher
304 pages 978-0063092488 Ages 8-12
Keywords: parents, foster care, twins, family, humor, separation, identity, African American and Black stories, Black Girl books, African American author, If You Liked Parent Trap, 8 year old, 9 year old, 10 year old, 11 year old, 12 year old
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“A doppelgänger is a look-alike of a living person, originating from German folklore as a ghostly, supernatural double, but now commonly used for any unrelated person who looks strikingly similar, like a ‘double-walker’.”
– Google AI overview
Let's get together, yay-yay-yay!
Two is twice as nice as one
Let's get together, right away
We'll be having twice the fun
And you can always count on me
A gruesome twosome we will be
Let's get together, yay-yay-yay!
– The Sherman Brothers, “Let’s Get Together,” from “The Parent Trap” (1961)
Eleven-year-old Kenya has been tense and weirded out since foster child Liberty–Kenya’s doppelgänger–arrives in town at her latest foster placement, and begins attending Kenya’s school. From Day One, Liberty is repeatedly mistaken by classmates for Kenya.
Eventually, at a school mixer, Kenya blows her top and kicks off a fight with Liberty, necessitating Kenya’s father Wesley and grandmother (Cookie), and Liberty’s foster mom Joey, to come pick up their respective charges. It’s then that Kenya’s dad and grandmother suddenly realize that Liberty has to be Kenya’s long-missing twin, who Liberty and Kenya’s troubled mom disappeared with a decade ago when the two girls were babies.
“‘Kenya.’ Dad shook his head as he stood before her. ‘What happened?’
She worked her bottom lip beneath her teeth. ‘It’s kind of a long story.’
‘Lucky for you, I have all night for you to tell me about it.’
‘Wesley…’ said Cookie from her post at the door.
‘Hold on a second, Mama.’ He was still looking at Kenya. ‘Did you really get into a fight? That’s not like you.’
‘It wasn’t a fight. We were–’
‘Wesley–’
‘Mama, I’m trying to–’
‘Wesley!’
They both turned then. Cookie had stepped into the room and was staring at Liberty.
Kenya watched as Dad followed Cookie’s gaze, and a moment later, his entire body wilted, as if he’d been hit by a tranquilizer dart. He looked like he was going to crumple to the floor.
‘Dad!’ Kenya reached out to steady him, and he caught himself against Trina’s desk. Kenya popped up, taking hold of his arm. ‘Dad? What’s wrong?’
Cookie was peering at Liberty now, her face so close that Liberty scooted back a little on the bench.
‘Could it be…?’ Cookie whispered. ‘Is it really you?’
Liberty looked at her, confused. ‘My name is Liberty.’
Cookie exhaled. ‘Wesley, are you seeing what I’m seeing?’”
Inspired by “The Parent Trap,” the twins in LET’S GET TOGETHER eventually surmount the interpersonal weirdness related to their sudden reconnection. Things get so comfortable between them that Kenya begins plotting to hook up the girls’ single father with Liberty’s single foster mom–the best foster parent Liberty has ever had–so that the two girls can share a family and a household.
This is a feel-good elementary-level tale that concludes with a smile. I’d not hesitate to share it with eight- and nine-year-old readers.
Recommended by: Richie Partington, MLIS, California USA
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