Karen's Twin

Baby-Sitters Little Sister #45

by Ann M. Martin

Audrey decides that she and Karen are going to be twins--they will dress alike, talk alike, and act alike--but after a while, Karen does not think that this is such a neat idea

Genres: Childrens, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Fiction

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.

Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.

Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.

After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...

Reviews

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, crap, Karen's in trouble again but this time it's not entirely her fault. One of her classmates thinks Karen is the bees knees, for some reason, and wants to be her twin. She says it's because Karen has an interesting family. Seriously? You think divorced parents, disinterested parents at that, an illegal adoption and a totalitarian step-sister qualifies as a good indicator of pretend twinness?

Anyway.

Karen goes along with it than realises that fuck, Audrey has some mental issues, bro. She's terrified of asking Audrey to back off, as Audrey has a history of skinning people alive and wearing their flesh as a bodysuit. She enlists the help of slaves, Hannie and Nancy, and asks for assistance. So she steals Audrey's voice box, and uses it to speak through. Audrey, realising she's met her match, quickly slinks away.

Meanwhile, at the Brewer-Thomas household, Watson and Elizabeth are under siege from the CIA for illegally adopting an 80-year-old Vietnamese woman. They eventually strap a bomb to her and throw her at the armed forces, all under the guise of an 'Adoption Party'. Karen, for some reason, thinks this is fun.

Shit, bro, Martin wrote some messed up stories.

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of my favorite books as a kid!!

[Looney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need the sweater on the cover.

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book where Audrey is lonely coz her big bro is away at college so she pretends to be Karen's twin.

Having just read a Kids in Ms Colman's Class book about the BFF-friendship between Audrey and Sara, I have to ask: where's Sara? Did she move away?!

Also with all the big deal over Audrey missing her brother, I wish we'd actually gotten to know him a bit. Nice that he could make Family Day at the school, but he literally said nothing. Seriously, he has one sentence mentioning he's there. Nothing about how Audrey was super thrilled to hang out with him, or how he and Audrey look or act alike.

B plot is about some red tape challenges over Emily Michelle's adoption. Glad it went through in the end, and the adoption day party was sweet.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another of the random books I had, and I always liked it. The family plot was interesting, especially with Emily's red tape, and I really liked the story with Audrey. Her Twin Day, and everyone commenting on the two sets of twins (Terry and Tammy and Marilyn and Carolyn) and overlooking Karen and Audrey, always sticks in my mind. A fun story!

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cure one.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I would enjoy this book because I used to like dressing up as twins with friends and my sister. This girl Audrey copied Karen's clothes, and how she ate her food. It became annoying and made Karen uncomfortable. The Arnold twins from BSC also made an appearance when Audrey planned twin day. On a side plot, Emily Michelle's adoption papers are still being filled out so the adoption could become official.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish- · Rating 3 out of 5]

When you were too old for childrens books, but too young for The Baby Sitters Club.
Ann M. Martin really is a genius to piggy back on the success of The Baby Sitters Club.

After reading the little sisters series I remember feeling like a real adult opening up that first BSC book.

[Pauline Nica]

it's nice

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

That sweater is horrid.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/13118826