Practically Twins

by Viola Rowe

extremely rare,very good condition

Genres: Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Majenta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars.

[Subi · Rating 5 out of 5]

still have original hardcover book. I'd never give these old books up.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Ann is a 15 year old girl who has just gotten a new mother and sister. Her mother had passed away five years before and since then has been raised by her father and grandmother.

Her father works for a company that specializes in custom made packaging for parts for rockets and missiles. I assume he works in sales for the company cause he travels for work. On his travels to California he met Phyllis, a secretary for a company that uses customized packaging. Mary Ann had been told about Phyllis so she is not too surprised when her father calls her from California to say he and Phyllis are getting married. They've decided to do it right away so Mary Ann is not able to be in attendance. Her father will also be remaining there until Janice, Phyllis' 15 year old daughter, gets out of school for the summer. So they get to be a happy little family for awhile while Mary Ann sits nervously alone at home.

Well, she's not totally alone as her grandmother lives there, or rather did live there. She now has to move out which Mary Ann feels devastated over. Van-loads of Phyllis' furniture have also been arriving, replacing the familiar items in Mary Ann's home and her room has even been taken from her control as she is to share it with Janice now...even tho the Grandmothers room is now empty, doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Even tho Mary Ann is shook up by all the changes and worries Phyllis and Janice might not like her or she might not like them, she is determined to act perfectly and say all the right things because she wants very much for her father to be happy.

As she is waiting for her new family to arrive home from the airport she hears Gil, the 16 year old neighbor boy who is more or less her unofficial boyfriend, go into the garage. He often does yard work for Mary Ann's father and is replacing hedge clippers back in the garage. Mary Ann walks with him down the driveway where she runs into her best friend Polly and Polly's dog, Vitamins.

While they're all on the side walk talking, Uncle Chuck pulls up with Dad, Phyllis, and Janice. Mary Ann starts panicking as she had had a whole plan of greeting the new members of the family inside the house and is now stressed about it happening publicly for the neighbors to watch. She briefly feels better when her beloved father engulfs her in a hug but when he says "Honey, here she is. Wasn't I right?" she gets confused and then sad when she realizes he now calls someone else Honey. Mary Ann is intimidated when she sees how beautiful Janice and Phyllis are. Janice immediately overwhelms her with a hug and talking a mile a minute but Phyllis seems nice and calm. Mary Ann likes Phyllis right away and recalls her promise to herself not to think of Phyllis as a stepmother since stepmother is commonly associated with "Wicked Stepmother". She has promised herself to think of her simply as her mother which is just one of the ways in which Mary Ann is a sweet angel too good for this family.

Mary Ann shows Janice around the house and they seem to be getting along great. Janice acts very friendly and Mary Ann feels at ease until she calls her father "daddy":
Janice looked at her strangely. " Do you always call him that?"
"Call him---?"
"Phil. Do you always call him Daddy?"
"Yes. Of course. Why not?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that it..." Janice shrugged dismissively.

Mary Ann instantly becomes self conscious again.

That evening Phil suggests that Mary Ann (I'm just going to call her Mary from now) takes Janice around to meet the kids in the neighborhood. Polly sees them and asks if she and Vitamins can come along. While she's gone to get Vitamins, Janice goes up to Polly's 17 year old brother, Andy, and his friend Scott who are working on a car in the driveway. Upon sight of her Scott shouts out "like wow, man!" which has got to be one of the most dated things I've ever read but also sets the tone for how Janice is going to be perceived throughout the book.
You can read the rest of this review on my blog, vintagegirlsbooks.blogspot.com

REVIEW:
- Oof, this book is rough. It almost feels as if it could be turned into a Beatrice Sparks book about an emotionally neglected child. I'm surprised Mary Ann didn't run away or something. She really is considered so inferior to Jan by everyone. And the only reason there is a happy ending is because Mary is willing to put up with all the terrible things she endures and pick up all of Jan's slack. If [see blogpost for spoiler] there wouldn't have been anything good that happens to Mary.

- The most heartbreaking part is not how Mary is treated by Jan and her friends but how she is treated by her father. Although he is very considerate of Jan being put in a new situation he seems clueless that Mary Ann is also in a new situation. He does nothing to help her adjust and does not notice when she is struggling.

- You can read the rest of this review on my blog, vintagegirlsbooks.blogspot.com

- You can see all the art work for this book and many others at Pinterest.com/nancydrewart

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ORIGINAL REVIEW
While I enjoyed the ending of this book, the rest was hard to get through. It was actually quite sad even though it's not meant to be. When Mary Anns dad marries she gets a sister named Janice who is the same age as her, 15. All the sudden Marys dad doesn't seem to care for her anymore. He doesn't spend time with her, show her any affection, or anything but he does with Jan. He brings her along on errands and is always giving her hugs and kisses on the cheek. Marys best friend ditches her to follow Jan around and Marys boyfriend kisses Jan. Then Jan copies Marys homework yet Mary gets in trouble at school and has to apologize to Jan. It's just all very strange and if I were Mary Ann I'd have probably ran away from what seemed like a loveless home.

[Shon French · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as a child loved it! I so related to Mary Ann. This is a great book for young girls and maybe they might relate in this day and age

[Katrina Sutton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read this book in a long time, but what I can recall is that I enjoyed the story. The summary of the book isn't posted on here so I thought that I would at least write it down so that others would know what the book is about.

*Summary*
Mary Ann wanted to run and hide, to be alone to nurse the deep ache in her heart-but her room was no longer her won. She was a stranger in her own house.

Mary Ann Rand had always wanted a sister. Now it had happened. Her father's unexpected second marriage had brought her a new mother and a sister, Janice, from California. And Janice was a blond, assured beauty who turned everything around her golden with charm. Mary Ann's grandmother called the girls practically twins, but it wasn't true. Sisters, perhaps-but one pretty and the other plain!

With the arrival of Janice came a whole series of changes, some pleasant, some painful. Boys suddenly began to stop at the Rand house-boys who had never noticed Mary Ann before. Polly, Mary Ann's closest friend, out aside her tomboy ways in favor of Janice's dainty femininity. And suddenly Mary Ann found herself completely fiercely fro a place in her family and with her friends. She and Janice were to come terribly close to real tragedy before they dsicovered a richly rewarding truth-that each of them had to learn how to give as well as to receive, before they could begin to be practically twins.

[Rea K]

*clears throat* Now, I know I shelved this as Can't Remember A Thing, but I remember some tidbits.
FIRST! I was always a bit bothered with the dad remarrying without the daughter knowing. I mean, yeah, sure, a different time and all, but I always thought that parents would at least, you know, warn their children that they found someone new.
SECOND! I think there's a dog named Vitamin. Which makes me think of the nasty vitamins I took as a small child. Yuck.

[Susann · Rating 2 out of 5]

As corny and predictable as I expected it to be, but the fun was finding it at a thrift shop on Front Street in Mankato, MN. Of all the possible names for a high school, the author just had to choose Hooker High.

[Bridget · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend of my dad's gave me all of her kid's books when I was 11 and this was in the mix with a lot of Beverly Cleary and I fucking love this book still.
It's so dated and early 60's but an absolute treasure ala the Parent Trap.

[Kim-Lost-In-A-Book · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story. I had to keep reminding myself of the time it was written in. I'm not sure today's youths would be able to relate to the mannerisms, habits etc. of the teens in this book (and in the book the teens seemed younger than their High School age). I did not care for how manipulative Jan was and how that was just kind of swept aside and not truly addressed. It was meant to be a way to feel sorry for her and her circumstances but that failed. I think Mary Ann did more of the work and didn't get nearly the credit she deserved.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard story of new stepsisters. Neither is the 'evil' stepsister, but while excited to have a new sister, one finds herself growing jealous of her new sister's popularity and beauty, while the other struggles with her schoolwork. But in the end the two find a way to work together and appreciate their differences.

Fine story, good writing for young teens, but nothing spectacular.

[Kari McDowell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dated but fun. One of my favorite books growing up.

[Tashina Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like reading these books partially because there is just so little drama. The drama is so easily resolved and everyone becomes a better person and life moves on. This one was solid 4 star. Defintely more sisterly than romantic. I might keep it but it's right on the edge where I might let someone else enjoy it instead.

[Sharil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now a very outdated book, but I love it anyway. I re-read it almost every year. It pre-dated after-school movie specials and the Hallmark Channel. Otherwise, it might have been made into a movie.

[Carolyn Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had this as a hard-back in my pre-teen years and read it more than a few times. The setting is the early-1960s. Author Viola Rowe had a knack at presenting a teenage story with the main character relying on critical thinking to overcome emotional and/or complicated situations

[Jane Fujiwara · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s cheesy and predictable but I love it. It’s so interesting to look back at teen life in the 60s.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another one in my "Blast From the Past" series. Enjoyable.

[Lexi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet treasure from a free little library. Dated well before my time, but charming.

[Susan Daly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back when I was in my early teens, Whitman produced a series of "Teen Novels" which I read a whole bunch of. This one was my hands-down favourite. I read it again and again. Loved it, and the kind of reasonable way in which the family worked out their issues. Phyllis was a pretty good stepmother, and Mary Ann and Jan made their sisterhood work, eventually.

The 5 stars is from the early 1960s perpective. It would be pretty dated today, but I have my fond memories.