The Twits Next Door

The Twits #2

by Greg James, Chris Smith

A new classic from the world of Roald Dahl!

Mr. and Mrs. Twit are just about as nasty and revolting as two people can get. The only thing that brings the two of them pleasure is playing pranks on one another. But, when a new family called the Lovelies move in next door, with their lively 10-year-old twins, they teach The Twits to stop being so mean and horrible and they all live happily ever after . . .  Ha! Not really. The Twits HATE the Lovelies.  

But how far will The Twits go to rid themselves of their horribly nice new neighbours? And what happens when these new neighbours, who are armed with utter loveliness, start to fight back?

Genres: Middle Grade, Fiction, Childrens

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 14, 2024

Reviews

[Rachel Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with my six year old as I absolutely loved Roald Dahl as a child, we both really enjoyed it.

[Jenny Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good book to read with your children. I personally didn't enjoy it as much as the original Twits but my 7 year old son says it's better, so there you go. I will definitely read some more Greg James/Chris Smith books with him.

[Lisa Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading this with my daughter.

[Richard Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun story but my biggest issue is how it was written like a David Walliams book with him narrating what is happening rather than be a traditional story along with very big text every few pages. That is fine for their own stories but when this is meant to feel like Roald Dahl's work, it doesn't feel right. The story was good but it is no The Twits.

Ps I know the twits uses narration in the same sort of way but it feels like it was used much too often here.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure if it’s the nostalgia, but I had to give this five stars. It felt like reading The Twits by Roald Dahl for the first time again. So fun and I can’t wait to share it with my students.

[Zena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall an entertaining story. I kept looking for those magical moment that Dahl would give. Wasn’t out of this world, wasn’t terrible.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great; very funny. Made me laugh out loud more than once with its over-the-top silliness. The youngest was watching it on Netflix, so we decided to check it out and even though it is very different than the movie, as often happens, I think the book was better. 🙂

[Michelle Van Bakel · Rating 4 out of 5]

super leuk en grappig geschreven, ook leuk dat er echt naar de lezer geschreven wordt op sommige stukjes.
Zo lijkt het alsof je echt in het verhaal wordt bedtrokken.
Ook echt een goed voorlees boek!

[Nia Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book with my year 4 class, both me and them absolutely loved it! An excellent prequel to the Twits.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a child, I loved Roald Dahl. I think even then I appreciated humour with a bit of darkness thrown in. So when I saw that there were going to be new stories released, taking inspiration from some of his characters, I felt both curiosity and trepidation to how it may go. The Twits Next Door is the first of these to be published. Sadly, for me, it didn't quite live up to my hopes for the book.
It has left me wondering if part of why it hasn't quite worked is because of the 'author.' James is a celebrity turned author, and this can be hit and miss when it comes to success. Although the book itself has been produced beautifully - the illustrations are great - I feel that the story falls a little flat. Then again, maybe it's just because it's not Dahl...

[Daisy Hendrikx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super leuk, dit vervolg geïnspireerd op De Griezels. En de schrijfstijl klopt ook best goed. Met net zoveel beschrijvende bijvoeglijke naamwoorden als Roald Dahl zelf gebruikte. Deze woorden worden ook veel uitgelicht, door een ander lettertype en formaat.
Lijkt me een super humoristisch boek om uit voor te lezen.
Maar ook voor kinderen die niet van saaie leesboeken houden is dit een aanrader.

[Wesley Mead · Rating 3 out of 5]

Convincingly recaptures the style of Dahl, albeit with slightly softened and modernised edges.

[Sarah Threlkeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful and hilarious sequel to one of my favorite books from childhood. The whole family listened on audio and cackled continuously.

[Katy Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not Dahl but it's a great comedic book in its own right.

Taking inspiration rather than much more from Dahl's famous (and one of my favourite) children's stories, Greg James brings us a contemporary fiction set in Mr and Mrs Twit's possible world, before the events we know and love.

While the original was taut and quite a slim volume, Greg James expands the story so it's not the Twits playing tricks on each other constantly (though they do this wonderfully - my son and I are now constantly playing their game of insulting each other with alphabetical puns and slights, thanks for that) but opens out to the whole community and most especially the new neighbours.

The Lovelies. I've never said the word Lovely so much out loud. This started out quite predictably an 'us vs them' between the Twits and the scamps of new children next door, but I felt the book really took off when Mr and Mrs Lovely decided their new neighbours MUST have loveliness hidden underneath... but may at some point have to admit defeat.

The loveliness of the Lovelies was hilarious, and how the family determine to teach the Twits a lesson is pure comic heaven for kids. We giggled away (and I'm 44, about as big a kid as you can be).

James pays tribute to Dahl in the opening, with his descriptions of beards and faces and a few marriage pranks, and at the end when he leads on nicely to the events in the original. But he has free reign in the middle to do his own thing with the characters.

Pranks, pratfalls, sneaks, subterfuge and a lot of silliness - it was a great bedtime read over a couple of weeks.

For ages 6-11.

[Lora · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s such a dream when great characters and stories get a sequel. So fun!

“…mean thoughts turn you inward. Nice people are always looking around, seeing how they can make other people's days better. They face outward and are curious about the world around them and the people who live in it. But mean people are entirely turned inward, jealously guarding their wicked thoughts like a dragon guards its treasure.”

“…must have been children themselves once— there's no way round that, as far as we know—but, as with many twits before and since, they had stopped being children as soon as possible and immediately forgotten what it was like.”

"”WHO WANTS TO BE LOVELY?" said
Mrs. Twit.
"Well... everybody!" said Mrs. Lovely. "Everybody is lovely underneath! It says so on our living-room wall."”

“But the problem with being a kid, as you may have noticed, is that grown-ups don't listen to you
when they really should.”

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more bookish opinions, visit my blog: Craft-Cycle

A brand-new adventure featuring the Twits. The infamously grouchy couple is about to face their biggest challenge yet: new neighbors. To add insult to injury, these neighbors are nice and pleasant and disgustingly lovely. Follow along as they try to get rid of these pesky newcomers in this entertaining prequel to the classic tale.

Well-written in an engaging style that compliments the original. Filled with plenty of gross humor, outrageous absurdity, disgusting tricks, and shocking surprises.

Fantastic black-and-white illustrations that wonderfully depict the action and humor of the story.

A fun modernized adventure inspired by Dahl's classic characters. While nothing can quite live up to the magic of Roald Dahl, this was a highly entertaining story with great humor and a few nice lessons along the way.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if it's fair to Roald Dahl to give this book 5-Stars and the original Twits only 3, but I kind of want to. I'll start off by saying it's for sure better than the original, but at the same time it wouldn't be without the OG. How does one go about making a sequel to a novel written by one of the greatest children's book authors, idk, but this is pretty dang close to how it should be done. I truly loved everything about this. It had deep levels of Dahl's humor hidden throughout, a strong message for the reader and a longing for more. I'm sure everyone in the publishing house was on the edge of their seats wondering how this would play out and all I'll say is they nailed it!!!!!!

[Ozsaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the Lovelies move next door to the Twits, chaos ensues. The Twits are a horrible couple who hate everything. The Lovelies are the loveliest family in the world. The Twits decide to drive the Lovelies away by playing nasty pranks on them.

This was a silly, goofy book. The humor leans toward the gross, so kids that think burping is funny will love this. Actually, all kinds of kids will love it. It's fun enough for an adult if they want to read it out loud to children. Doing the voices would be a lot of fun. And the way the book is written (words that are big and bold in places) and illustrated make it delightful.

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Ah, well. No rest for the twittish. Better get on with it, I suppose.”

The original is a children’s classic, and this one gives the twits a common enemy: neighbors. No rest for the twittish indeed.
I liked how this expanded the setting by having the twits interact with other people instead of just the two of them and how referenced the to original. At the same time, I felt like it used fonts and letter size to emphasize words too chaotically. The chaos of the twits is in the content, in the story, not in the typeface or the illustrations that try to show what is being described.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to give this book a good review so the authors didn't hunt me down, as they threatened to in the story. Besides, it was written as Roald Dahl might have written it and, as a fan of the late Roald Dahl, I enjoyed it. Mr. Dahl's original story of The Twits was also good, along with The Witches, The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Willy Wonka, etc. Greg James and Chris Smith also wrote The Kid Normal series, which looks to be interesting and entertaining.

[Brenda Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute new tale of the Twits.
While irritating each other with tricks, new neighbors move in next door. With children. GASP.
This cannot be tolerated - the Twits work together to force them out.
But the Lovelies believe everyone is lovely - even the Twits. Their children are determined to have their parents understand some people are just twits.

[Reader Mukherjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got it as a Xmas present. What to do if your neighbors are absolutely horrible? Hope to have the Lovelies coming to town. They will bring love, joy and happiness and conquer the rotten twits with awesome methods. Loved it, even I am an adult. The rhymes included makes it a fun read and the illustrations made me giggle!

[Hanif Ur-Rehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be fair at the end of the book, it was a prequel to the original The Twits book.

It is a prequel because he wants to bake bird pie and he did that in The Twits.

Reviewed by Hakeem (age 8 years old).

[Maggie Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can I just say, I loved this silly lil book? My 9-year-old and I have been reading it together as a bedtime story for weeks now and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We're waiting to see if they drop another one since it ended on such a cliffhanger! 😉

[Jenna Brine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Noah loved that this was a prequel to the original and thought the twins were so funny! Especially when they caked the Twits in the face. He loved the part where the pigeons pooed on their heads and it went in their eyes- so horrible!

Be lovely to everyone- unless they're a Twit!

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

don’t be a twit and read the twits next door!

Such a cute,fun and funny story.i really enjoyed it.definitely recommend 10/10.i loved that this book had elements of roald dahl while also being unique

[Shauna Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how Greg James and Chris Smith took the classic Roald Dahl story and made what sounds like a prequel (based on Mr. Twits curse at the end of this book). I think Roald would have loved this book, it was fun, the insults were creative and lively, and the Twits were spot on.

[Amy Morales Baum · Rating 5 out of 5]

We loved this read aloud, especially my 8 year old. The original Twits are just nasty characters, this book has positive and negative aspects. There are funny, engaging and silly moments. We loved the play with word structure on the pages as well. Very much recommend.

[Judy Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read aloud to my kids.

7 year old boy- It was good- 5 stars. I liked the Lovely family and the tiger...it was funny.

10 year old girl- 5 stars, I really liked it. I liked the kids and it was very funny.

[Jackie Mc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different from original by dhal but still good