Double Trouble

by Joanne Levy

Victoria Adelman is lonely. Her best friend has moved away, leaving her to spend the summer alone. One day, on her way home from a bat mitzvah, she meets Jazzy, her next-door neighbors' granddaughter. Tori hopes her friendless status is about to change.

Later, in her garden, she meets Jazzy again, but Jazzy doesn't recognize the filthy, smelly girl as the one she met earlier. In a moment of insecurity, Tori tells Jazzy that the girl she met before was her twin sister, Vicky. Tori is sure she can fake being that girl in the dress--it's only for two weeks.

But then Jazzy announces she's staying with her grandparents for the school year. Tori needs to figure out what to do: come clean and lose her new friend, or live her life as a fake.

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2019

About the author

Joanne Levy’s love of books began at a very early age. Being the youngest and the only female among four children, and the daughter to voracious readers, she was often left to her own devices and could frequently be found sitting in a quiet corner with her nose in a book.

A survivor of the corporate world, Joanne now works from home, supporting other authors and creating the friends she wishes she had when she was a kid.

She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband, two mischievous cats, a mean African Grey parrot and a sweet but not-so-smart dog. When she’s not busy writing or assisting, she enjoys reading (obviously), needle-felting with wool (Google it), and taking long walks with her faithful writing companion, Labrador Retriever, Zoe.

About my reviews: I'm an author, so I know what it's like to get a non-stellar review of my book. So, with that in mind, I only review books I really like.

Reviews

[Jennifer Nielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Joanne Levy's work as an author, and DOUBLE TROUBLE is certainly one of her best. It's a beautiful coming-of-age story about self-confidence, friendship, trust, and being who you are. Highly recommended.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a quick, fun read for middle grade readers. It's an Orca Currents book, which for me means it is a Hi/Lo book published in Canada (Orca is out of BC, where I live, and the Currents books are usually for tweens, or teens). These books are often quick reads for most of my students, but seem to engage some of my readers who are not quite so keen. In fact, the whole time I was reading this, I was thinking of just one such student.
We have all watched a sitcom, or movie in which a character tells a little lie and it spirals into something bigger, right? Well, that is the plot here as Victoria is not so honest in her attempt to get her neighbour's granddaughter Jazzy to like her. Jazzy seems drawn to dressed up Victoria (on her way home from the synagogue) but doesn't recognize her when she sees her after several hours of gardening. Victoria's solution is to pretend they are different people, twins, so that she can bring back glamourous "Vicki" once she cleans up from her gardening as "Tori."
This causes her to scurry around to keep the lie hidden from her grandma, her father, and her neighbours who obviously know that she is not a twin. Her lie is silly, but it turns into fast-paced fun watching the attempts to cover it up until Tori learns to be herself.

[Kim Donaghy Konuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Trouble was a cute, very quick read. It is a et up to be read by tweens or middle schoolers. Great book for those girls who don’t understand why lying is wrong. Follow Tori as she pretends to have a twin to impress the girl next door. Lots of craziness, lots of lies and in the end a great lesson learned.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was super cute but it also made me so mad because I just wanted her to tell Jazzy the truth already. It was really simply written though which made it like kind of juvenile and boring in a way. I still really enjoyed it though, 3/5.

[Naomi Frishman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was pretty weird. I don't think I liked the storyline and how out of nowhere, Tori turned herself into a twin. Wouldn't recommend.

[Jocelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious and heartwarming! A fun look at the emotional rollercoaster of preteen friendship.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy read. Dull.