August 2012 by Chronicle Books
232 pages--Goodreads
Suppose there were 12-year-old twins, a boy and girl named John and Abigail Templeton. Let's say John was pragmatic and played the drums, and Abigail was theoretical and solved cryptic crosswords. Now suppose their father was a brilliant, if sometimes confused, inventor. And suppose that another set of twins-adults-named Dean D. Dean and Dan D. Dean, kidnapped the Templeton twins and their ridiculous dog in order to get their father to turn over one of his genius (sort of) inventions. Yes, I said kidnapped. Wouldn't it be fun to read about that? Oh please. It would so. Luckily for you, this is just the first in a series perfect for boys and girls who are smart, clever, and funny (just like the twins), and enjoy reading adventurous stories (who doesn't? ).
I wanted The Templeton Twins Have an Idea to be one of those fun books with a very present, snarky narrator who comments on all the character's doings, but Weiner just doesn't pull that off. Instead of narrating skillfully like Lemony Snicket does, this narrator is over the top with his complaining gets quite condescending in some parts. Half the time it annoyed me and half the time I just didn't care. The plot is simplistic and dull. The characters are one dimensional and uninteresting. Maybe if I had read The Templeton Twins in a different mood I may have liked it, but this time around it was just meh.
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