The Troublesome Twins

Clara and Carl are twins who live with their parents and younger sister in a small, South African town. The twins are fun-loving, mischievous, real, current and believable. The stories form part of a series, but can be read as one-off, stand-alone chapters. This makes the book highly readable for young readers of either sex, from around ages 9 to 13 years. While the stories are set in South Africa, children from around the world will enjoy and relate to them, while learning about different cultures in an entertaining way.

Clara and Carl are inquisitive, adventure-seeking, likable, but sometimes naughty twins. They are not afraid to take chances and often land in trouble. In the first story the twins hide in their dad's truck and sneak onto his farm, without his knowing. There they stumble upon a fat hog, destined for the slaughter-house. The twins rescue the pig and take him home.

In the second story the twins are expected to attend swimming lessons - something they're not keen to do. The story then describes all the exploits they get up to in an effort to avoid the lessons and how in the end Clara learns to swim, but not in the normal or expected way. The third story is about how Carl tries to manipulate the headmaster of his school into not carrying out the customary hair-cut check. He comes up with an imaginative and far-reaching scheme - which leads to trouble and a lesson learnt. Three more short stories follow - all amusing and engaging, while containing subtle messages about issues of importance to this age group.

These stories are entertaining, appealing and novel in their approach. They are written with younger readers in mind. The author, who has a family of her own, is a writer and journalist, based in Zimbabwe.