The Terrible Two: 12/09/15

The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett and Jory John with illustrations by Kevin Cornell is the start of a new series. It reads like a TV series that should be on Disney XD and this is a good thing.

Miles Murphy and his family are moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere that has more cattle than people. There are so many bovines that the school principal has a side gig as the local author of the Cow Facts book, something given to all new residents.

Now that set up right there is nod to the horror genre subset of the weird and dangerous rural town where the main character will either be killed or assimilated by the end of the book. Miles is our horror protagonist and Niles, his doppelgänger, is there to determine his fate. For much of this introductory volume, the focus is on the rivalry between newbie Miles, and long established, goodie two shoes in the disguise, Niles.

Interspersed with the chapters, though, are excerpts from the principal's book of cow facts. All of them are true, though some of them are obvious and played for humor.

You can see my live blogging of the book on Tumblr.

Four stars

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