Witch Twins

By Adele Griffin

Claire and Luna may be witches, but there's no easy spell to stop a wedding!

Though identical on the outside, ten-year-old twins Claire and Luna Bundkin are as different on the inside as peaches and peanut butter. Claire is mischievous and Luna is a dreamer, but they do share a favorite hobby: witchcraft. Whether it's making breakfast or washing dishes, there's nothing a five-star witch can't accomplish with a wave of her pinkie finger. But there are two strict rules: Don't tell Mom, and don't try any spells without Grandy—their magical grandmother—watching.


 


When Claire and Luna's father announces that he's getting remarried to a loudmouthed Texas woman named Fluffy, the twins know they need to do something to stop the wedding. Fluffy wouldn't be a bad stepmother, but Claire and Luna know that she would lure their father to far-away Houston. A spell might be the only way to save their dad, and they'll try anything. Even if magic usually lands them in a pot of trouble.


 


This ebook features a personal history by Adele Griffin including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author's own collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jan 29, 2013
• ISBN: 9781453297414

Adele Griffin

Adele Griffin (b. 1970) is a critically lauded author of children’s and young adult fiction. Born in Philadelphia, she began writing after college, when a job at a children’s publishing house introduced her to the world of young adult literature. She drew praise for her first novel, Rainy Season (1996), a heartfelt portrayal of a young American girl’s life in the Panama Canal Zone in the late 1970s. In books like Sons of Liberty (1997) and Amandine (2001), she continued to explore the sometimes harsh realities of family life, and become known for intuitive, honest, and realistic fiction.   Over the past several years, Griffin has won a number of awards, including National Book Award nominations for Sons of Liberty (1997) and Where I Want to Be (2005). Her books are regularly cited on ALA Best and ALA Notable lists. A number of her novels, such as the four-book Witch Twins series, introduce an element of lighthearted fantasy. Griffin lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.      

Book preview

Witch Twins

Adele Griffin

For Tessa and Tanya

Contents

1. Butterflies and Bad News

2. Three Times Uncharmed

3. The Pinkie-Spell Anti-Pulverizing Love Powder

4. Fluffy’s Dresses

5. Luna Alone

6. Aloha Means Hello and Good-bye

7. The Princess and the Peep

8. Edith and Hortense

Preview: Witch Twins at Camp Bliss

A Biography of Adele Griffin

1

Butterflies and Bad News

LUNA AND CLAIRE BUNDKIN were identical twins. Their hair was the color of maple syrup and their eyes were the color of warm chocolate chips. The only way to tell them apart was by the tiny chicken pox scar just beneath Luna’s chin, but not many people knew about that.

They both loved-loved-loved gymnastics; their teacher, Mrs. Sanchez; and all flavors of Schmidt’s ice cream (except vanilla bean, which was just okay). They both hated-hated-hated swimming parties, indoor recess, and avocados—although Claire hated avocados more than Luna did. She said she could start gagging at the very smell of them, although Luna insisted that avocados don’t really have a smell. Claire answered that if she got even a smidgen of slimy avocado taste on her salad it would make her throw up. But Claire could be very dramatic like that.

And, oh yes, they were witches. But more about that later.

They were both age ten (Luna was thirteen minutes older) and had lived in Philadelphia, at 22 Locust Street, for their entire lives. Over the years, their narrow sandstone townhouse had been through some changes. Some changes were big; other changes were small.

For example, four years ago, lightning had split the Bundkins’ only real-live locust tree, which used to stand handsome as a doorman in its cutout sidewalk rectangle at the bottom of their front steps. Their mother had cried almost a whole day about that, because the tree was more than one hundred years old and a monument. Now it was just a stump, slightly improved when Justin, their big brother, had carved BUNDKIN RULES! into the top of it with his fishing knife. (Well, he always said he didn’t do it, but it was such a Justin thing to do that everybody is still very suspicious.)

Then, three years ago, their parents had got divorced and their father had moved out of 22 Locust Street and bought a small house out in Rosewood, which was half an hour away in the suburbs. Their mother had cried longer than a day about that, and their father had cried, too, and so had Luna, Claire, and Justin, because the Bundkins had been married for fifteen years and besides, divorce is tough, go ask anyone.

But then, two years ago, their mother had met her boyfriend, Steve, who was a chef at The Aubergine, one of the fanciest restaurants in town, though Steve was more a jeans-and-sneakers kind of guy. And last year, their father had met his girlfriend, Fluffy.

Yes, she really was called Fluffy. But more about her later.

The most recent change to 22 Locust Street had been this past November, when their mother had bought new living room curtains. They went from blue stripes to red and green flowers. It was a small change, but it really spruced up the room.

This year, so far, nothing much had happened at 22 Locust Street. In fact, most of winter had been pretty boring. No surprises. No disasters, or surprising disasters. Not even a single snow day, Luna mentioned.

Which is too bad, she said. Snow days are sooo romantic.

We still could have one. It’s only the middle of March, Claire said. Remember, March goes out like a lion! She growled and made claws.

"No, March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb," Luna corrected.

Well, it feels like it came in like a turtle, and it’s staying a turtle, Claire responded.

Luna looked up at the gray March sky. She and her sister were standing outside on their front steps waiting for their father, who was taking them (plus Justin) to his house in Rosewood for the weekend. If it didn’t rain, they would get to go horseback riding at Puddinhead Farms.

Only right now it looked like rain.

Claire looked up, too. I should run inside and get my umbrella, she said.

"You mean my umbrella, Luna corrected. You lost yours two weeks ago on the field trip to the Art Museum, remember?"

I did not, said Claire, but she didn’t put any stomp in her words because Claire was always losing one thing or another.

Did too, and you know it!

Did not, and you married it!

Luna put her hands on her hips.

Claire put her hands on her hips.

Stop copying me, said Luna.

Stop copying me, mimicked Claire.

Luna frowned and turned away. Claire could be the world’s worst tease, and some times the best thing to do was to ignore her. She touched her finger to her chicken pox scar, which she’d had for almost half of her life. (You shouldn’t have scratched, their mother always said. Jill Bundkin was a doctor and knew a lot about things you shouldn’t scratch.) Luna liked to feel her scar, though, because it reminded her that she looked a teeny bit different from her sister.

On the outside, it was (almost) impossible to tell Claire from Luna.

On the inside, however, Claire and Luna were as different as the sun and moon, peaches and peanut butter, or long division and poetry. For example, right now, while Claire probably was thinking up other ways to tease her sister, Luna let her mind wander to imagining her favorite thing, her wedding.

Luna liked to imagine her wedding a lot. Obviously not the groom part, because she thought most boys were grubby and she would never choose to spend a lifetime with one, even a mature one with sideburns and a cleft chin. It was the other parts of the wedding she liked best, the spun-sugar cake and the rose-and-baby’s-breath bouquets and the bridesmaids in their bell-shaped, swoopy dresses, with the softest, swoopiest dress of all reserved for the bride, along with a handmade lace veil so beautiful it could break your heart.

No wonder everyone cried at weddings.

Luna squeezed her eyes shut to concentrate on the most important part of her wedding—the dress—and she got such a perfect picture of its swoopiness that butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

Blleeeep! The sound of a car horn startled her from her thoughts. She opened her eyes to see her father’s car pull up to the curb.

Hey gals! Fluffy grinned and waved from the passenger seat. A big diamond ring flashed on her finger.

Luna’s wedding butterflies went from a warm flutter to a cold flop.

She knew what that ring meant.

Waiting long? Where’s your brother? Does anyone have the correct time? Are you bringing just these two bags? Their father, Louis Bundkin, was a newspaper reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and he liked to ask lots of questions all at once.

Fluffy waved again from the passenger seat. Neither twin waved back, because they did not especially like Fluffy. She was nice enough, but she was also big and loud and liked to wear bright clothes and she usually called them sugar or gals.

But Fluffy did not seem to notice any unfriendliness.

We thought we’d take you all to Licks ’n’ Sticks for dinner! she said as the girls climbed in. It’s a celebration!

Licks ’n’ Sticks! yelled Justin from the roof, where he was playing hacky sack. I’ll be down in a jiff!

Can I get two Hawaiian sticks and no vegetable sticks? asked Claire.

Can I get three Chinese potsticker sticks and no vegetable sticks? asked Justin, who had made it to the car in less than a jiff.

Luna said nothing, even though Licks ’n’ Sticks was her favorite restaurant. She nudged her sister and pointed to Fluffy and mouthed the word ring, but now Claire was too busy elbowing Justin for space to pay Luna any attention.

Why am I always the one to notice disasters? Luna fretted as she snapped on her seat belt. Fluffy’s ring was the worst thing to happen this year, and so far she was the only one to see it.

At the restaurant, Luna could not concentrate on enjoying her dinner. Not her skewered pineapple-, green pepper-, and lamb-on-a-stick, not her broiled potatoes-on-a-stick, not even her hot fudge sundae (which was not served on a stick, because Schmidt’s ice cream desserts were the Lick part of the menu).

Every time her eye caught sight of Fluffy’s flashing diamond, Luna felt completely sick.

Fluffy and I have an announcement to make, their father said after their sundaes were scraped to the bottom and he had ordered his usual after-dinner coffee. He reached across the table and took Fluffy’s hand. Fluffy and I are getting married.

I knew it, mumbled Luna.

Congratulations! Can I have a dollar for the video games? asked Justin.

Congratulations, said Claire. Fluffy, blech! said her eyes to Luna across the table. But it was only a small blech, because Claire did not know what trouble they were in for.

Justin, we’d like you to be your dad’s best man, and I hope both of you gals would be my junior bridesmaids, said Fluffy. "And of course, I’d looove your advice on everything—the dresses and food and flowers. Oh, a wedding takes so much

Reviews for Witch Twins

[inky_fingers · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sounds like it would be really cutsie and corny (the cover illustration certainly suggests that), but in fact it was really fun, funny, very fast moving, though just a little preachy. A young middle grade -- the girls are ten.

[klsulliv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How many times do people run into problems that they wish they could fix with the snap of their fingers? Luna and Claire are twins, and they run into problems, big and small, on a daily basis! But, the only difference with these twins is that they are witches which means that they can actually snap their fingers, in a sense, to "fix" their problems. Unfortunately, these twins are witches in training which means their plans do not always come out like they wanted. Luna and Claire always think of using magic to solve their problems and never once think of actaully doing something that is good, smart, and tricky to solve problems. Luna and Claire soon figure out that it is going to take a lot more than magic to fix some of their problems since magic is what caused their problems to become worse in the first place. It is important to take on something no matter how difficult it may be because in the end, the easy way out is not the path one should take. Luna and Claire soon realize that with everything good or bad they do, it comes back on them ten fold!

[sjoachim-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very cute book. It is about identical twin sisters Luna and Claire. They happen to be witches, and they are both unhappy with their dad's plans to marry Fluffy. They worry that he will move away to Texas with her. They come up with some crazy ideas to stop the wedding.

[rhonda1111 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 stars

Witch Twins is book one of the series. It is pretty good story aimed at older elementry age or higher. The twins look a like but are way different. They try to help and sometimes they try to use witch craft but they are newer witches and get into trouble.
Claire and Luna's dad is getting remarried and they are afraid they will loose him. That he will move away so they want to stop the wedding. The girls dont like change.

It keeps your attention in the story and has some good lessons that the girls learn along the way.
I would give this too my niece who loves to read. I think she would like it. I would read the other Witch Twins book in the series. It is fun story dealing with some real problems that a lot of kids face. No not the witch part.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review of it from Netgalley.

Description taken from Netgalley about Witch Twins

Claire and Luna may be witches, but there’s no easy spell to stop a wedding!

Though identical on the outside, ten-year-old twins Claire and Luna Bundkin are as different on the inside as peaches and peanut butter. Claire is mischievous and Luna is a dreamer, but they do share a favorite hobby: witchcraft. Whether it’s making breakfast or washing dishes, there’s nothing a five-star witch can’t accomplish with a wave of her pinkie finger. But there are two strict rules: Don’t tell Mom, and don’t try any spells without Grandy—their magical grandmother—watching. �When Claire and Luna’s father announces that he’s getting remarried to a loudmouthed Texas woman named Fluffy, the twins know they need to do something to stop the wedding. Fluffy wouldn’t be a bad stepmother, but Claire and Luna know that she would lure their father to far-away Houston. A spell might be the only way to save their Dad, and they’ll try anything. Even if magic usually lands them in a pot of trouble.�This ebook features a personal history by Adele Griffin including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the author’s own collection.

Publisher: Open Road Young Readers (January 29, 2013) 922KB file size ASIN: B00AYRI4JS