The Twin in the Tavern

From School Library Journal Gr 3-6-Barbara Brooks Wallace's Dickensian mystery (Atheneum, 1993) combines suspense and drama with a good old-fashioned rags-to-riches denouement that satisfies despite its contrived nature. The opening scene finds young Taddy hiding behind a chair in his recently deceased aunt and uncle's house as thieves prowl about. Upon discovering Taddy, the two thieves, Ebenezer and Lucky, quickly realize that he is an orphan and put him to work in their run-down inn. With only his uncle's dying words ("Find your twin and you will know who you are. Be careful. Trust no one.") to guide him, Taddy navigates his new life, where mealtime consists of whatever scraps can be found on the diners' plates, bed is a patch of floor under the kitchen table, and the punishment for even minor infractions is a stay in the icehouse. When a wealthy woman who lives nearby requests Taddy as her new kitchen boy, things begin to fall into place and Taddy's past is finally revealed. Narrator Jeff Woodman negotiates Wallace's wry, often wordy narration with aplomb, and his characterizations, from Ebenezer's evil growl to the self-important mispronunciations of Taddy's fellow servant Beetle, ring true. If the ending is a bit too convenient, mystery fans won't mind. They'll be too busy cheering on the likable good guys.-Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MDCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From