[.ca] Mitch and Amy (ISBN 0881032697)

Two versions:
There are actually two versions of this book- an newer one with illustrations by Alan Tiegreen, who has been doing the illustrations for Beverly Cleary's books since the 70's, and the original, which had illustrations by George Porter. I guess Mr. Porter was the intermediate link between Tiegreen and Louis Darling, the illustrator of Mrs. Cleary's books in the 50's and early 60's. It's a matter of personal taste over which illustrations are better. I grew up reading the version with Mr. Porter's illustrations, which depicts the characters as definitely children of the 1960's. On the other hand, Mr. Tiegreen's depictions of Beverly Cleary's characters are less realistic looking, but because of their rather cartoony appearance are not as susceptible to looking as dated as those by Porter and Darling. Beverly Cleary always took experiences from her own life to include in her books, but "Mitch & Amy" is probably the most personal of her fictional books. She, herself, was the mother of boy-girl twins and actually lived in the San Franisco setting of the book. Maybe because it was about two subjects so close to her real life, her twins and her adopted hometown, that she never did a follow-up story. Thus, "Mitch & Amy" is one of Mrs. Cleary's very few "stand-alone" books. It's the story of a twin sister and brother, Amy and Mitchell, who live in San Francisco. Despite their shared birthday, they are seemingly exact opposites who constantly squabble with one another. However, deep-down there is a very strong bond between the two of them and each one truly understands the other. Sometimes they forget that bond. Yet when a bully targets each twin individually, the two of them bond together to help each other overcome this mutual menace. This is a typical Cleary novel- told with her usual sense of humor and wonderful ability to capture what really matters to children. Regardless of whether the illustrations show Porter's 60's era children with their flat-top haircuts and short pants or Tiegreen's pug-nosed characters, most kids will probably enjoy reading about these two regular kids who just happen to be twins.

Twins are different...:
...but will stick up for each other when they need to. Cleary, herself the mother of boy-girl twins, wrote this book about Mitchell and Amy (they don't call him Mitch in the story so I don't know why he's called Mitch on the cover of the book), two fourth-graders who don't always get along, but help each other in the end. It's a good book, especially for kids who are interested in twin relationships.

Mitch and Amy an awesome book:
My b/g twins and I read this book together. They are soon to be 9 and the book describes the life of twins so well. Well we read this book I kept saying boy they sound like you two to my twins. This is a fun book to read. My twins would tell you it's a must have book. We all know Beverly Clearly is an awesome writer and she wrote this book so well.

Mitch and Amy an awesome book:
My b/g twins and I read this book together. They are soon to be 9 and the book describes the life of twins so well. Well we read this book I kept saying boy they sound like you two to my twins. This is a fun book to read. My twins would tell you it's a must have book. We all know Beverly Clearly is an awesome writer and she wrote this book so well.

Mitch And Amy review:
Do you have a twin brother or sister? Mitch has a twin sister that has trouble with multiplication, but he has trouble with reading. Mitch And Amy is a realistic fiction story by Beverly Cleary. The book is about twins that have nothing in common, but when faced against the 5th grade bully, Allen Hibler, their differences don't matter. Beverly Cleary also wrote The Romona Quimby Series, which is like Mitch And Amy. The setting is at home and school. The people I would encourage to read this book are kids, ages 8-10, who have a twin or kids who have friends who have twins because it shows both sides of the twin's lives. The strong points in the book are when Mitch or Amy has their problems and the weak points in the story are the descriptions of the characters because the author didn't use many descriptions. Will you have to fight a bully with your sibling?