Horn Book Review

In this fourth book in the sweet and funny easy-reader series (Ling Ting: Not Exactly the Same, rev. 7/10, and sequels), six brief chapters take the twins through the seasons, together. In the first story, a thunderstorm finds them hiding under a blanket: they are not scared, just surprised. On a hot summer day they sell all their lemonadeto each other. Raking leaves has to be done all over again, since first Tings red hat and then Lings might be at the bottom of the pile (later in the book, Lings hat turns up, at first mistaken for an unusual spring flower). In the winter, Ting claims to be sick so she can avoid shoveling snow; Lings recipe for some old Chinese medicine (a smelly simmering of onions, ginger, dirt, an old sock, etc.) drives a suddenly recovered Ting out of bed, snow shovel in hand. The final story finds the twins looking for a rainbow and finding two. They are twin rainbows! says Ting. Just like us!We are so lucky to be together! As always, the girls personalities shine through in both text and illustrations (and Ting is still differentiated by her jagged bangs). Each chapter employs a different-color border around the bold gouache illustrations, giving the book a predictable and unifying visual structure. An artists note says, The color palette was inspired by the sudden appearance of a bright rainbow on a gray, glum day. Thats how the whole book feels. martha v. parravano(c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.