Let’s Get Together

Gr 3-7–This modern riff on The Parent Trap follows the story beats of the original while adding discussions of the foster care system into the mix. Colbert does an impressive job of integrating current topics within the classic comical story of two identical twins accidentally reunited after being separated as infants. Kenya has grown up in a nurturing household with her father and grandmother, knowing only that her mother left them when Kenya was a baby. Liberty, in contrast, has never known anything about her father, only that her mother abandoned her when she was a baby, and she’s been forced to hop from foster home to foster home ever since. Colbert wisely begins the dual-perspective narration with Liberty’s point of view, establishing that Liberty’s main goal in starting sixth grade is simply to keep out of trouble so that she can stay with her new foster mom. That opening makes Kenya’s more privileged thoughts about life and middle school a stark contrast. Readers will enjoy travelling with both twins’ distinct inner monologues as they each process discovering a surprise sister, then join forces make their father fall in love with Liberty’s foster mom. Most readers about to enter middle school will relate to the twins’ trials and tribulations at school, like dances, crushes, and extracurricular clubs, although it’s the specific details that make this book a triumph. Kenya and Liberty are Black, supporting characters are diverse.