The Day the Mustache Came Back

May 1, 2016
After The Day the Mustache Took Over (2015), Nathan and David Wohlfardt find a familiar face in their new nanny, who claims to be their old nanny's twin brother.He says his name is Myron Hyron Dyron and that he is not Martin Healey Discount, whom the boys and readers met in the first book, but Martin's twin brother, and he has come to be their new nanny. Since he displays the identical mustache and nutty quirkiness, plus some knowledge about them that he shouldn't have, Nathan and David are unconvinced. They chart out his wacky quirks, sorting into columns that support Martin and Myron as the same person or separate people (and also types of pigeons). There's some quality silliness and clever wordplay, but too frequently the humor coasts on randomness, which takes on its own form of predictability. The episodic first half of the book fails to deliver narrative tension--it's never established why it matters if they solve the Myron-Martin mystery (something Nathan even points out). At the midpoint, Martin returns, and the nannies compete in a one-month contest to determine which will get to stay. While the story has more forward motion here, Myron and Martin are too similar for readers to care which one wins. The eventual solution comes entirely from Nathan and David's mother. Both Wohlfardts and nannies are evidently white, judging from cover art.Funny--but not funny enough to carry the plot's weaknesses. (Fiction. 7-9)

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