- The Two and Only Kelly Twins by Johanna Hurwitz
Second-graders Arlene and Ilene Kelly are best friends and identical twins; not even their closest friends can tell them apart. The girls undergo adventures ranging from the challenge of selecting a pet (Arlene wants a kitten, Ilene wants a puppy), to dealing with the consequences of Ilene's claim to a new classmate that they're actually triplets, to Ilene's separation anxiety when Arlene is hospitalized with appendicitis ("The next morning Ilene walked to school without having her sister by her side. She had never walked to school alone, or in fact done much of anything alone, in her entire seven years"). Hurwitz is remarkably gifted at composing kid-specific narratives with ease and grace, and the chapters read more like short stories than successive components of a novel. Warmth and humor pervade the stories, which simply written and yet subtle in their presentation of the girls' experiences. Though the black and white illustrations have a contemporary edge (as in the girls' fashionable cat's-eye glasses), there's a softness that pairs well with the gentle tone of the story. This is an excellent first chapter book offering that, due in large part to its self-contained chapters, would also work very well as a group readaloud.