The Terrible Two

The Terrible Two, published in 2015, is a middle-grade novel that follows Miles Murphy’s attempts to become the predominant prankster at his new school, despite some competition from presumed teacher’s pet, Niles Sparks. The Terrible Two is the first book in a four-book series co-authored by Mac Barnett and Jory John. Barnett is the New York Times best-selling author of Extra Yarn, illustrated by Jon Klassen, which won the 2013 Caldecott Honor and the 2012 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence. John is the author of the picture book Goodnight Already! and editor of Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country: Kids’ Letters to President Obama. Kevin Cornell illustrated the novels and is also the illustrator for Mac Barnett’s books Count the Monkeys and Mustache!. The Terrible Two was named the 2015 E. B. White Read-Aloud Award Honor Book and received the 2017 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award.

Plot Summary

Miles Murphy and his mother are moving from their home on the coast to the rural town of Yawnee Valley, which prides itself on its large population of cows. Miles misses everything about his old home, including his status as the top prankster at his school. He treasures his trusty prankster notebook, full of diagrams and complex instructions for all his capers. Miles dreads starting over at a new school, but he decides that establishing himself as the best prankster at the school will solidify his identity and relieve him of the label of “new kid.”

When Miles arrives at Yawnee Valley Science and Letters Academy, a yellow car sits on the steps blocking the entryway into the school. At first, the prank impresses Miles, but he immediately recognizes the work of a skilled prankster and worries his plan to take the title is foiled. The school’s administrator, Principal Barkin, who arrived at school earlier and has been frantically trying to find a solution for over an hour, announces that the students must file through the car to get inside the school. Principal Barkin planned to spend the hour before school practicing his First Day Power Speech, but the prank derails him, and now he is on the hunt for the culprit. He recognizes that Miles is new and immediately blames him for the car stunt. Miles denies any involvement but Principal Barkin labels Miles as a troublemaker and gives him a pamphlet with hundreds of facts about cows.

Principal Barkin assigns Niles Sparks, who wears a sash labeled “School Helper,” to be Miles’s buddy who shows him the way to their class with Ms. Shandy. Niles wonders if Miles is responsible for the car caper, but Miles denies it. Principal Barkin’s son, Josh Barkin, arrives in class, and purposefully hits Miles with his backpack on the way to his seat. Miles meets another classmate, Holly Rash, who explains that Josh is the school bully and class president. He rigs the election votes every year but escapes punishment since his father is the principal. The Barkin family has a long history of being the class president and then later becoming the school principal.

At lunch, Josh approaches Miles and tells him he plans to beat him up for moving his dad’s car. Miles denies any involvement in the prank and intentionally spills his lunch tray on his shirt and blames it on Josh. When the teacher questions the situation, Niles corroborates Miles’s lie, and she sends Josh to his father’s office. Later at the Barkin home, Barry Barkin takes a phone call from his father who heard about the car prank and is concerned about the family’s reputation. He heard about the car incident from Barry’s brother Bob, who works at the junk yard and who Barry had to call to remove the car. At dinner, Miles avoids his mother’s questions about his disastrous first day at school. He begins planning an epic prank to redeem his first day and solidify his top prankster identity.

Miles creates invitations for an exclusive birthday party at the town square for a fake person named Cody Burr-Tyler, causing a stir amongst the student body as everyone is certain that Cody Burr-Tyler is not only real but a popular athlete from another school. On the day of the party, a large crowd of students gathers at the town gazebo with snacks and gifts. Just as Miles prepares to take the stage and reveal the prank, a limo appears, and out jumps a tall boy in a football helmet. He announces himself as Cody Burr-Tyler, thanks the guests for coming, and leaves with the wagon full of gifts. After everyone leaves, Miles is dejected by his failure and cannot pinpoint who foiled his plan. He finds one lingering gift box which contains a rubber chicken with a message from Niles asking for a secret meeting. Niles meets Miles in a field and reveals that he is the lead prankster at school but suggests that they join forces as the Terrible Two. Astonished at Niles’s double personality, Miles refuses the offer and instead initiates a prank war. Niles accepts, and after he leaves, Josh arrives and beats up Miles.

Miles’s first prank involves composing a fake confession letter for the car stunt from Niles and delivering it to Principal Barkin’s school mailbox. However, Niles foils the attempt, intercepts the letter, and rewrites it as a confession from Miles. At the start of the prank war, Miles attempts to ruin Niles’s class presentation on the Hanging Gardens of Babylon by switching his visual aid diorama with one depicting Principal Barkin in a bubble bath. Niles sabotages the plan by switching the dioramas and filling Miles’s backpack with crickets that swarm the classroom, landing Miles in the principal’s office. Miles tries once more by switching his locker with Stuart, but when Stuart opens the locker, it is rigged with a catapult that slams him in the face with a whipped cream and cherry pie. When Principal Barkin opens Miles’s locker, he finds whipped cream and cherries and assigns Miles indefinite morning and afternoon detention.

The boys call a truce and Niles wants Miles’s help to plan an epic prank. In return, Niles says that he will get Miles’s punishment revoked. Intending to shut down the school on April Fools’ Day, the duo spends several weeks making their plan, which involves one key fact Miles learned from his cow pamphlet. They build a treehouse to use at their headquarters and fill Nile’s prank planning board with diagrams. On April Fools’ Day, under the cover of darkness, Niles and Miles herd all of Bob Barkin’s cows into Yawnee School. When Principal Barkin arrives the next morning and realizes that he cannot remove the cows since they cannot descend stairs, he is forced to cancel school for the first time since his grandfather Jimmy disgraced the family name during the blizzard of 1932. By using another fake party invitation, Niles and Miles implicate Josh for the prank, and his father removes his class president title. Miles rests easy knowing he is not only still a skilled prankster but now also Niles’s friend.