Co-written with Jonathan Llyr
(Illustrated by Steven Burley)
Meet Cheryl and Tweed, two 12-year-old girls who are identical twins (just not with each other), cousins, and best pals. After a mysterious “incident” involving a plane trip when they were very young left both girls orphaned and twin-less, they are raised by their grandfather, the owner/operator of the tumbledown Starlight Paradise Drive-In movie theatre in the middle-of-nowhere town of Wiggins Cross. The girls have bonded closer than sisters through a shared love of B movies and buttered popcorn, and they firmly believe that there must be something more out there in the world than meets the eye. Something… weird.
They’re about to find out just how right they are.
When Dudley’s World O’Wonders, a threadbare travelling carnival, rolls into town, the citizens of Wiggins welcome the distraction. But even “Colonel” Winchester P.Q. Dudley, the carnival’s shady owner, doesn’t realize that among the fake and fabricated “wonders” of his travelling sham-show rests the authentic mummified remains of a young Egyptian princess — bearing a shockingly real curse!
It’s up to Cheryl and Tweed, with their encyclopaedic knowledge of monster movie lore, and their flyboy friend Yeager “Pilot” Armbruster to save the town-and themselves!
And that’s just the beginning of their adventures!
“With their offbeat theories and wild imaginations, Cheryl and Tweed are quirky, endearing characters. The girls’ sidekicks, Artie and Pilot, provide comic relief, acting as well-grounded contrasts to the twins. How to Curse in Hieroglyphics is weird, wacky, and wonderful, and is sure to garner Livingston — and Llyr — a new batch of fans.”
– Suzanne Gardner, forQuill and Quire
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“It’s so nice to meet pre-teens who still seem like kids. Tweed and Cheryl are what all tweenies should be: creative, friendly, and fun-loving. They’re not concerned with looking older than their years or being the most popular or attracting boyfriends. Even Pilot at 14 isn’t playing at impressing anyone. Maybe that will happen at 15 or maybe never. In the meantime, all readers will enjoy the kids’ exploits as literary entertainment, with some graphic storyboarding and scripting worthy of a favourite family movie.”
– Helen Kubiw, Canlit for Little Canadians
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