Clementine

Book Review
A 2007 Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Book; Winner of the 2007 Bank Street/Josette Frank Award; A Child Magazine Best Book of the Year

Title: Clementine
Author: Sara Pennypacker
Illustrator: Marla Frazee
Reading level: Ages 7 - 10
Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (February 15, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0786838833
ISBN-13: 978-0786838837

Clementine knows the layout of the principal’s office as well as she does the art supply closet. In fact she is so comfortable in the principal’s office that she helps out whenever she can. But going to Principal Rice’s office is not a highlight of Clementine’s day. Instead of sending a note home every time she visits the principal’s office, a note is sent home when Clementine does NOT visit Principal Rice’s office. Clementine was so used to being sent there that one day she showed up on her own.

Trouble starts when best friend Margaret gets glue stuck in her hair and Clementine obliges to help by cutting all of Margaret’s hair off and then fills in the gaps by drawing hair back on the scalp, forehead, and neck with a Flaming Sunset permanent marker. Clementine remarks in her witty fashion, "It looked beautiful, like a giant tattoo of tangled worms,"

Everyone thinks Clementine does not pay attention. Everyday her teacher and principal tell her “Clementine, you need to pay attention.” She pays so much attention that she can “tell everyone right in the middle of the Pledge of Allegiance that the lunchroom lady was sitting in the janitor’s car and they were kissing, Again! No one else was paying attention out the window.” Clementine pays attention.

In Clementine's mind she is helping and fixing problems with her “spectacularful ideas which are always “sproinging” up in her brain. Kids and parents alike will laugh out loud. I highly recommend it. You will exclaim Oh my darling Clementine!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sara Pennypacker When I was a kid, I loved books and I loved art. Books and art didn’t care that I was shy. Books and art didn’t care that I was really tall. So I read and made up stories, and I drew and painted and did mosaics and carved things (there were a couple of years when I spent my entire allowance on bars of Ivory soap for carving) and I read and made up stories. In school, I used to do all my work as fast as I could so I could get extra time for free reading or to work on art projects. Even as a grown-up, I am still happiest reading, writing, and making art.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: Marla Frazee has created illustrations for a number of award-winning books for children, in addition to writing her own self-illustrated titles. Her expressive ink drawings capture every nuance of Clementine’s emotions, from bemusement to anger to dejection. Frazee once told SATA that illustrating children's books was a childhood career goal. "I have wanted to be a children's book illustrator for a very long time,"

Write it down,
Carma