Clementine

Clementine - Sara Pennypacker

Scholastic Inc. - 2007

Purchase at Amazon.com

Reading Level: 7+  Number of Pages: 136 Genre: Fiction

Winner of the Rhode Island Childrens' Book Award - 2008
New York Public Library Book for Reading and Sharing
National Parenting and Publication Gold Award Winner

Summary: Clementine is a spunky eight-year-old who has not been having a very easy week. Everything in school and with her friends just seems to go wrong. Everything starts off when she helps her friend Margaret cut the glue out of her hair, which gets her sent to the principal's office. The principle always tells her to pay attention, which she is doing! Nobody seems to understand how well she is paying attention, and they always seem to wonder how she manages to get in trouble. She tries to make Margaret feel better about her hair by cutting her own hair off, which of course gets her sent to the principal's office again. Because Margaret's mother won't let her daughter play anymore, Clementine's dad takes her out to help chase the pigeons off the front of their apartment complex, a battle they fight constantly since her dad is the building manager. Clementine is sad because her best friend is mad at her, and her parents and teachers are always frustrated with her, so she decides she will make a big poster of her cat to scare away the pigeons, when she finds out that the lady upstairs has been feeding them on the windowsill. By encouraging the lady to feed the birds on the other side of the building, the problem of the pigeons has been solved, and Clementine is praised. This is good because Clementine is the "trouble child." The book ends with she and Margaret making up and a victory cake for solving the problem of the pigeons on the building.

     "I have not had so good of a week. Well Monday was a pretty good day, if you don't count Hamburger Surprise at lunch and Margaret's mother coming to get her. Or the stuff that happened in the principal's office when i got sent there to explain that Margaret's hair was not my fault and besides she looks okay without it, but I couldn't because Principle Rise was gone, trying to calm down Margaret's mother."

My Impressions: Clementine is like a lot of kids who can't seem to fit in at school or are always credited for misbehaving when they mean no real harm. A lot of Clementine's "bad" behavior is motivated by a desire to understand or explore new ideas, or out of sympathy for her friends. She is painfully honest and simply innocent; traits that only add to her personality.

Parent's Guide: Clementine speculates a lot on things she thinks she is going to do when she gets older. She talks about getting a tattoo and about smoking cigars.

Recommendations: Anyone who was a fan of Beverly Cleary's books will love this one. Clementine is so identifiable as a child, and I believe a lot of people would enjoy this book, particularly eight-year-old kids who have trouble fitting in.