Clementine

I am a bit frustrated right now. I have a paper due next Wednesday and my teacher hasn't graded my last paper yet and the date to do resubmission for that paper was last week. She hasn't answered my e-mails regarding the first paper. To make things even worse, I just went to open my new paper to finish it and I can't find it! I know I saved it, so while my computer searches for it, I thought I would do a post on a cute book that Brandi got for Christmas.

Clementine's Letter

By Sara Pennypacker

Pictres by Marla Frazee

From the back cover:

On Friday morning I woke up a little bit excited: today was the last day I'd have to put up with Mrs. Nagel. I felt a little worried, too, as if something badwas about to happen, but I didn't know what it was.

I found out at school.

"We'll leave for the Statehouse after lunch," Mrs. Nagel announced. She picked up a notice. "It says the ceremony starts with the letter reading at one o'clock."

Which gave me a heart attack. All morning I just sat there with my chest squeezing me so hard I was frozen in my seat. I was so quiet I didn't have to hear a single "Clementine-you-need-to-pay-attention!" which was a new record for me. That is the good news about heart attacks, I guess.

Clementine can't believe her ears-- her beloved teacher, Mr. D'Matz, might be leaving for the rest of the year to go on a research trip to Egypt! No other teacher has ever understood her impulsiveness, her itch to draw constantly, or her need to play Beat the Clock when the day feels too long. And in his place, he's left a substitute with a whole new set of rules, which Clementine just can't figure out.

The only solution, she decides, is to hatch a plan to get Mr. D'Matz back. If it means ruining her teacher's once-in-a-lifetime chance-- well, it'll be worth it. Won't it?

I love Clementine. I fell in love with her when Brandi and I read the first book in the series last year. I love that Clementine can never sit still, that her mind is going faster than she can ever hope to keep up with. I get her. I see so many of my students in her. She even taught me a little bit about how to relate more to my students. And I cried at the end of the book.

Then we got the second book in the series and I laughed some more. Only Clementine could get into so many messes. I cried when Clementine felt left out and thought she was useless in the talent department. And I cried again when she found out she wasn't.

I loved Clementine's Letter as much as the first two books. And yes, I cried at the end of this book as well. I love the "book" that Clementine and her dad write in this story. Clementine wants to help her dad write the book about all of the interesting things he sees as an apartment building manager, so she gets a notebook and starts the book "Once there was a building manager." and places it on his pillow, hoping he will write some of the things he has seen. He doesn't, instead he writes about how much he loves her even when she messes up.

I love how Clementine tries to tell the story the way she wishes it was, but then tells us the way it really is. Like when Clementine is trying to do what Lily- who never gets in trouble- does. Clementine gets on the floor to see what Lily's lower body is doing- or not doing. "Clementine, what are you doing on the floor?" Mrs. Nagel shouted. Okay, fine, maybe she just said it, but from the floor it sounded like a shout.

Or the time that Clementine was not having a good day

The rest of the morning got worse. By the time the recess bell rang, I bet i heard a hundred "Clementine-pay-attntion!"s. And every time, I was paying attention! But oky, fine, not to Mrs. Nagel, because she had gone from boring to extra-boring.

Okay, fine, I'd better end this post and get back to my homework. But if you need something cute and fun to read- get these books. You won't be sorry.

Buy it here Listen to Brandi reading an excerpt from Talented Clementine here.

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786838841
ISBN-13: 978-0786838844
Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches

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Indeed.

Clementine

I am going to review two books today Clementine and Talented Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Brandi read Clemetine at school and fell in love with it and had to check it out from our library. She then started reading it to me and I fell just as in love with darling Clementine.

From School Library JournalStarred Review. Grade 2-4–Clementine, a not-so-common third grader, knows her way around the principal's office as well as she does the art-supply closet. Daily rituals take on a different view when seen from her eyes. She's constantly being told that she needs to pay attention, but to her mind she is paying attention and making astute observations. Whether looking out the window during the Pledge of Allegiance at the janitor locked in an embrace with the lunch lady or dealing with a pesky pigeon problem at her apartment building, her concentration is always focused. Clementine goes to great lengths to be friends with fourth-grade neighbor, Margaret, but more times than not, both girls end up in trouble. Humorous scenarios tumble together, blending picturesque dialogue with a fresh perspective as only the unique Clementine can offer. When the protagonist pleads to skip school because of a self-inflicted haircut fiasco, she tries to convince her mom that she must have caught arthritis from old Mrs. Jacobi or has possibly come down with the heartbreak of sore irises. Frazee's engaging pen-and-ink drawings capture the energy and fresh-faced expressions of the irrepressible heroine. And even though she confesses that I do not think fathers should be comedians, her parents are portrayed as being fairly cool. A delightful addition to any beginning chapter-book collection.–Cheryl Ashton, Amherst Public Library, OH Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the back of the book:

"We'll go through my talents alphabetically." said Margaret. She went to a shelf and pulled down her accordion. She looked at myhands and then she looked at the keys. She put the accordion back. "Fingerpirnts," she said.

Then she handed me her baton. Which I dropped.

"Baton twirling's out."

"How about your clarinet?" I asked.

Margaret shook her head. "Spit."

"D is for dramatic acting class," she told me. "Pretend you've just heard some surprising news."

I clapped my hands to the sidesof my face and made my mouth a capital O.

"Dramatic acting's out, too," Margaret decided.

Clementine is so cute and so funny, you can't help but love her. I love the way Ms. Pennypacker captured the nuance of someone trying so very hard to pay attention. Well, Clementine is paying attention, just not to what the grownups want her to pay attention to. And Clementine is great at coming up with ideas for solutions. Her dad calls it seeing things from a differnt point of view.

There is a spot in both books where I cried. That is called being empathetic, as Clementine would say.

In the first book it happened when Clementine overheard her mother tell her father, "We only need one." This happened right after Clementine was thinking about the fact that in her family she was the child that is considered "The Hard One" and her brother is N-O-T, not. The confusion in her mind just broke my heart.

In the second book, it came during the talent show when Clementine just wanted to know what it felt like to be clapped for. Even though as a grownup, I could tell what was going to happen, again, my heart felt for this little 8 year old that wanted to belong. Maybe because I was her when I was 8.

Anyway, I loved, no I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED these two books. I haven't laughed so much as I did when read these books in a very long time. I want to know Clementine for real. We have a couple of kids at the jr. high that Clementine reminded me of, as I was reading.

I also see that there is a third book, Clementine's Letter, coming out in April. Let me tell you, I can hardly wait, as I will be purchasing all three books for our home library. That way I can read them whenever I want a full outloud laugh.

Here is Brandi reading the first two pages of "Talented Clementine". She is also reading a couple of pages from chapter 5 where Clementine explains how to make it look as if you have washed your hands when at a friends house. She also explains how to make homemade tap shoes.