Friday, March 30, 2007

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Clementine is an original girl - a third grader whose curious mind finds the world around her much more interesting than school - and she is having a pretty bad week. Her best friend's mother is very mad at her, her best friend seems to have a new best friend, she thinks maybe her parents are thinking about giving her away so they only have to raise the "easy one" (her little brother) and she's pretty much been in constant trouble at school. And even though she's the only one in school who seems to notice all the interesting things going on around, everyone is constantly telling her to pay attention. Sigh - it's hard to be 8.

This is a funny, delightful little book. As the parent of a first grader who has attention problems, I just loved this book for the way it shows just how original these children can be, and how delightfully different and interesting their worlds are. It helped remind me that I probably would profit from remembering the strengths of children like Clementine. What I liked most was the way it managed to make Clementine funny without her being bratty. A wonderful little book for the precocious 2nd grade reader or for those about 3rd grade and up, and would make a good read-aloud for just about any age over 6 or so.

http://www.amazon.com/Clementine-Sara-Pennypacker/dp/0786838825/ref=sr_1_1/103-7768330-8380643?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175297211&sr=1-1

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