"Margaret's hair was not my fault and besides she looks okay without it," narrates ingenuous 8-year-old Clementine. Kids who appreciate the funny foibles of Junie B. Jones will love this firecracker of a heroine, who calls her little brother, variously, Spinach, Radish, and Rutabaga: "Okay fine, my brother's name is not really Spinach. But I got stuck with a name that is also a fruit, and it's not fair that he didn't. The only thing worse than a fruit name is a vegetable name," she reasons. A sweet family life, though, serves as the foundation for the story, which charts a tough week for Clementine, involving badly cut (and marker-dyed) hair, trouble with the principal, and a spat with a best friend. Spirited black and white ink drawings make Clementine's antics easy to envision for new chapter book readers. (Ages 6 to 8)
Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2006
As the parent of a kindergartner who loves animals, especially when she can follow them on silly and mysterious adventures, we’re both ready to settle in for these kinds of stories. Whether they’re about a boy trying to save a pup from landing in the animal shelter or a princess stopping monsters from threatening goats, […]
In its simplest terms, Pax is: “The story of a boy, his pet fox, and the war that separates them.” But this book is so much more than that brief synopsis, and if that were all I knew about the novel, I probably wouldn’t pick it up of my own volition; and that would be a […]