Stella Batts Needs a New Name (Stella Batts Series #1)

by Courtney Sheinmel, Jennifer A. Bell (Illustrator)

Overview

Stella Batts is in third-grade, she wants to be a writer, and her parents own a candy shop. Life should be sweet, right?

In Needs a New Name, Stella decides to change her name after a boy from her class keeps calling her "Smella." How hard can it be to pick a new name? It's not as easy as it sounds.

This best-selling early chapter book series charmingly chronicles the ups and downs of a girl's school and family life with warmth and humor.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781585361830
Publisher:	Sleeping Bear Press
Publication date:	01/15/2012
Series:	Stella Batts Series , #1
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 7.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	630L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Courtney Sheinmel is a recovering attorney, chocolate-lover, mac and cheese expert, and the author of over a dozen highly celebrated books for kids and teens, including the young readers’ Stella Batts series, the middle grade Kindness Club series, and the young adult novel, Edgewater. In addition to writing, Courtney served as a judge on the national level for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and she received a National Scholastic Outstanding Educator Award for her work as a writing instructor at Writopia Lab, a non-profit organization serving kids ages 8 to 18. Courtney lives in New York City. You can find her on Twitter at @courtneywrites, on Instagram at courtneysheinmel, or on her website at www.courtneysheinmel.com.

Jennifer A. Bell is a children's book and greeting card illustrator, and studied at the Columbus College of Art and Design. After several years of living in Minneapolis, she recently relocated to Toronto.

Table of Contents

Introduction It's Not Fair Fill in the Mrs. Blank It's a Deal Girls Named Caramel Baby Girl Batts New Names The Announcement Sherry & Stella Problems My Very Own Name Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3–4—Stella Batts doesn't like her name. A mean boy in her class laughed and called her "Smella" when she fell in dog poop during a nature walk. Her younger sister, Penny, has a nickname and she doesn't. Plus, she wants to be a famous writer, and "Stella" won't look good on a book cover. During a field trip to her dad's candy store, Batts Confections, she tells her friends about her plan for a name change. They think it's such a good idea that they decide to change theirs as well: Willa to Caramel, Talisa to Kit Kat, and Lucy to Truffle. Stella can't think of a good name until she sees the logo of a new bookstore: Scheherazade, "Sherry" for short. Things start to get complicated, though, when Penny wants to become Stella, the girls' teacher won't call them by their new names, and Lucy gets mad when she sees her old name in the autobiography Stella is writing. Sheinmel has a great ear for the dialogue and concerns of eight-year-old girls. Bell's artwork is breezy and light, reflecting the overall tone of the book. This would be a good choice for fans of Barbara Park's "Junie B. Jones" books (Random).—Diane McCabe, Loyola Village Elementary School, Los Angeles

School Library Journal

In the first of a new series, third-grader Stella realizes she really needs a new name, since the class bully has started calling her "Smella," following an unfortunate (and stinky) accident on a field trip. That's not the only reason that Stella wants to change her name; she's also frustrated because she doesn't have a nickname. She and her best friends decide to choose new names that seem more appropriate to their interests: Candy! Willa becomes Caramel, Lucy's new name is Truffle and Talisa is Kit Kat. But Stella surprises everybody when she chooses the name of a bookstore for herself--Scheherazade, or Sherry for short. After a few days of name changing, described in Stella's autobiography, she realizes it's hard to remember everyone's new names, including her own. When she hears that her parents chose Stella especially for her, that's sufficient reason to give up her new one. Featuring large print and cheery black-and-white illustrations on almost every spread, this would be an easy sell for girls just transitioning to chapter books. While nothing of great significance happens, it effectively portrays the minor ups and downs of typical suburban elementary-school life, neatly captured in Stella's age-appropriate first-person narration. A pleasant, good-humored early chapter book with the effervescence--and substance--of a soft drink. (Fiction. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews