Gr 2-4-In Sara Pennypacker's beginning chapter book (Hyperion, 2006), Clementine is always being told that she doesn't pay attention to her teachers, but she does focus on details that are important to her. These observations get Clementine into trouble, but often help her save the day, such as dealing with a pigeon problem in the front of her apartment building. Pennypacker shows empathy for the third-grade experience as Clementine describes the ups and downs of a week in her life via a series of very humorous scenarios. Jessica Almasy's childish tone is completely believable in her first-person narration. Have the book available so listeners can read along and see Marla Frazee's wonderful pen-and-ink illustrations that perfectly capture Clementine's spirit. An entertaining listen for classes or individual students.-Cynthia Grabke, Halifax Elementary School, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(Primary, Intermediate) Third-grader Clementine feels lucky that spectacular ideas are continually ""sproinging up"" in her brain, but her best friend, parents, teacher, and principal don't see things in quite the same way. In one short but eventful week Clementine finds herself in the principal's office again and again, struggling to explain perfectly reasonable behavior to increasingly impatient adults. Why, for example, can't her friend Margaret's mother appreciate that Clementine was trying to help when she cut off all of Margaret's long shining hair with plastic school scissors? Clementine's first-person narration is fresh and winsome, and the episodic plot is accessible to young readers but includes details and layers that add a richness rare in short chapter books. Frazee's abundant pen-and-ink illustrations bounce along the pages with the same energy as the story: socks sag, hair sticks out at odd angles, and affection shines through each of the drawings. When everything seems to be going wrong, and Clementine fears that her parents are ready to give her away, the very same skills that usually land her in trouble come to her rescue. The ending of Pennypacker's very funny book is as happy for Clementine as it is for her readers. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Maybe it was because third-grader Clementine was a little bit angry with her best friend Margaret that things got out of hand with the scissors and the permanent markers and the hair. Or maybe she really was just trying to help. In short chapters, set in the city apartment building her father manages or the school where she has some tough days, Clementine relates the events of the trying week she discovered she was the difficult child in her family and thought she was about to be given away. Middle-grade readers will sympathize with Clementine's conflicted feelings about her friend and her family, and laugh out loud at her impulsive antics, narrated in a fresh first-person voice and illustrated with plenty of humor. Just like her family they will cheer when she comes up with a way to end The Great Pigeon War as well as the temporary rift with her friend. Energetic and imaginative, Clementine is gifted with understanding and patient parents. Give this to readers of Cleary and Blume and cross your fingers for more. (Fiction. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

I have had not so good of a week," begins the irrepressible narrator of this winning caper. Pennypacker (Stuart's Cape) then takes readers straight through that week, making clear that Clementine has an unfailing nose for trouble and a comical way with words. The eight-year-old proclaims herself lucky because "spectacularful ideas are always sproinging up in my brain." One of these ideas concerns her fourth-grade friend and neighbor Margaret getting glue in her hair, and Clementine's attempt to help; together they cut off nearly all of Margaret's long locks. Further strategies involve the use of permanent markers and Clementine undergoing a sympathy coif. Frazee's black-and-white illustrations of the close-cropped gals captures the mixed emotions of their shared fate. Her portraits of the heroine's three-year-old brother, "who didn't get stuck with a fruit name," and whom Clementine calls by various vegetable names, including "Spinach," "Lima Bean" and "Pea Pod," may remind readers of the charming star of Frazee's Walk On! Along with the humorous bits, Pennypacker seamlessly weaves into the narrative common third-grade themes, such as Clementine comparing Margaret's neatly dressed banker mother with her own overalls-clad artist mother, and envying Margaret her kitten from the litter of Clementine's own lately deceased cat, Polka Dottie. Luckily, Clementine ends her week on an up note. Fans of Judy Moody will welcome this portrait of another funny, independent third-grader. Ages 7-10. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

As Clementine says, Spectacularful ideas are always sproinging up in my brain. All the better for readers who like to laugh. Reminiscent of both Ramona and Junie B. Jones, Clementine is an ingenuous third-grader with a talent for trouble and a good heart. Her best friend is her neighbor Margaret, a fourth-grader who experiences both qualities firsthand. After all, plenty of kids may have had their hair chopped off by a helpful friend in an effort to get the glue out, but how many of those friends would think to improve matters by drawing hair back on the scalp, forehead, and neck with a Flaming Sunset permanent marker? It looked beautiful, like a giant tattoo of tangled worms, Clementine observes in the fresh, funny, first-person narrative. Frazee's expressive ink drawings capture every nuance of the characters' emotions, from bemusement to anger to dejection. Sometimes touching and frequently amusing, this engaging chapter book is well suited to reading alone or reading aloud to a roomful of children. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2006 Booklist