Clementine

Pennypacker, S. (2006). Clementine. Illustrator: Marla Frazee. New York: Scholastic.

Brief Annotation: A third-grade girl named Clementine seems to always find herself into some sort of trouble. Clementine is always being told to “pay attention”, but cannot figure out why. She is always “paying attention”. One day at school, she found her best friend Margaret crying in the bathroom. Margaret was trying to cut out the glue she had gotten in her hair. Clementine offered to help Margaret fix her hair. Clementine was not trying to cut all of Margaret’s hair, she was only trying to help with what Margaret had already started, but ended up getting blamed for Margaret’s new hairdo. Clementine means well and is a very thoughtful little girl, in the 8 year-old kind of way. Follow clementine as she humorously gets through her days.

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Grade Level: 2-4

Readers who will like this: Readers who enjoy amusing characters. Any 2-4 grader who loves a humorous book.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4. This would make a great read alone book or read aloud. This book is full of laughs and lessons learned by one sweet little girl.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: What have you done for a friend to make them feel better?

Reading Strategies Connection: Literary Report Card (Yopp & Yopp, p. 100). Students can reflect on Clementine or Margaret character using this strategy. Students will issue grades to the character they have picked using their personality traits as the focus. Students will analyze their character’s traits and will then comment or cite evidence for the reasoning of each grade given.