If you love Junie B. Jones, you're going to be thrilled to meet Clementine, star of Sara Pennypacker's series of books for younger readers (aged 7-10). She's every bit as spunky as Junie B., but less obnoxious (you gotta love that). My 6-year-old daughter (a big Junie B. fan) loved Clementine so much that she read this book twice in one evening! Imagine my delight when I glanced at the author's very cute website this morning and discovered that she's written not one, but 3 books about this irrepressible 8-year-old. Looks like I'm going to be visiting the "P" aisle in the children's section of the library sometime very soon.

So, The Talented Clementine is the second book in the series. It opens with an announcement by Clementine's teacher: To raise money for the school, the 4th and 5th graders will be holding a talent show. The rest of the kids are excited, but Clementine is "N-O-T, not" (2). All her classmates have acts they are dying to perform, but she has a problem - she has no talents. Her friend Margaret has a skill for every letter of the alphabet - Clementine can't even do sitting properly! What's a girl to do?

Since moving to Egypt to avoid the show is out of the question, Clementine embarks on a search for her special talent. Juggling proves disastrous, tap-dancing dangerous, and sticking a leash on her brother isn't a very big hit with the parents. Her father reminds her that she's good at math, art and noticing things, but none of those things are very performable. As the day of the talent show comes closer, Clementine still can't figure out what to do. It's only when she sees a need that she realizes she can fill it with her own unique talents.

Clementine endures plenty of bumps and bruises on her search, which makes for a funny, fast-paced read. Although our heroine's voice sounds familiar (think Junie B.), it's still fresh enough to be engaging. Her hilarious observations will make you smile, if not laugh out loud. The book ends on a sweet note, creating the perfect finale for this fun, fulfilling story. I loved it.

P.S. I always hate it when reviewers label something "laugh-out-loud funny," because I rarely find myself guffawing audibly when I read. So, here's my evidence that this book really is that funny:

"No, thank you," I said, extra politely. "What I'd like is to go to Mrs. Rice's office."

"Clementine, you don't need to go see the principal," my teacher said. "You're not in any trouble."

"Well, it's just a matter of time," I told him. (3)

"It's a surprise," my mouth said without me even telling it to. Which was not a lie, because if I did anything at all up on that stage next weekend, it would be a pretty big surprise, all right.

And then I pressed my mouth into a ruler line for the rest of the bus ride so it couldn't say anymore surprises" (16).

I don't know why my teacher bothered with sending Maria and Norris to the nurse. All she ever does when you go in to tell her how sick you are is roll her eyes. She always looks bored, as if she's just killing time until a really good disease hits the school. Maria and Norris could have head lumps the size of toasters, and all our nurse would do is hand them a frozen sponge. (45)

See what I mean? Funny. Cute. Irresistible. Read the books.

Amen.

Grade: A

Dang, now I've got that song running through my head: Don't know much about history/Don't know much biology/But I do know that I love you, and I know that if you loved me, too, what a wonderful world this would be. I think I see American Idol in my future ... hee hee.

Anyway ... I received two copies of Don't Know Much About Anything Else by Kenneth C. Davis by mistake, so Davis' publicist has authorized me to give one away. Yay! The book is one in a series about all kinds of subjects, and features random facts about everything from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Flag Day to Ohio. I've only skimmed the information, but it looks fun and interesting.

So, what do you have to do to snag your very own copy? Just leave a comment on this post telling me about one subject you "Don't Know Much About." Comments must be in by midnight on September 30. Good luck!

I've often wondered if God forgot to give me the geneaology gene so prevalent in other Mormons. I mean, my mom and her twin sister haunt cemeteries, spend hours on the computer, and pore over musty records just to find the names and dates of our ancestors. For me, that's drudgery. I'm much more interested in the stories behind the names and numbers. Give me a journal or a biography or a historical novel - a story - and I'm in heaven. Laurence Yep, Newberry Honor-winning children's author, seems to agree with me. In the introduction to The Dragon's Child, he says, "Historical fiction is more than a record of dates and statistics: it should be a dialogue with the dead" (ix). This is what intrigues me - the conversations, the experiences, the stories of people long gone.
When Yep's niece presented him with transcripts of interviews taken with his father, he couldn't resist entering his own "dialogue with the dead." The papers recorded an interview conducted when Gim Lew Yep was a 10-year-old boy seeking entrance into the U.S. At that time, many Chinese men immigrated to America to earn money for their families in China. Each time the men travelled between the two countries, they had to pass a test before they were allowed back into the U.S. According to Yep, the immigrants had to answer detailed questions about their families, villages, and neighbors. In the Afterword of The Dragon's Child, he explains:
"To understand just how detailed these records were, try drawing a map of the block on which you live. List all the people in each house and what they do, and also list all their pets. Then record the births, deaths, and marriages of all your immediate family - including uncles and aunts, parents, brothers, sisters, and grandparents - for three generations and describe what the current living relatives do and where they live. Finally, write down how many windows and doors the houses have and in which direction they face. That will give you some idea how much a Chinese immigrant was expected to know" (113-114).
The purpose of these tests was, of course, to prevent Chinese people from settling permanently in America. However racist these exams were, the recovery of the transcripts granted Yep the opportunity to "speak" with his father about his experience coming to America. As a result of this conversation, he created The Dragon's Child, a fictional look at his father's fight to get to the place the Chinese referred to as The Golden Mountain. Yep wrote the book for children (ages 8-12), but it offers valuable insights for us all.

Long before Disney began marketing the heck out of Happily Ever After, little girls dreamed of becoming princesses. They envisioned themselves in flowing gowns and diamond tiaras with armies of servants at their beck and call. With a gleaming palace, trunks of jewels and a handsome prince, what's not to love? Well, after the reading and viewing I've been doing lately, let me tell you, I'll pass.