Clementine: 12/11/11

Clementine by Sarah Pennypacker, Clementine, her brother and parents live in apartment building where her father is the apartment manager. Clementine likes to ride the service elevator when she needs to think but in this horrible week, she won't get much of a chance because she's constantly in trouble with someone or another.

The book covers one hectic week in Clementine's life. On Monday Clementine gets in trouble for helping Margaret cut her hair. The problems spiral out of control to the point that Margaret's mother is also mad at her. No matter what she does, Clementine just seems to make things worse even though her heart's in the right place.

Thematically, Clementine is like the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. In terms of vocabulary it's closer to the Junie B. Jones books by Barbara Park.

That said, Clementine is a delightful book full of believable but memorable characters. For example, Clementine never calls her brother by his given name, instead opting to call him by some sort of vegetable. Her logic is: she's named for a fruit, so he should have been named for a vegetable to make things even. I wonder if the author knows what is real name is?

Four stars.

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