Module 4: Clementine

Summary

Clementine is a third-grade girl living in a high-rise apartment building in Boston. This book chronicles a week in her life and the challenges she faces after she has cut off all her best friend’s hair. Clementine cuts her own hair off to try to make her friend feel better. This doesn’t make everything better and her friend’s mom is furious with Clementine. The book details Clementine’s thoughts which are always good-intentioned, but impulsive in a readable, humorous way. Clementine and her dad fight “The Great Pigeon War,” where they spray the pigeon flocks roosting on the front of their apartment building. Her dad is the building manager, and he endlessly tries to clean the pigeon poop off the sidewalk and steps of their building. Clementine solves the mystery of why the pigeons roost on the building’s front and gets them to move to the side of the building. She saves the day and is celebrated by her family at the end. The friends make up with each other and Margaret’s mother finally forgives Clementine.

Reference

Pennypacker, S. (2006). Clementine. New York, NY: Disney-Hyperion.

My Impressions

Every time I read this book I am entertained and feel happy because of Clementine’s humorous outlook on the world. This is an appealing book to many ages because the illustrations by Marla Frazee that complement the text so well are fun and whimsical. This is an especially good book for parents who have children. Parents can see that Clementine does impulsive, annoying things without considering the consequences. With time and patience, Clementine learns and grows with experience, which is something all parents can benefit from knowing. Clementine’s parents don’t yell at their daughter’s impetuous misdeeds, but choose to nurture and compliment her as she struggles to make a bad situation better. Her mother hugs and laughs with her after her daughter feels bothered that her mother doesn’t have a regular job where she goes to work every day wearing a dress. Clementine’s parents believe in her and encourage her positive qualities that are sprinkled in between the impetuous, difficult situations their daughter continually creates for herself. Young readers who struggle with paying attention or making bad choices can also take this message to heart, which is the theme of Clementine.

Professional Review

“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.)

Clementine [Review of the book Clementine]. (2006, August 7). Publishers Weekly. Retrieved from https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7868-3882-0

Library Uses

In the book, Clementine says she has “had not so good of a week,” and the book illustrates this phrase. Discuss with the students what happened during their worst week. If time permits, have them write about their worst week—complete with illustrations.