Clementine's Letter (Clementine Series #3)

by Sara Pennypacker, Marla Frazee (Illustrator)

Overview

Clementine can't believe her ears - her beloved teacher, Mr. D'Matz, might be leaving them for the rest of the year to go on a research trip to Egypt! No other teacher has ever understood her impulsiveness, her itch to draw constantly, or her need to play "Beat the Clock" when the day feels too long. And in his place, he's left a substitute with a whole new set of rules that Clementine just can't figure out. The only solution, she decides, is to hatch a plan to get Mr. D'Matz back. If it means ruining her teacher's once-in-a-lifetime chance -- well, it's worth it. Isn't it?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781423198628
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	03/12/2013
Series:	Clementine Series , #3
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	600L (what's this?)
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	7 - 10 Years

About the Author

Sara Pennypacker is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Pax, the Clementine series and its spinoff series, Waylon, and the acclaimed novels Summer of the Gypsy Moths and Here in the Real World. She divides her time between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Florida. She invites you to visit her online at sarapennypacker.com.
 
Marla Frazee is a two-time Caldecott Honor winner and the recipient of a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book. She has illustrated many acclaimed picture books, including All the World by Liz Garton Scanlon, Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, and Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers, as well as her own Farmer Books trilogy, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, and The Boss Baby, which inspired the DreamWorks Animation film. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestselling Clementine chapter books by Sara Pennypacker. The mother of three grown sons, she lives in Pasadena, California. She invites you to visit her at MarlaFrazee.com.

Editorial Reviews

Third-grader Clementine has finally found the teacher of her dreams, so she's understandably crushed when she learns that Mr. D'Matz might be leaving for an extended research project. To save herself and her classmates from the dreaded substitute, she decides to take extreme measures to keep her beloved mentor close to home. A sweet, vocabulary-building story.

Gr 2-4

Clementine and Mr. D'Matz, her third grade teacher, are finally "in sync." But now he's a finalist in a contest and will be spending the entire week with the Adventures for Teachers Committee and, if he wins, he will go on a research trip to Egypt and miss the entire school year. Clementine comes up with a plan to make sure Mr. D'Matz doesn't win that prize when the principal asks the children to write nomination letters. Everything from Clementine's wacky vegetable nicknames for her brother to the dizzying array of colors at the art supply store makes Sara Pennypacker's book (Hyperion, 2008) a kid-friendly celebration of words. Jessica Almasy does a nice job of capturing Clementine's young, enthusiastic voice. A fun listen for Clementine fans.-Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT

School Library Journal

Clementine's only just "getting the hang of third grade"-she hasn't been sent to Principal Rice's office for a whole week-when her world turns upside-down: Her beloved Teacher is a finalist for an Adventures for Teachers award, and if he wins, he'll be gone for the rest of the year. As it is, he's absent for a week to prepare, and life with his substitute does not go well. Mrs. Nagel doesn't know any of the tricks Teacher did that helped to keep Clementine "in sync" with the classroom, so when Principal Rice asks the children to write letters of nomination to the award committee, Clementine sees her opportunity to sabotage his success. Pennypacker and Frazee have this latter-day Ramona down to a T, her distinctive voice and unruly curls happily unblunted by familiarity. The great success of this outing, however, lies in the warmth of the relationship between Clementine and Teacher, whose humane and sympathetic understanding of his admittedly difficult scholar will strike a welcome chord with readers, especially those out-of-sync students and their teachers. (Fiction. 7-11)

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for the Clementine series:
A New York Times Bestseller
Winner of 2008 Rhode Island Children's Book Award
Winner of 2008 William Allen White Children's Book Award
Winner of the 2007 Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor
Winner of 2008 Great Lakes Great Books Award
Winner of the 2007 Josette Frank Book Award
Winner of the 2007 Sid Fleishman Award
A 2006 School Library Journal Best Book of Year
A 2006 Child Magazine Best Book of Year
A 2006 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A 2006 National Parenting Publication Gold Award Winner
A 2006 Nick Jr. Family Magazine's Best Book of the Year
A 2006 Miami Herald Best Book of the Year

*"A delightful addition to any beginning chapter-book collection."
—School Library Journal, starred review

*"Along with humorous bits, Pennypacker seamlessly weaves into the narrative common third-grade themes...Fans of Judy Moody will welcome this portrait of another funny, independent third-grader."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

*"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. Give this to readers of Cleary and Blume and cross your fingers for more."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 

From the Publisher

Poor Clementine! She's finally gotten in sync (or "in the sink," as she puts it) with her third-grade teacher, Mr. D'Matz, who understands her high energy and difficulty focusing in the classroom. Now he has a chance to win a long trip to Egypt. And that will leave Clementine at the mercy of a substitute—who doesn’t understand her at all. Jessica Almasy confidently narrates this entertaining story with a youthful-sounding voice. She's especially good at portraying the nuances of other people's reactions to the irrepressible Clementine, whether those of Mr. D'Matz, her nonplussed substitute teacher, or her cool teenage friend, Mitchell. As listeners follow (breathlessly) along on well-meaning Clementine's adventures, they'll be touched by her insights into human nature, as well as her well-intentioned, if often disastrous, ideas. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

OCT/NOV 08 - AudioFile