Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting? [Hardcover]

Lauren Child (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Clarice Bean

Lauren Child’s spunky character returns and—as if things could get any livelier in Clarice Bean’s household—Uncle Ted is babysitting!

Uh-oh! Mom and Dad have to go away for a few days and who can they get to babysit? Who would be willing to take on the irrepressible Clarice Bean, her pesky brother Minal Cricket, and the school’s guinea pig, Albert, who’s visiting for spring break? (Not to mention teenage brother Kurt, who abhors daylight; big sis Marcie, who chats on the phone all day; and Grandad, who tends to wander off.) Surprisingly, only Uncle Ted,
firefighter and movie addict, can be persuaded. Will he survive the week? Find out, in Lauren Child’s hilariously original sequel to her award-winning CLARICE BEAN, THAT’S ME.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When, for some strange reason, Clarice Bean's parents can't find anyone to babysit for a few days, they must resort to Uncle Ted, a firefighter ("so he wears special pants") who occasionally lassoes lamps and "can get you in a firefighter's carry before you can say 'Uncle Ted put me down!'" All goes well for a day or two, as Clarice Bean's daylight-despising older brother, phone-chatting big sister, accident-prone younger brother, and wandering Grandad, manage to say things like "please and thank you and sorry... and let people share their stuff without grumbling." But then her little brother Minal Cricket lets Albert (the school guinea pig on spring break) out of his hutch, and the fragile family balancing act topples. In no time, Minal is on his way to the emergency room, after an accidental bop on the head with a soccer ball, Grandad has wandered into the neighbor's house to watch the horse races, and the entire fire department shows up in time for Clarice Bean's mom's return.

It's no wonder Clarice Bean and her cool uncle get along "like a house on fire (ha ha)." Quirky and feisty, these two have a way with calamity that readers won't soon forget. Nor will they forget Lauren Child's unusual and tremendously appealing cut-paper and photographic collages. Her text wends its way around the illustrations, spiraling if need be, and growing or shrinking as appropriate. Fans of Lauren Child's Clarice Bean, That's Me will do backflips of joy to see a new title about this precocious girl and her very nutty family. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

Encore PerformancesPicture book and fiction characters return for more tales. Fans of Clarice Bean, That's Me, can brace themselves for the heroine's latest adventure, Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting? by Lauren Child. After Clarice's Uncle Ernie, a New York City policeman, is hospitalized for slipping on a doughnut, her Uncle Ted, a fireman, is assigned to baby-sitting duty so that Clarice's mother can tend to the patient. Uncle Ted, famed for his wild tendencies, gets strict instructions

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763613738
• ISBN-13: 978-0763613730
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 0.4 x 11.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #941,077 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lauren Child is the multi-talented prize-winning creator of the characters Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and Hubert Horatio Bobton-Trent. She has won the Smarties Gold Award, Smarties Bronze Award, Kate Greenaway Medal and been shortlisted for the Children's Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Lauren lives in London.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is the same book as My Uncle is a Hunkle!, September 26, 2008

By 

Theo Rules "theo_rules" (Germany) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting? (Hardcover)

An awesome book that deserves 6 stars BUT this is the same book as My Uncle is a Hunkle with a different cover and name. So, I bought it hoping to see more about Uncle Ted only to find that it was the same book. Perhaps this is my fault for not reading reviews carefully, but who ever expects the same book to be sold under two different names? Not me. Great book - but turns out I already had it!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FULL-ON FUN, February 26, 2001

By 

"hurburgh" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting? (Hardcover)

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More fun in the Bean household! Mom has to go to New York, and Dad has to go away on IMPORTANT BUSINESS. So who looks after Clarice, Marcie, Minal, Kurt and Grandad while Mom and Dad are away? As a last resort Mom calls in Uncle Ted. After only two days of normality chaos takes over.

Albert the Guinea Pig gets lost, Minal has an accident and Grandad wanders off.

Lauren Child's book is a long way removed from the pastel coloured world of traditional kid's books. The illustrations are full on, with clever use of photomontage with text and type-fonts that go every which way.

Most children will get a kick out of the very stylish layout and quirky humour. You can really believe that young Clarice wrote this book. All young readers will certainly enjoy her latest story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lauren Child does it again, September 27, 2010

By 

Viv "Viv" (Tampa, FL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting (Paperback)

My son absolutely adores Clarice Bean, and the whole series is a great tool to improve his reading comprehension skills. It's a masterful mixture of pictures and words with an entertaining plot that keeps him coming back to read Clarice's adventures again and again. He started with Charlie and Lola and soon graduated to Clarice Bean. He loves the sense of humor and mischief sprinkled throughout the books. Child's books along with Dr. Seuss's forms his "must reads" repertoire before bed time.