Customer Reviews

Clementine's Letter

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Clementine's Letter (2008) is a humorous book about a young girl, in third grade, who adores her teacher. She hears that Mr. D'Matz has been nominated by the principal to win a trip to Egypt. If he wins, he would leave for the rest of the school year for an archeological dig and the students would have a substitute. Sara Pennypacker expresses Clementine's sorrow of the situation explaining that no other teacher ever understood her before Mr. D'Matz. In order for Mr. D'Matz to win the prize, his students must write a letter to the judges. Clever Clementine conjures up a way for Mr. D'Matz to lose the prize. Without the support of her classmates, she finds it difficult to lie because Clementine knows that he is a great teacher and should win the prize.

The beginning of the book is difficult to get interested; however, as Clementine attempts to be clever, it is increasingly more interesting. Pennypacker does a great job developing Clementine's character, especially through expressing her emotions. The periodic illustrations provide visualizations, which may entice even the most hesitant readers!

Clementine absolutely adores her teacher, but she and the rest of her third grade class gasp when the principal says his name aloud. After all, "D'Matz" almost sounds like a couple of bad words put together, which is why all of Mr. D'Matz's students refer to him simply as "Teacher."

But Clementine soon discovers that she has much more to be horrified about than just hearing his name. Principal Rice informs the class that Mr. D'Matz has been nominated for a huge prize. If he wins the Adventures for Teachers award, he'll go to Egypt for an archeological dig --- and that will mean he'll be gone from Clementine's classroom for the remainder of the year. Clementine is so horrified by this news that she almost misses the fact that Mr. D'Matz will not be in his classroom for the rest of the week because he must spend time with the Adventures for Teachers Committee.

Clementine hopes that Teacher will refuse the honor, but both he and her classmates seem to agree that this could be a fabulous opportunity. Only Clementine is aghast at the thought that Mr. D'Matz is letting the class down after he promised to share so many wonderful activities with them throughout the year. Although he explains that his replacement will have his lesson plans and will be capable of leading the class in Fraction Blasters, Weather-Across-the World and other projects, Clementine is not convinced.

Unfortunately, Clementine and Mrs. Nagel, the substitute teacher, have trouble communicating from the start, and the issues snowball as the long week crawls by. It puzzles Clementine that her friends don't agree with her pronouncement that Mrs. Nagel is mean, as incident follows incident, causing her to dread school.

One class assignment Clementine particularly has problems with is the letter that each student must write to the Adventures for Teachers judges, explaining why Mr. D'Matz should be chosen to go to Egypt. What a conundrum, when Clementine does not want him to win the prize. If she tells the truth --- that he is an amazing teacher --- then her words will help him win, leaving Clementine to deal with Mrs. Nagel for the entire year. When her friend, Mitchell, inspires her, she pens quite a letter to the judges. But her moment of reckoning is not all that far in the future --- and it's a doozy.

Clementine is a delightful character with true-to-life emotions and reactions. Sara Pennypacker handles Clementine's relationships with both Mr. D'Matz and Mrs. Nagel in an entertaining and realistic manner, building to a satisfying resolution. Furthermore, the expressive line drawings by Marla Frazee capture Clementine's spirit, adding an enjoyable dimension to a thoroughly gratifying tale.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

Having already established the precedent for non-YA CLW titles with the first two Clementine books, I decided to go ahead and do a chick lit Wednesday review for the latest installment as well.

Since her introduction, Clementine has colored both her and best friend Margaret's heads with permanent markers, saved her school talent show from catastrophe, and been sent to the principal's office so many times that she knows the way pretty much by heart. In Clementine's Letter (2008) by Sara Pennypacker (with the ever-lovely illustrations by Marla Frazee), Clementine is actually hoping for some catastrophe.

Clementine is finally getting the hang of third grade with the help of her teacher Mr. D'Matz. But when her class finds out that Mr. D'Matz might be leaving in the middle of the year to go on a research trip to Egypt, Clementine knows she'll never be able to make it through the rest of the year--especially when she can't seem to do anything right for her new substitute.

After thinking things through, Clementine decides that Mr. D'Matz needs to keep his promise to teach her and her class for the rest of the year. And he probably doesn't really want to go to Egypt anyway. So Clementine starts making her own plans to make sure Mr. D'Matz won't leave. After all, it isn't really sabotage if he doesn't want to go, right?

Clemetine's Letter is all about decisions and thinking things through. What starts as an ill-thought out letter to keep her teacher away from Egypt turns into a lesson that, sometimes, if you really care about someone you have to let them leave.

This story references events from the first two books (Clementine from 2006 and The Talented Clementine from 2007) but stands on its own quite easily. Clementine is as entertaining as ever with her own unique brand of humor, although I still worry about the emphasis on her getting into trouble at school so much (some reviewers posit that Clementine has ADD, I posit that she is a creative type in a school that doesn't really get her). Margaret's own ticks about germs and dirt also seemed to be much more prevalent than in the first books.

The story isn't quite as funny as the first, perhaps because Clementine's distress over her teacher seems more real and pressing than her issues in the first two books. The ending also felt somewhat more abrupt. Regardless, Clementine remains an effervescent, awesome character good for kids of all ages (even reluctant readers thanks to the brevity of the text and the excellent illustrations).

I bought a Clemintine book in a bunch that I got for the grandkids my 8 year old granddaughter asked for more of them after she read the 1st book

I read all the Clementine books to my 2nd graders every year- so much better than Junie B Jones- and my students love them!

This whole series is fantastic. My daughter really identified with Clementine and enjoys these books so much. Great from 4th -6th grade.