Danitra Brown, Class Clown [Hardcover]

Nikki Grimes (Author), E. B. Lewis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 26, 2005 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

They may be best friends, but Zuri Jackson and Danitra Brown respond very differently to the start of school. For Zuri, there are so many things to ponder -- a new teacher who replaced the old one she liked so much, passing math, and worrying about her mother's health. But for Danitra, the only real deal is being true to herself, having fun, and supporting Zuri in any way she can.

Multiple Coretta Scott King award winners Nikki Grimes and E. B. Lewis have poured their best into Danitra Brown, Class Clown. This third book starring Zuri and Danitra speaks to everyone who has faced the trials of a new school year.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 3-5–Best friends Danitra and Zuri are back for a new school year and a new teacher. Miss Volchek gives us quizzes/with no warning in advance,/and still Danitra tells us/that we should give her a chance. Challenges arrive for Zuri–fears about passing math and worry about her mother's illness. Even singing solo with the glee club adds a level of anxiety to her days. Confident Danitra, the One of a kind…Original thinker…/Matchless tutor/Matchless friend provides support, friendship, and her own unique styles to her advice. Grimes's text, a running sequence of titled verses, neatly voices the critical self-examination of preadolescent girls. Lewis's detailed watercolor paintings create energy of their own, revealing the girls' emotions with visualization of both joyous expressions and thoughtful moments. Theirs is a friendship with the closeness of siblings, revealed for readers in a natural flow of events and Zuri's narration. A must-buy for all libraries and a must-read for all Danitra and Zuri fans.–Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 3. "School is in and I remember / How much I detest September." Kids will recognize the first-day-back anxiety in the third book about Zuri and her best friend, Danitra Brown. Unlike Danitra Brown Leaves Town (2002), which was in free verse, this narrative, delivered by Zuri, is in simple rhyme. Lewis contributes the illustrations here--beautiful, expressive full-page watercolors of kids in the classroom, schoolyard, lunchroom, washroom, and library. Their new, bossy teacher separates the friends, but Danitra is still there for Zuri, clowning and distracting the class when Zuri messes up, and helping her study for the math test. There's a serious undertone to the fun (Zuri's mother is very ill), but there's nothing reverential about the friendship, and Lewis shows Danitra as her own person, bespectacled and exuberant, with a "one of a kind hairdo" and "singular style." Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Amistad; 1 edition (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688172903
• ISBN-13: 978-0688172909
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #918,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nikki Grimes conveyed the fire-in-the-belly fervor of a Harlem girl who knows she was born to write in Jazmin's Notebook, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. In My Man Blue, a Booklist Editor's Choice and Newsweek Children's Books of the Year selection, her artful words expressed a boy's journey from skepticism to trust. And now with Bronx Masquerade she presents a rich chorus of eighteen voices, singing openly about ideas, feelings, and questions--things that open minds, invite debate, provide release. A recent Booklist review proclaims: "As always, Grimes gives young people exactly what they're looking for--real characters who show them they are not alone."An accomplished poet, novelist, journalist, and educator, Ms. Grimes was born and raised in New York City and now lives in the Los Angeles area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice poems for elementary age kids, March 10, 2007

By 

Kenya Sanchez "KNS" (North Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Danitra Brown, Class Clown (Hardcover)

My 9 year old doesn't read poetry on his own, but likes the poems read to him from this book. He can identify with some of the age related feelings about school and friendship played out with Danitra and her friend. Funny and easy going.