Just Grace (The Just Grace Series) [Paperback]

Charise Mericle Harper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 18, 2008 | Age Range: 6 - 9 years | Series: The Just Grace Series

The third-grader Grace Stewart gets stuck with the name “Just Grace” when she tries to distinguish herself from the three other Graces in her class. Grace is plenty different, though. She has a “teeny-tiny superpower,” for instance—she can tell if someone is unhappy and often tries to fix it. When she concocts an elaborate scheme to help her neighbor Mrs. Luther feel less lonely, however, her good intentions backfire rather dramatically. Headlines such as “What Happened At Home That Was Completely Surprising” and “Spying For A Good Reason Is Not Bad” keep things lively, as do various lists (“Boy Things,” “Rooms You Can Jump In”), comic strips, and the author’s cartoonish spot art. A funny glimpse into a third-grader’s madcap world of dashed hopes, perceived enemies, possible friends, cats, and sandwiches.

Don’t miss the Just Grace website www.justgracebooks.com with its superpower quiz, podcasts, excerpts, and downloads . . . or the other books in the Just Grace series: Still Just Grace, Just Grace Goes Green, Just Grace Walks the Dog, Just Grace and the Snack Attack, Just Grace and the Terrible Tutu, and Just Grace and the Double Surprise!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2–4—Just Grace starts with a list of missed opportunities and finishes with the rich possibility of a new friend. In between, third-grader Grace Stewart sends postcards to her next-door neighbor (purporting to be from Crinkles, the neighbor's own cat), draws comics of Not-So-Super ("but still good") superheroes, plays detective with her best friend when Crinkles goes missing, tries to avoid the odious Sammy Stringer, and establishes herself as a true original in a class with not one, but four, Graces. The narrative voice is strong throughout and the story reads like one-part diary, one-part testimonial. The text is interspersed with the child's illustrations and postcards, which nicely divide the story into episodes, as opposed to chapters. A strong cast of supporting characters shares her world. Since Grace claims to have a teeny-tiny superpower ("I can always tell when someone is unhappy, even if that person is pretending to be happy and is a really good actor"), her relationships with these people, and her ability to read them correctly, take on greater significance as the story advances. Grace is a funny, mischievous protagonist who should easily find a place in the pantheon of precocious third graders. Fans of Amber Brown, Clementine, and Judy Moody will love her.—Kara Schaff Dean, Needham Public Library, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Grace (whose harried teacher nicknames her Just Grace to distinguish her from the three other Graces in class) deals with the usual trials and tribulations of third grade in this hilarious first chapter book. In addition to the usual indignities (being spit on at your birthday party; missing the talent show because of the stomach flu), Grace must deal with feelings about her intimidating next-door neighbor, Mrs. Luther, whose walls are decorated with scary masks and who seems fond of Grace's nemesis, disgusting Sammy Stringer. Grace loves Mrs. Luther's cat, Crinkles, though, and when it goes missing she determines to find it, even if that means temporarily joining forces with Sammy. The kids come alive in the story, and Harper, the author of several previous books, including the graphic novel Fashion Kitty (2005), enhances the comical goings-on with sparkling cartoon sketches. Equally delightful is the wry voice of energetic Just Grace, who never misses an opportunity to point out the injustices life has dealt her. She's a hero through and through. Give this to fans of Ann Nagda's Meow Means Mischief (2003) or anyone looking for a funny book. Kay Weisman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 6 - 9 years
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Sandpiper; Reprint edition (March 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547014406
• ISBN-13: 978-0547014401
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 6.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Here are some things I have learned:

Using comics can be a fun way to tell a story.
Revising is surprisingly satisfying, but not always easy.
Some things are fun to look at, but not fun to own.
Listening is important.
Everyone has a story.
Inspiration can be fast and fleeting.
Writing is like lego - one word(brick) at a time.
Sometimes just a little good thing can change a whole day.

Hope you have a great day!!

Charise


Other places you can find me.

www.chariseharper.com
www.drawingmom.blogspot.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, cute illustrations August 18, 2007

By CookieBooky

Format:Hardcover

Just Grace is a fun and funny book about a girl named Grace. She gets her nickname because there are four girls in her class all named Grace. As the teacher was calling them "Grace (insert last initial here)", Grace asked if she could be called just Grace. So the teacher did.

Grace's super power is empathy. When I read this, I just knew I'd love this story. Grace has also got talent. When she tries to take her mind off of something that's bothering her, she draws what she calls Not-So-Super comics. Although you always kind of know that Grace's intentions are good, she does end up making mistakes and getting in some scrapes.

Grace ends up being an unlikely hero (just like the name of her favorite TV show 'Unlikely Heroes'). She devises a plan to cheer up her neighbor because her superpower, after all, is empathy. When none of it goes as expected, Grace works hard to set everything right.

I enjoyed Just Grace immensely. The story was well told. The illustrations were wonderful and whimsical too. Great book!!

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A True Gem August 27, 2008

By S. Campbell

Format:Paperback

I cannot do justice describing the charms of Just Grace. My 9 year old niece was reading it last summer and I picked it up to see what it was like. My children are 3 and 5 and adore Charise's books and I wanted to see what her "big kid" books had to offer. I was instantly charmed by Grace and had to finish the book. It is very funny and the story keeps you interested to very end. I love that a book geared toward 9-12 year old girls has a heroine whose super power is empathy. Grace is kind and feels for others, but is a realistic regular girl who knows to do the right thing, even if she would rather not sometimes. My 5 year old is a reader and she just read the book and cannot wait to move on to the others. It is such a nice change of pace for books in this demographic. My daughters love Junie B. Jones, but my husband gets exhausted correcting the grammar as he goes, as he cannot bear to read them as written. No such problems with the Just Grace series.
These are lovely, funny, charming books that should be in every book lover's collection.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So charming and funny February 8, 2010

By Bookphile TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

As a family, we were first introduced to the Just Grace series with the fifth book. My daughter is six and has been brought up with tons of books, so she is now becoming more interested in chapter books with deeper story lines. When we hit upon a truly worthy work of children's literature, it's like magic. The two books of the Just Grace series that we have read thus far certainly fit that framework. I'm so enamored of them that I went out and bought the other three books for my daughter. We now have the complete series, and my husband and I look as forward to reading these at bedtime story time as my daughter does.

This book introduces us to the character of Grace, who has the unfortunate problem of sharing her name with three other girls in her class. A misunderstanding leads to her being labeled "Just Grace" and, much to her dismay, this moniker sticks. Harper really does a wonderful job here of capturing how annoyed and bothered Grace is by this--and who wouldn't be? The nickname makes Grace sound like some run-of-the-mill girl when she is anything but.

One of the wonderful things that Harper does in this series is to introduce some pretty big vocabulary words. Whenever she does so, she had Grace provide the reader with an explanation that sounds so sincere, it's hard not to smile. Grace picks these words up from her parents and defines them in this context, which makes us adults sound a little pompous at times.

In fact, the real charm of the series is how Grace pokes some fun at adults. She's not a disrespectful child at all, but my husband and I could recognize so much of ourselves in Grace's descriptions of adults. It's good for us all to stop and remember what it was like to be young and to look at the world through a young person's eyes. There were times when we laughed out loud because we recognized our own parenting in the descriptions of how Grace's parents reacted to certain situations.

As for Grace herself, she is basically a kind, caring young lady who is quite clever. She is by no means perfect, however. She unfairly judges her next-door neighbor and Sammy Stringer, a boy from her class who has an unfortunate habit of making a napkin out of his shirt. It is Grace's growth that makes the story the charmer it is. She owns up to making mistakes and then does her best to try to correct them.

The themes in the book really speak to my daughter. Like Grace, she is a young girl trying to figure out how to navigate her way through a world that it often bewildering to her. Grace's resilience and introspection are wonderful traits for a child. After reading the book, we often discussed Grace's reactions, creating the perfect parenting moments: when you reach your child at their level and teach them something in an entertaining way without having to lecture.