Danitra Brown, Class Clown (Library Binding)

by Nikki Grimes (Author), E. B. Lewis (Illustrator) "School is in and I remember..." (more)
Key Phrases: Miss Volchek, Miss Wexler

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. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Library Binding: 32 pages
• Publisher: Amistad; 1 edition (July 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688172911
• ISBN-13: 978-0688172916
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,863,791 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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 (Arlington, 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.