From the Publisher
Praise for the Clementine series: A New York Times Bestseller Winner of 2008 Rhode Island Children's Book Award Winner of 2008 William Allen White Children's Book Award Winner of the 2007 Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor Winner of 2008 Great Lakes Great Books Award Winner of the 2007 Josette Frank Book Award Winner of the 2007 Sid Fleishman Award A 2006 School Library Journal Best Book of Year A 2006 Child Magazine Best Book of Year A 2006 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A 2006 National Parenting Publication Gold Award Winner A 2006 Nick Jr. Family Magazine's Best Book of the Year A 2006 Miami Herald Best Book of the Year *"A delightful addition to any beginning chapter-book collection."—School Library Journal, starred review *"Along with humorous bits, Pennypacker seamlessly weaves into the narrative common third-grade themes...Fans of Judy Moody will welcome this portrait of another funny, independent third-grader."—Publishers Weekly, starred review *"Middle-grade readers will sympathize with Clementine's conflicted feelings about her friend and her family, and laugh out loud at her impulsive antics, narrated in a fresh first-person voice and illustrated with plenty of humor. Give this to readers of Cleary and Blume and cross your fingers for more."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
School Library Journal
02/01/2015
Gr 2–4—Third grade is ending and Clementine feels anxious as the school year comes to a close. She does not like saying goodbye, and she's especially not ready to bid farewell to Mr. D'Matz. She's also worried about her mother's nutty "nesting" behavior as the new baby's birth approaches, and she's so mad at her dad she isn't speaking to him. Everything wraps up neatly by the end, though, and Clementine is finally ready to face the summer and embrace the unknowns of fourth grade. Clementine is just as fresh and funny in this seventh and final title in the series as she was in the first book. It's sure to be popular for readers already familiar with Clementine and will doubtlessly engender a new set of fans to read each of the books about this entertaining character. VERDICT This last title in the popular and laugh-out-loud chapter book series is a must-have for library collections.—Gaye Hinchliff, King County Library System, WA
Kirkus Reviews
2015-01-10
Antic third-grader Clementine faces her biggest challenge yet: looming change. It's the last week of school before summer, and everyone is excited except for Clementine, who definitely does not feel ready for fourth grade. Whenever her beloved Mr. D'Matz tries to talk about it, Clementine avoids the subject. Fortunately, she's got a few things to keep her occupied. Classmates Maria and Rasheed are planning their wedding, and Clementine is deeply involved, acting as proxy wedding planner since her bossy upstairs neighbor, Margaret, is an expert. Her mother is expecting a new baby, "nesting" in ever more comical fashion, and Clementine is working hard on a good name for the tyke. Perhaps hardest of all, vegetarian Clementine is subjecting her father to the silent treatment, since he will not give up meat. While it's gratifying to see how much Clementine has grown—much as Clementine might herself suspect she hasn't—this outing doesn't pack the punch of previous books. The wedding subplot in particular feels superfluous, and both Clementine's apprehension about change and her insistence on the moral high ground feel deserving of center stage. Still, her ebullience will likely carry readers past this to the valuable understanding that change will come and sometimes the best you can hope for is a compromise. Though looser in weave than previous appearances, still this provides the emotional honesty readers have come to expect. (Fiction. 6-10)
