Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House

I enjoyed this book so much! It was cute, funny, tender, and clever. She hits on some hard issues in a sweet way. Loved the book and the characters!

My 10-year-old son and I read this together after I had read the Zippy stories (because I couldn't get enough of her memoirs). It's laugh-out-loud funny, and my son and I still bring up situations and lines from the book. If you've read Kimmel's memoirs, you'll recognize her childhood imagination throughout this book.

Kaline Klattermaster, a 3rd grade boy, shows more imagination than most lads. Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House provides more creative entertainment than can be absorbed in one reading. It's not JUST for ages 7-12, but for all Haven Kimmel readers who have come to love her zany Zippy style of story. Peter Pan and Tom Sawyer would have loved to live beside young Klattermaster. This book is a good one for teachers to share in a classroom, or an elementary counselor to loan to the shy student, or a kid from a broken home, or some young boy (or girl) dealing with any loss. The book provides no particular answers to fit all situations, but Kaline is a character many pre-teens can relate to. He faced all the above as well as struggling with school and those classroom bullies. Adult that liked, Kimmel's books, "A Girl Named Zippy" and "She Got Up Off the Couch", will enjoy this book as well. New words of expression are introduced throughout the book. Kimmel is as inventive with words as Kaline is with brothers, and race cars. Like: .....1...extinguishment, to do with extinguisher drifts .....2...precisedly .....3...RUH-ROH .....4...Super Humongnous .....5...Pangemonia There is no doubt going to be a new younger generation of fans reading the delightful silliness of Haven Kimmel. Everyone will want to be Kaline's friend, made-believe or real, and join him in the tree house (which is also another name for an extracessivous dog house. Parents, teachers, grand-parents: gift this one to a young reader (but read it first yourself).

For third-grader Kaline Klattermaster (who is small for his age and started school early besides), life is full of rules: 1. Do not walk on grass! 2. The chair is not a jungle gym. 3. Placemats on the kitchen table must be exactly two inches apart. 4. Your stuffed dog is not real (even though it's sitting right there). How he would love to dig in the grass, and how on earth is he supposed to sit still when he's not allowed to talk at the table? Usually, when Kaline ends up sitting upside down, his father goes to the garage for alone time. Now that Kaline's dad has left, that leaves only Kaline's crazy mom to set the timer on his bath (which she doesn't), and take him to school (which sometimes doesn't happen). It's up to Kaline to take care of things himself until his father gets home, but even he can't handle it himself. Luckily, he finds aide in the mysterious neighbor, Mr. P, Mr. P's dog, Maestro, and Kaline's two older brothers (who also happen to be in third grade, and who live in a giant tree house with 100 puppies). Intended for younger readers, I found this book highly enjoyable, fast-paced, and a little crazy, which I think is how it's meant to be. Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

Reading Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House will help any parent with a child that has been called ADHD or any parent who has a child suspected of suffering from Asbergers. Clearly Kaline is not an average little boy. He has an amazing imagination and he loves his parents in spite of their obvious differences--from each other and from him. Neither of his parents is typical, whatever that is, but he can deal with each of them, and both of them love him--a boy who is not typical either. This is a delightful Read-aloud book that will charm the reader as much as the lucky listener.