The Talented Clementine

Writer Sarah Pennypacker and illustrator Marla Frazee join forces once again to continue exploring the adventures of Clementine, a very unique third grader with a very big problem in "The Talented Clementine" (the second book in the Clementine series). In order to raise money for the school, Clementine's class is going to have a talent show where every student is expected to take part. That's all well and good if you have a talent, but Clementine doesn't seem to have any. Every other kid (literally) in the class is doing cartwheels. Her best friend, lovably-snooty Margaret the fourth grader, is going to explain how to dress fashionably. Everyone seems to have a great act. Except for Clementine. In her search for a talent, Clementine discovers a lot of things she can do like math in her head better than her own father or Margaret's brother (who is not, Clementine is quick to point out, her boyfriend). But you can't do math in a talent show. Margaret tries to pass one of her numerous, and alphabetized, talents to Clementine. But after an ill-advised encounter with beer bottle caps, glue, and a pair of sneakers that seems like maybe not the best idea. Just as Clementine is at the end of the rope, sure she has nothing to offer to the show--her school's principal realizes something Clementine had missed bringing everyone's new favorite third grader out on top. I really loved the first installment in this series ("Clementine") and was thrilled to find that "The Talented Clementine" is just as good. Pennypacker keeps all of the good things from the first book while expanding the characters here. This book spends more time at Clementine's school and with Clementine's very cool, very likable mom and dad. I also like that the book has some real drama as Clementine struggles to find a talent without getting too sad. By the end of the story everything is okay and, more importantly perhaps, Clementine and readers realize that everyone does have a talent (even if it's not always something you can perform on stage). Frazee's illustrations continue to add to the prose making Clementine and her world even more vibrant than the text already does. The continuity is also admirable. It is clear from the illustrations of Margaret that her hair is growing out. Which, believe it or not, brings me to the next point: While the stories do work together, this book can stand alone. It would, of course, be better to read the series in order but not vital. I dare say "The Talented Clementine" is as good as its predecessor "Clementine" and am anxiously awaiting the third installment in the series ("Clementine's Letter" is scheduled to release this April). I've said this before and I'll say it again: Clementine is a vivid, independent character who has the capacity to make reading fun for readers of all ages.

This is a great follow up to the first Clementine book. Girls and boys alike can relate to the main character and all the "help" she believes she is providing to people around her. Perfect for children in grade 3. My students are looking forward to another "Clementine" book.

THE TALENTED CLEMENTINE is a wonderful book. With the spunk of Ramona Quimby and the curiosity of Jo March, third-grader Clementine is a fantastic role model for those who believe that --- someway, somehow, someday --- their own special talents will be needed in the world at large, and at that defining moment of their lives they will be ready to work magic with them. Clementine is worried. After all, unlike her upstairs neighbor Margaret who can do pretty much anything she can think of --- from cartwheels to riding horses, tap dancing and karate --- Clementine doesn't have a definable talent for the annual talent contest at school. In fact, Clementine delivers herself to the principal and announces that with a discernible touch of grace and whimsy. Sent back to her classroom and then home to encouraging parents whose unconditional love fails to help her in her quandary, Clementine keeps on keeping on until a moment --- completely unannounced --- when she does what she does naturally, and it turns out to be just the right thing! Sara Pennypacker's Clementine is a great kid who shines brightly from the page. Curly mop of hair notwithstanding, Clementine's voice and her whole character are completely and sweetly original. As in the previous CLEMENTINE, she manages to make her way around the often frightening realities of grade school (academic and social competition, putting her foot in her mouth one too many times, calling her baby brother by vegetable names) with a healthy amount of questioning and a strange but true sort of kid logic. Although fashion does come into play when Clementine needs new sneakers and Margaret mocks her fashion statement, Clementine's style --- in word, deed and dress --- ends up serving her and her fellow third-graders well at the climactic moment of the talent show, when Clementine learns what her true talent is and utilizes it with great aplomb to make sure everything goes smoothly. Here's hoping that Clementine will shine in another volume soon. This will become a series that can be highly recommended to all kids, especially girls, no matter what their talents are! --- Reviewed by Jana Siciliano

If your child read Clementine, then he or she will love Talented Clementine. Sara Pennypacker continues Clementine's adventure in her school's talent show. My 7 year old couldn't believe there was another book on Clementine. He and his reading group read the first one and loved it...boys and girls alike....they both could relate to the characters as well as the writing style. The only disappointment that my son showed when he finished reading Talented Clementine was he still did not know Clementine's brother's name. Sara Pennypacker is keeping that a secret for now. Guess she'll eventually let the readers know what the brother's name is. For now, the readers will just have to call him what his sister Clementine calls him: Broccoli, Spinach, etc.... Buy the book for your child...they will thank you!

When Clementine arrived on the scene in 2006 it hit a nerve. Otherwise sane and rational adults began thwapping one another over the heads with the book screaming, "READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS!" Children were left abandoned as their parental units devoured the title. Kids, as it happened, quite enjoyed the book as well, but you could be forgiven for not noticing this through the swarm of "Clementine"-addled adults out there. Now the sequel has popped onto shelves everywhere and we are experiencing the calm before the storm. Copies are already flying off the shelves, but we won't experience the true gale-force winds of the faithful until the summer months. Then watch those copies simply fly. Sequels come with their own set of rules and regulations, of course. Rule #1 tends to be, "Be As Interesting As Your Predecessor," and is too often ignored by writers. NotPennypacker . A worthy sequel and a perfectly packaged little gem, "The Talented Clementine," will please the initiated and uninitiated Clementine-fans alike. It's talent show time! Yes, the third and fourth graders of Clementine's school are gonna put on a production to beat the band and this puts our heroine in a bit of a pickle. Clementine has no talents. None.Zippo o' talentos . Well, none that she can perform anyway. She cannot dance or sing or cartwheel or Hula-Hoop. Her best friend Margaret can do all of these and more but even with her "help" Clementine's having some difficulty. And really, itisn 't until the day in question that she discovers something she can do that no other third grader seems capable of. Something that isn't flashy or even noticeable, but that quite positively saves the day. The funny thing about this particular volume is that Pennnypacker has done away with a subplot. There's no A story paired with a lesser B story for kicks. This pup's A and only A from start to finish. You might think that would make the book tedious and slow, but the author appears to know what she's doing. The concept of figuring out what you do best is infinitely difficult to write about for any extended length of time without sounding like a broken record. All the more reason then for the author to add in details like Clementine super-gluing beerbottlecaps to the soles of her shoes in the hopes learning to tap. I can probably say with certainty that I've never read a children's early chapter book that contained a kid who stinks like a brewery. Other unique details include the presence of adults thataren 't villains. The Principal that Clementine is constantly excusing herself to talk to acts more like an infinitely patient psychotherapist than an authority figure. I'd like to point out that what I'm doing right now (reviewing this book) is a dangerous thing. You have no idea the position I've placed myself in, do you? How easy it is, when reviewing a Clementine, to suddenly lapse into copying down quote after quote from the text without giving it a second thought. I might try to en