Clarice Bean Spells Trouble

Title: Clarice Bean Spells Trouble
Author: Lauren Child
Publisher and date of Publicatioin: Candlewick Press, 2004
Genre: Novel, Realistic Fiction
Age Range: 3rd-5th grade
Awards: 2005 British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year

Summary: In this book, elementary-age Clarice Bean, has trouble understanding why words are spelled the way they are. She has to be in a spelling bee at school but she isn't good at spelling. She stays in trouble all the time. Her and her friends also love Ruby Redfort, a television character. They love her mainly because she is good at getting out of trouble. She stays in trouble all the time at school but wants desperately to be in the school play, The Sound of Music. She ends up playing a nun in the school play.

Response: I think this is such a well written book. Child does such a good job at gettin inside the head of a young girl. I think that third-fifth grade girls would love to read about a young girl that feels the same as them. There may not be a Ruby Redfort now but there is a Hannah Montana that all young girls love now. I remember being in elementary school and participating in the spelling bee. I like the titles of the chapters...it's more of a sentence that describes what the chapter is about. I think if young girls read this book, they might feel like they aren't the only one that's feeling the way they do. I think that the Clarice Bean books are like a alot of other chapter books. They are written from a young girl's perspective about real issues that they are going through.

Teaching Ideas: I feel like this book is mainly a book that girls may check out from the library instead of one that we, as a class, reads. I doubt that young boys would want to hear about what this girl's problems are. Students could read this book and describe a time in their life when they felt like they weren't taking seriously, because Clarice Bean is never taken seriously by her teacher. Students might also read this book if they are getting ready to compete in the spelling bee at school.