I have been a huge Clementine fan from her first appearance. In fact, when I adopted Fiona, who came with the unfortunate name of Yo-yo, I almost renamed her Clementine, just because of the books. She is very bassety. Clementine is frequently “distracted” by things when she is supposed to be doing what others want and then explains ” I was paying attention” and then says what she was paying attention to. If you’ve ever walked with a basset, you know that you might want to be moving forward, but they are frequently sidetracked and pay attention to things you don’t even see. I try to channel Clementine when I walk the girls.
I just reread Clementine for the 2013-14 Battle of the Books season (more on this later)
and then I read Clementine and the Spring Trip which came out earlier this year, but I’m finally getting to it.
And I am happy to say that this, the 6th book,is wonderful! And I love Margaret, who is the perfect OCD foil to Clementine’s ADD. I love their interactions and how they have to negotiate their friendship. In this book, a new girl named Olive arrives and Clementine is no longer the only student with a food name. Having just reread Clementine, I can see how much she has grown up since that first book, but she is still sweetly naive and genuine as she tries to find her place in the world.
As always, Marla Frazee’s illustrations capture all the emotion & hilarity.
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