Room One: A Mystery or Two

Room One: A Mystery or Two by Andrew Clements

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Sixth grader Ted Hammond loves mysteries. So the day he spies a girl in the upstairs window of an abandoned house in his tiny town in rural Nebraska, he knows it's his chance to solve a real-life mystery.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways


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Extra Credit

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Abby Carson is failing the sixth grade because she hates doing homework. Faced with the threat of being held back, she decides to not only starting doing ALL of her homework but also take on a big extra credit project: write letters to a pen pal halfway around the world, post them on a bulletin board, and do a class presentation at the end of the year.

Sadeed Bayat is the best student in his village in Afghanistan, but it's not proper for a boy to write to a girl, so his little sister is chosen to be Abby's pen pal...with Sadeed's help. She dictates letters in Dari; he translates them into English. But he's dissatisfied with what his sister writes and composes a letter of his own, which he mails in secret. And pretty soon, Sadeed realizes that he knows Abby better than he knows anyone else, and Abby realizes that kids are pretty much the same no matter where they live. But not everyone is happy with this culture-bridging assignment.

Andrew Clements does a fantastic job of bringing these characters and cultures to life. I wanted to climb into Abby's tree fort and thank Sadeed's teacher for his dedication. Excellent book.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, with setting as a secondary doorway



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A Week in the Woods

A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I bought this book for my stepson for Christmas last year, and it turned out to be one of his favorites (hooray!). Both he and my husband recommended I read it, and I can see why. Andrew Clements does such an excellent job of creating multi-dimensional characters, both children and adults. In fact, there is so much to this story, it's hard to know how to describe it. It's a story about a kid and some adults who make some snap judgments that turn out to be wrong. It's a story about a lonely kid finding and home and something (the outdoors) to love. It's a story about being prepared (and an excellent advertisement for REI!).

Ultimately it's a story about getting lost and finding your way back home.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, and a great pick for elementary school boys.



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No Talking

No Talking by Andrew Clements

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Loved it! This book cracked me up, and I love how both the kids AND adults grew up a little over the course of the book. My 9-year-old stepson (and my husband) loved it, too, which is always a good sign. :)


Here is the book talk I just gave for it:

Who talks more?

Boys...or girls?

Do you know?

Could you stop?

Laketon Elementary experimented.

With a contest

Boys vs. Girls

Two silent days

Penalties for speaking

Except to teachers

(Three-word answers)

Kids counted goofs.

Teachers were confused.

And the winners?

Can you guess?

No Talking

by Andrew Clements



For readers' advisors: story and character doorways



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Lost and Found

Lost and Found by Andrew Clements

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Identical twins Jay Ray and Ray Jay have spent twelve years being mistaken for each other. On the first day of school in their new town, Ray stays home sick while Jay goes to his classes and discovers that due to a clerical error, the school doesn't know he's a twin. The boys decide to take advantage of this and find out what it feels like to be a unique individual for a change. It's fun at first, but their plan has some unexpected challenges.

I enjoyed the peek into the world of twelve-year-old boys. It was a fun, quick read. Frindle is still my favorite, but this is fun, too.


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Things Not Seen

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved reading Andrew Clements' Frindle last year, so when I saw a new copy of Things Not Seen on the new YA fiction book cart, I picked it up. The fact that we'd worn out our old copies and had to order new ones for the library is usually a good sign when choosing which YA (young adult) books to read. And so it proved to be in this case.

Our Hero is Bobby Phillips, an ordinary teenager who wakes up one morning to discover that his metaphorical invisibility has become literal. Clements does a fantastic job of bringing to life the mixed emotions and frustrations a teenager (or anyone) would actually feel when faced with such gigantic, life-altering dilemma. How would you cope? Whom could you trust?

I appreciated that Clements avoided the cliche of the teenage-boy-in-the-girls'-locker-room fantasy. And I appreciated his depiction of the growing relationship between the girl who couldn't see and the boy who couldn't be seen. It was hard for me to put this book down and return to work after my lunch hours were over.


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