The Talented Clementine

Third grader (and Ramona throne usurper) is baaack!! Thankfully! (This is one "series" I will whole-heartedly recommend to kids!!)

This time, Clementine's class is doing a talent show... but Clementine doesn't think she has any talents to show. Will she find out what hers is? Of course! It's a kids book! ;) But the hilarious-ness is how she gets there! One example... she thinks she can tap dance but has no shoes, so she opens up 24 bottles to take the caps and superglue them to her sneakers! (Followed by a hilarious conversation between her parents as to who has to take her shoe shopping to replace the ruined pair!) This character is so real she makes me laugh out loud

When it comes to tackling third grade, Clementine is at the top of her game - okay, so maybe not all the time. After her teacher announces that the third and fourth graders will be putting on a talent show, Clementine panics. She doesn't sing or dance or play an instrument. She can't even hop with finesse. And as if that didn't make her feel bad enough, her perfect best friend, Margaret, has so many talents, she has to alphabetize them to keep them straight - how can Clementine ever hope to compete?

As the night of the big "Talent-palooza" draws closer, Clementine is desperate for an act, any act. But the unexpected talent she demonstrates at the show surprises everyone - most of all, herself.

When it comes to tackling third grade, Clementine is at the top of her game - okay, so maybe not all the time. After her teacher announces that the third and fourth graders will be putting on a talent show, Clementine panics. She doesn't sing or dance or play an instrument. She can't even hop with finesse. And as if that didn't make her feel bad enough, her perfect best friend, Margaret, has so many talents, she has to alphabetize them to keep them straight - how can Clementine ever hope to compete?

As the night of the big "Talent-palooza" draws closer, Clementine is desperate for an act, any act. But the unexpected talent she demonstrates at the show surprises everyone - most of all, herself.

Susan says: This second book about Clementine in the third grade is just as sweet as the first. Clementine's teacher tells them all that the third and fourth grades are having a talent show to raise money for the school. This sends Clementine into a panic because she does not believe she has any talent. Adults or older readers can see that she has many talents, but she's focused on tap dance and singing. Finally the day of the talent show arrives, and she ends up becoming the director of the talent show, and does a great job. This would be a good book for chick lit, since it is fairly short, and even older girls would get something out of it. Clementine is funny, interesting and a real character. I'll keep reading in this series of show more short chapter books.

Kearsten says: I really enjoy the Clementine books. Clementine is utterly charming, as is her family, who dearly love her despite being somewhat frustrated by her.

Clementine's talent for noticing things (easily distracted, she gets sent to the principal's office multiple times in the first book in the series) comes in handy for the school's talent show.

Her dismay over being unable to find a "normal" talent is very realistic, as are the reactions of her friends and family (surely you can think of something to do?!), and makes the final chapter all the sweeter.

A funny, delightful read - highly recommended! show less

Despite being nothing at all like the Ramona Quimby books, they still remind me a LOT of them.

In this edition, Clementine is left scrambling for an act for the talent show. She has, she says, NO talents. Not even hopping. No, really, at 8 years old she still can't hop, poor child. And no doubt it doesn't help that her "perfect" upstairs neighbor and friend has more talents than she can count.

After rejecting tap-dancing (apparently, beer caps do NOT make acceptable taps when superglued to sneakers), moving to Egypt, and hiring a substitute, Clementine hits upon the perfect talent - leash her brother and perform Elvis! (It makes sense... sorta.) Unfortunately, her father nixes this idea and she ends up at rehearsal with nothing to show more do.

Fortunately, her ability to notice everything but what she's supposed to pay attention to keeps her occupied instead of moping - and she ends up applauded as the last-minute stage manager, a believable and in-character happy ending.

There were two false notes for me, both related to the tap shoes. First, when Clementine goes to buy new sneakers to replace the ones she ruined, her parents stage a big fight over who gets to take her (her father eventually bribes her mother with new shoes for herself AND a trip out to dinner at the Ritz) because she's a pain to shop with and insists on trying every pair of shoe so she can "not-choose" them before she chooses the ones she picked at the beginning. Reading about Clementine promising to "be normal" and not act like that... well, it breaks my heart, it does, and it seems out of character for her parents who typically seem pretty understanding of their daughter (not that they're overindulgent, just that they try to understand her). Secondly, at the end of the talent show they invite her to go to dinner at the Ritz with them, saying "we wouldn't even be going out if it weren't for you". To me, this reads as though they're rewarding her for ruining her shoes because they're only going out as the bribe for buying her new ones! It would have been better to say they're taking her to dinner to celebrate her starring backstage role in the talent show, I think.

Still, the rest of the book is wonderful. And, as I said in the first book, I love how the author writes the sibling relationship. You *know* your sister loves you when she writes "NO NUTS FOR ME!" on your head before she feels safe leaving you in care of the babysitter. show less

I'd never read a Clementine book before. I found her refreshing. She reminds me of Ramona. She is not too modern or precocious, nor as obnoxious as Junie B. Jones. It would be a great book for second, third, or fourth grade girls.

I really enjoy the Clementine books. Clementine is utterly charming, as is her family, who dearly love her despite being somewhat frustrated by her.

Clementine's talent for noticing things (easily distracted, she gets sent to the principal's office multiple times in the first book in the series) comes in handy for the school's talent show.

Her dismay over being unable to find a "normal" talent is very realistic, as are the reactions of her friends and family (surely you can think of something to do?!), and makes the final chapter all the sweeter.

A funny, delightful read - highly recommended!