Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House

Um...reading this was like spending a significant amount of time in the brain of a seriously disturbed child. Possibly that was the intent.

Kaline (is that really a name? a boy's name?) doesn't know where his dad has gone or why. He's scared of the next door neighbor, his mom is acting even stranger than usual, and bullies are making his life miserable at school. Fortunately, he has his imaginary tree house and friends to comfort him.

Kaline's weird speech patterns kept throwing me out of the story, since I couldn't decide if they were typos or just the way he talked. I agree with him that his mom is nuts and wonder how on earth she manages to hold down a job as a paralegal when she is so completely scatty. And why is Kaline not in some show more kind of therapy? He obviously has major issues and needs help. The main part I did not buy was his dad. Here's a guy who is clearly as crazy as the rest of the Klattermaster family - timing your child's bedtime rituals is a sign of a serious problem, not to mention exacerbating his son's mental and social issues (at least according to Kaline's mom) - who leaves his son without a note or goodbye, and suddenly he reappears, says Kaline can be as messy and unorganized as he wants, and is all over him.

Call CPS somebody and hand Kaline over to the next door neighbor. Who hopefully can get his name changed.

Verdict: Awful characters and extremely weird. Not recommended

ISBN: 978-0689874024; Published February 2008 by Atheneum (out of print); Borrowed from the library show less

A delightful story of a little boy who is dealing with his parents divorce and bullies at school with his wonderful imagination. The family struggles as all families do with various personalities and quirks, and seeing this family through the eyes of a seven year old was refreshing, it was a nice reminder that a change in perspective changes everything. Kaline uses his imagination (rather than video games) to understand the world around him. Ms. Kimmel's ability to turn a phrase and her use of humor make for a great read aloud. As a children's librarian I will be highly recommending this book! I hope there will be more books chronicaling Kaline's adventures.

Kaline Klattermaster is about him, his neighbor, mom, and the school but, he lives in a tree house with 100 dogs. In the beginning he goes to school on the first day of school. Also these three older kids comes up to him and Kaline thinks they are mean and so, they are. In the middle he gets scared at night because he can’t find his mom so he runs to Mr.P’s house and then his mom panicked and ran to Mr. P’s house and finds Kaline. Another thing is the 3 kids keep on taking his stuff so, his mom keeps on buying new supplies and Kaline also wears two pairs of clothes. In the end his dad comes back and Kaline tells him all the things he had to do to make him proud. Lastly Kaline’s mom surprises him with a cool place to hang out at.