Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon

Surprisingly long and complex for a children's novel, and innocently insightful, without jettisoning that childlike faith which so many children's books cannot but disturb.

(9/10)

"Amber Brown is not a crayon. Amber Brown is a person." Despite occasional teasing from her classmates, Amber Brown like her name. She also likes her teacher Mr. Cohen and the "trips" he takes their third-grade class on, to places like China and Australia, as well as her best friend Justin Daniels. (They go way back. To preschool, in fact.) But then Justin's dad get offered a job in Alabama and his family must move.

Amber Brown is an excellent choice for mid to upper elementary schoolers, ideally for third and fourth graders. Amber, who is also the books's narrator, is a fun character to read about, since you can tell right away that she'd make a great friend. She's funny and really insightful for her age, and loyal to the end. The show more prose is just about at the perfect level for this age group, not to difficult but still challenging enough to be interesting. show less

Paula Danziger's Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon (ages 7-8) is a humorous portrait of third grader Amber's dilemma—her best friend, Justin, is moving to Alabama. Amber recalls her difficulty adjusting to her parents' divorce, especially after, when her father moved far away. She tries to talk to Justin about his imminent move, but he keeps changing the subject. Then Amber and Justin have a fight about their chewing gum ball and stop talking to each other; will they make up before Justin moves? Danziger's Amber Brown series represents the realities of children's lives and experiences in elementary school with credibility, exploring common childhood problems and issues with humor and grace.

Amber's best friend Justin is moving away.
A good kid's book about how it feels when someone you love leaves. Amber is an engaging character.

I was told I had to read this book by a friend who kept telling me about it. She wanted me to read is so much that she wrote down the title on a a napkin (we were out bowling or something) and the next morning I pulled the note out of my pocket and was like "what on earth does this mean?". So now that I've been reading a ton of kids books (dunno why, just like to) I saw it and picked it up. I think it's a good kids book - funny, teaches empathy, it's real, but that's about it. Maybe I'll read the rest? First I need to tell my friend that I finally read this.

Amber is very sad because her best friend is moving away. This is a common occurance in a child's life, that a friend they make may move away or they may need to move away themselves. This is a very good book to recommend to a fluent reader going through this kind of experience, or to use as a read aloud, because Danziger is able to paint vivid characters who feel authentic. Danziger's story is not all sad, there's fun along the way too, especially in the behavior of the 3rd graders in Mr. Cohen's Class.

"Amber Brown is Not a Crayon" is an excellent transition book for readers just begginging to read chapter books. The language is simple enough for third graders and up to understand. This book is about a girl named Amber who has to deal with her best friend moving to another state far away from her. It shares with readers how she overcomes her feelings toward the situation and how she tries to just enjoy the time she has left with her best friend. Many children go through this situation everyday! This is a great book to have in a classroom library!