Utterly me, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child

This book is all about a young girl named Clarice Bean, and is the first book of two. Clarice has a wild imagination which comes into the storyline in many ways, as she gets confused or puzzled about little things (especially in school), which cause her to get into trouble. This first book introduces all the characters and their individual peronalities, so that you get to know them and so can relate to them. As Clarice and her best friends Kurt and Betty battle their class in an interesting exhibition competition, find out who will win and what they will discover along the way...

There are quite a few mishaps throughout the story, but I don't want to give away too much! So if you want to find out more, you'd better read this book!

My favourite character in this book would have to be Kurt, because he is portrayed as quite a bad boy of the class and is always getting into trouble with the teacher, Mrs Wilberton. He is also a very enthusiastic character. In particular scenes he is especially funny and makes little comments about life throughout the book.

I think the author, Lauren Child, writes this book in a certain style, in that the language is very childish with lots of made-up words. For example, Clarice says: 'Betty Moody is nowhere to be seen. I wonder what has happened. She is utterly, absolutely never not ever late for class.' This makes it easy for younger children to relate to, but the real humour of it is only understood as an adult. This makes the book very interesting and more personal to the reader.

A good quote from the story, was when Mrs.Wilberton (the teacher) says, 'Clarice Bean, I am really not prepared to tell you again, if you cannot be bothered to pay attention to me, then maybe you will pay attention to Mr Pickering!'. (Mr Pickering is the head master of the school.) I think this is interesting because it is very direct and straight to the point, as she uses Clarice's full name. This also shows her anger towards Clarice. The author is obviously trying to convey the authority of a head master, and as a reader, you feel sympathy for Clarice and a bit worried for her, as she has been sent to his office for misbehaving!

I would give this book 5/5, because I really enjoyed it, and I think the characters are really well portrayed and as a reader you can relate to them. I think the book is written very well and the humour is very clever. The plot is very easy to follow, and also, I thought the introduction was good because straight away I wanted to read on.

Here are some links to websites about the book, and about the author:
http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/0763621862.asp
http://dragonflybookreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/utterly-me-clarice-bean-by-lauren-child.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Child