Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

The weather sucks today. It's rainy and grey. The wind is blowing and I'm worried that the tree behind the house is going to fall and clobber me. If the tree doesn't fall, it's entirely possible the house will just float away. I'd watch t.v. but things keep hitting the roof, which is very distracting. It is definitely a day where I feel restless and nervous.

So, I picked up a kid's book. Clementine is named for its main protagonist, a third-grade girl who suffers from an entertaining case of ADHD. Clementine seems like a smart kid who tends to think outside the box in the ways that adults tend to find most frustrating. She seems absolutely incapable of focusing on the world as adults want her to see it. Which is how she ends up helping her friend Margaret by chopping off Margaret's long hair.

This is the beginning of an awful week.

I'm sure my enjoyment of Clementine stems partly from the mood I was in when I read it. However, it is an entertaining fast paced read. While it was certainly written with a female audience in mind, Clementine is enough of a tom-boy that I could see boys enjoying it too. I think any kid who finds themselves in trouble repeatedly despite the best of intentions would like this.