Clementine Books In Order

Publication Order of Clementine Books

Clementine is a series of children’s novels by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Sara Pennypacker. The first novel in the series is the 2006 published “Clementine”, from which the series takes its name. Following the massive commercial success of the first novel in the series, Pennypacker went on to write six more titles in the series, culminating in the seventh in the series “Completely Clementine” in 2015. Some of the most popular aspects of the series books are their illustrations, which are done by Marla Frazee who has been working on the novels right from the first novel. The novels make use of the drawings to portray the relationship between the characters. What happens is Sara will typically write the stories after which Frazee will come in to impart the emotion and body language by drawing the pictures. The series follow she unintentionally devious, lovable, and eccentric eight-year-old girl Clementine as she navigates her third grade school and home life. She is an impulsive and artistic child with red curls, who often finds herself in the principal’s bad books for her characteristic imperfections and lack of cooperation.

Given that she writes for kids, the Clementine series of novels are written to correct some environmental or social injustice. Pennypacker is usually driven to write when something has gotten her mad. Nonetheless, despite her stance on issues, the novels never come across as too preachy as she creates a believable backstory for the character Clementine in each novel, threatens and challenges her cause, then records her reaction to the challenges. For instance, the last novel of the Clementine series was inspired by her interest in animal welfare, which resulted in a book themed on animal welfare. Despite drawing her inspiration from some moral or social high ground, most of the Clementine novels are based on persons the author knows. She keeps tracks of people’s funny stories, quirks, and personalities, which she then tweaks and reproduces in the series to make for very interesting and believable characters. In fact, Clementine the lead character in the series is based on her son who had issues with ADHD in school. This perhaps informs the sweet hearted, cheerful, and positive attitude of Clementine, who also has issues with attention. Clementine is a distractible, impulsive, and more active child as compared with her peers, though she is also empathetic, innovative and very artistic. She has a very normal family though it is not immune to the usual conflict and tension amid all the support and warmth.

Clementine the lead protagonist in the series is a girl full of good intentions that often finds herself misunderstood by persons of authority given her personality quirks. Her unpredictable and impulsive nature frequently gets her into trouble with her parents and her school principal, that just cannot understand the little girl. However, she is also highly artistic and loves to draw and showcase her artistic talent throughout the series. Her closest friend is Margaret, a nine-year-old snobbish and uptight personality, who shows a domineering streak and little tolerance for Clementine quirks. However, deep down she is a kindhearted and a good friend to Clementine. She has a teenage brother named Mitchell, who is often depicted as a fun-loving character that loves to tease and irritate his sister, though he generally gets along with Clementine. Clementine’s parents are also critical players in the series particularly her father Bill. Bill is an apartment manager for the building in which the series characters live in for most of the novels. He is an understanding and fun loving father who works with his daughter to resolve a range of issues in the building. Nonetheless, he gets vexed by the unpredictable antics of Clementine in several instances but remains a patient and forgiving father. Clementine’s mother is never named, though just like her daughter she is artistic, kind and understanding. Just like her father, she often exasperated by the lack of cooperation and school antics of her daughter though she remains an understanding mother. For instance, despite Clementine being found culpable in a wide range of infractions during the course of a single week in school, she does not scold her instead preferring to talk to her in hopes that she will change.

“Clementine”, the first novel in the series is delightful novel introducing the lovable yet eccentric character Clementine. Everybody thinks that she does not pay attention though she is the first o notice a pelican looking stain on her teacher’s scarf. The thing is Clementine always pays attention, though it is to different things than those expected of her. With her peculiar characteristics, she often gets into more trouble than the average third grader though none of it is intentional. Clementine is something of a Junie B character, though she is more of a delight and does not have the silly quirks of her contemporary. She is what you would refer to as a Kix cereal special – mother approved and kid tested. She is completely childlike, yet is smart and clever with a rambling train of thought that fondly reminds the reader of their little brother or sister. The delightful novel is perfect for 7-9 year olds.

“The Talented Clementine” is the second novel in the series featuring the eccentric lead character Clementine. The school is holding a talent show to raise money and every learner is expected to perform towards the endeavor. Clementine finds herself in a tight spot, as she does not believe she has any talent. Nearly everyone in her class has some creative idea with her best friend Margaret, who she often thought was dumb coming up with the excellent idea of explaining fashionable dressing. Only Clementine does not have anything special to showcase during the talent show. But in her quest to find something to do for the show, she soon finds that she is better at many things than many people such as Margaret’s brother or her father, who cannot do fast math in their heads like she can. But this is not going to be a math contest and she needs to find something else to present. Margaret tries to help her with a set of alphabetized art but this soon falls apart when she discovers that she cannot handle the mess of glue and beer bottles. Just as she is on the verge of giving up, the school principal finds out that there is one thing that Clementine can do better than everyone else.