Clementine (Clementine, #1)

Sara Pennypacker · ★★★★

This is the series my daughter and I chose to read after finishing Ivy + Bean and I can confirm this is a worthy follow up. Clementine is aimed at the same reader but introduces a heavier emphasis on the concept of an unreliable narrator. This gave my daughter especially, a different relationship to the protagonist, and it was great to see how that changed the way she took in the story. Clementine is also a much more interesting character than Ivy and Bean (as much as I love those two). She has what appears to be a pretty acute case of ADHD and her experience of the world is told from inside her own perspective so it never feels clinical and in fact, inspires a great deal of empathy. Clementine's lack of self-awareness is such a well-conceived blind spot that my daughter and I were both pulled into her plight and sooo satisfied with the emotional depth of the book's ending. I recommend this for anyone looking for reading for their 7-10 year old. Clementine's world is thoroughly entertaining, inside and out.