Product Description

When someone steals the winner's trophy for the school book project, Clarice emulates Ruby Redfort, ace girl detective and star of Clarice's favourite books.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38478 in Books
• Published on: 2003-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.co.uk review
Utterly Me, Clarice Bean is Lauren Child's rather marvellous follow up to the super-savvy picture books that first launched the unforgettable Clarice into Smarties Prize and Kate Greenaway Medal winning orbit. This time, Child has moved away from her usual format and strikes gold in a novel for younger folk.

Clarice's extraordinarily ordinary family are under pressure. Dad keeps muttering about how "there might be a reshuffle going on at work" and how he will "have to jump through hoops" if he wants to get a "share of the pie" because "the big cheese" has been making noises about "some people being left out in the cold if they don’t keep their eye on the ball", while mum spends her life "gribbling about pants on the floor and shoes on the sofa". And as for her brother, Minal Cricket, he "tends to be utterly a nuisance".

Meanwhile, Mrs Wilburton, the school teacher who insists that Clarice sets a book project "which sounds utterly dreary", until, that is, Miss Bean realises there is a prize. Together with best friend Betty Moody, Clarice sets about bagging the booty with the aid of The Ruby Redford Collection, a series of books about an 11-year-old detective.

As the games commence, Clarice tells her story through her diary, navigating childhood minefields and inviting readers to join her in her wide-eyed wonder at the madness of it all. Children will enjoy the easy-flowing, slightly breathless style and the familiarity of day-to-day dramas, and will undoubtedly agree with many of Clarice's observations on the utter unfairness of childhood in general.

Black and white drawings and random meanderings into alternative type faces that perfectly ape the bored scribblings of many a child add a visual dimension that will appeal even to less able or reluctant readers as well as to those who enjoy a good read. And let us not forget that Utterly Me, Clarice Bean is just about perfect for reading aloud--in fact, this option is highly recommended as depriving the grown-ups of this laugh-out-loud experience would be utterly, utterly unfair. Ages six and over. --Susan Harrison

Times-educational supplement
"Lauren Child is the queen of typographical razzmatazz...Utterly me, Clarice Bean is sharp, cool, funny and beautifully produced "

Review

"The delightfully wacky Clarice Bean is the star of this absorbing story bubbling with exuberance and vitality." 

Customer Reviews

Utterly, a gem!
My seven year old daughter read this in an afternoon and utterly loved it. I read it too with a good deal of amusement and much admiration for the brilliant writing and illustration. Lauren Child presents the fun and frustrations of childhood with great wit and sympathy and a total lack of sentimentality. The first person narrative beautifully evokes the language of the primary school playground, while giving an inimitable, child's take on her own and the adult world.

As a child, my daughter could relate to Clarice's trials with her family and teacher (little brother Minal's bad jokes struck a particular chord!), her relationships with her friends and enemies, and her struggles with the dreaded class project. As a parent, I enjoyed the insights into the life of primary age children, the way in which relationships develop, the ambitious plans that don't quite work out, the misinterpretation of events, the independent thought often underestimated by adults.

Clarice's story is interwoven with that of Ruby Redfort - the heroine of a series of a much loved mystery-adventure books Clarice herself is reading. The two stories develop with Clarice and her friends using Ruby-like skills to solve the mystery of the missing trophy and complete their project. My daughter said she wished the Ruby Redfort books really existed, as they sounded excellent.

But perhaps the clearest compliment comes from her interpretation of Clarice's age, cleverly never stated. "I think she must be seven or eight", says my daughter, "Just like me!"

best book I've ever read apart from the Giggler treatment
I am 9. I got this out of the school library for reading time and UTTERLY adored it. I couldn't stop reading it and finsighed it in 3 sessions. It's got a great sense of humour and I found at my first attempt I got up to page 90. I didn't laugh out loud because my teacher would have got annoyed but I hooted lots in my head. I really want to read some more Lauren Child books

utterly me, clarice bean- yes please
I bought this on a whim, seeing the cover, for my 9 year old daughter. Both she and I read it within 24 hours and now her 12 year old sister has it secreted under her pillow to read at night. As a 9 year old with teenage siblings my daughter loved Clarice Bean and reading a book about a girl who loves to read was like reading about herself. A lovely simple, gently humourous tale, just wacky enough for us all to enjoy and characters with which to empathise. I have been ordered to search out other Clarice Bean books and have bought another 2 today. Once again I can buy from Amazon books that I cannot buy in the shops