Sara Pennypacker

Third-grader Clementine tries to adjust to the news that her perfect family of four is adding a new brother or sister.

Clementine and the Family Meeting

Sarah Sammis

In Clementine and the Family Meeting by Sarah Pennypacker is the fifth of the Clementine series. Clementine's life is about to change and it all begins with the dreaded family meeting.

At school Clementine has to contend with her missing lab rat (number 18) and her lab partners' unrealistic expectations of what can be accomplished with such short notice. Clementine, like Horrible Harry, has a soft spot for living creatures. She's more distraught over the well being of missing eighteen than on what the rat's absence will do for her grade.

At home, Clementine has a family meeting looming. She's been extra good and can't figure what she could have possibly done to warrant a meeting. I felt bad for her as she fretted over the unknown.

The problems at school and the problems at home are thematically tied. While Clementine isn't happy with the family news, she does come to accept it. She also sees it as an opportunity to find the missing eighteen by rethinking the rat's disappearance.

I recommend the book to fans of the series, kids who are ready to move on from the Junie B. Jones books, and children who are faced with being big brothers or sisters in the near future.

Clementine and the Family Meeting

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