Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Clarice Bean, What Planet Are You From?
Picture Book Series
For ages 6 to 8
Candlewick, 2010 ISBN: 978-0763647964
Clarice Bean is learning about planet Earth in school, and her teacher is also encouraging the children to do a project called “The Environment.” The teacher gives the students little books to write in for the project, but Clarice is having trouble coming up with ideas for her assignment.
Clarice is busy reading comics in the laundry room when her big brother Kurt starts making a commotion in the kitchen. He has read in the newspaper that a an old tree is going to be chopped down on Navarino Street, which is Clarice’s street. Kurt is so upset about the tree, that he and his friend Morten decide that they are going to camp in, or at least next to, the tree. They are going to be ecowarriors.
When Kurt does not come home by eight o’clock that evening, the family goes out to the tree to see what is going on, and they find that Grandad and his friend Bert are also camped next to the tree. The next day Clarice and her friends make posters that say “Free the Tree,” and when he gets home from work Clarice’s father decides to make dinner for the ecowarriors. Will their voices, posters, and presence around the tree be enough to save it?
In this wonderfully funny and quirky picture book, Clarice Bean and her nutty…er…unique family (and friends) come together to fight for something that they believe in. Saving the tree brings everyone together, despite their differences. With an engaging and amusing text and wonderful multimedia illustrations, this title is sure to entertain young readers, and it will encourage them to think green, just like Clarice Bean.
