Clementine and the Spring Trip

Clementine #6

by Sara Pennypacker, Marla Frazee (Illustrator)

OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD!
 
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLLING SERIES
 
This delightful chapter book series, from the award-winning author of Pax , is a modern classic that has been keeping readers engaged and laughing as they follow the hijinks of Clementine, a clever and quirky third grader who’s the most spectacular friend around. Perfect for fans of Amelia Bedelia and Ivy + Bean!

For Clementine, Spring is a really big deal.

Spring is for seeing her apple tree start to grow, for watching her friend Margaret go crazy with cleaning, and for going on the school trips, like this year's trip to Plimoth Plantation. Clementine is ready for Ye Olden Times, but she isn't so sure about surviving lunch there-the fourth graders have strict rules about no eating sounds. If that wasn't enough, Clementine also faces the challenges of learning Olive-language and surviving The Cloud on Bus 7.

Hearing the pilgrim lady talk about why she made the long journey from England makes Clementine think about rules. Who makes them, and what do they mean to the people who have to live with them? Today Clementine has to decide which rules are made to be broken.

READ MORE!
Clementine 
The Talented Clementine
Clementine’s Letter
Clementine, Friend of the Week
Clementine and the Family Meeting
Completely Clementine
 

Genres: Childrens, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Humor, Middle Grade, Chapter Books, Audiobook

160 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2013

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auto-love every entry in this series. Sometimes I worry about Margaret, though. I mean, I am honestly a bit of a germ-phobe myself, and I also love to sort, filter, and organize, but I think she's going to have a lot of trouble in the real world, and I don't know how she manages to ride the school bus.

[Darla · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this Clementine book we learn about the infamous Baxter when the new girl, Olive, is allowed to sit in the desk he once occupied. He sounds like quite a talented kid. As we watch Clementine prepare for the spring field trip, we have many questions. Will Clementine help Olive adjust to third grade? How can she avoid the noisy eating rules that the fourth grade has imposed while on the field trip? What will they do if they are assigned stinky Bus #7 for the day? Read this book and find out!

[Kristie]

My grandson and I listened to this whole series last summer while he was visiting, except this one. I just picked it up on Audible to listen to this summer, so we can complete the series. All of the books have been really cute.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a pretty good and pretty cute fast-paced read about a girl named Clementine who loves the Spring and apple Trees. She also has a very quirky family and quirky friends. Going on a field trip she learns about rules and more. I also loved the illustrations in this book. Definitely check this one out.

[Shayla Riley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clementine and the Spring Trip
by Sara Pennypacker and pictures by Marla Frazee
-In this particular book, Clementine and her classmates are going to visit Plimoth Plantation on their class field trip. She and her older friend Margaret planned to sit together on the bus. But her teacher assigns her to be partners with the new girl, Olive. Clementine isn’t thrilled with all the attention Olive receives from her classmates. I love Clementine’s character. She isn’t afraid to be herself and yet she wants to follow the rules too. The character development, humor, action, and dialogue in this story are wonderful.

[Kimberly Sabatini · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Clementine <3

[Shayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to looooove Clementine and wish that her family were my family. I only have 1 book left in the series to read which is so depressing.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clementine is my girl.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clementine is one of my all time favorite characters. She's not afraid to be herself and yet she wants to follow the rules too. That becomes apparent in this book as she struggles to find things to eat that don't violate the fourth graders strict rules about eating sounds. The problem is that she likes foods that make noise. And then, things become crazier when she is assigned to partner with the new girl rather than Margaret for the field trip. And Clementine isn't completely comfortable with the new girl, who also happens to have a fruit name, and of whom, Clementine is a tiny, winny bit jealous. Not to mention the fact that her mother is pregnant and has a tendency to do what her father calls "going crunchy" or what the rest of the world would call moody. Life is hard when you are a third grader.

Clementine always makes me smile. These books are beautifully written and illustrated and perfect for middle grade readers who like humor with their contemporary stories. Highly recommended.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sigh. (that's a good sigh, btw). Another great Clementine story by Sara Pennypacker. I love, love, love the character development in the Clementine books. No direct descriptions, just wonderful action and dialogue. It's been several years since I've read a Clementine book, so she and her family and friends are not readily familiar to me. But I feel like I've been reacquainted with long lost friends after reading this short and (seemingly) simple book -- but it can't be simple to write something this good. The theme and plot development are so subtle...it takes real talent to write beginning chapter books that are also solid literature. Seriously. Compare this to all the other "beginning" chapter book drivel that is published by the boatload -- this one rises to top, by far! Thank you, Sara Pennypacker, for writing good literature for the younger crowd. I'd love to see this win a Newbery. The most distinguished contribution to children's lit in the US? I think it has a shot! Go Clementine!

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard not to love Clementine. She's unique and does things her way, but she also is loyal to her friends. In this particular book, she and her classmates visit Plimoth Plantation, and she and her older friend Margaret plan to sit together on the bus. But her teacher assigns her to be partners with the new girl, Olive, who has invented her onw language in which you put her name into every syllable that you say. Clementine isn't too thrilled with all the attention Olive receives from her classmates, and she is anxious about eating lunch on the field trip because of Margaret's warnings about the fourth graders' rules about eating sounds. As Clementine learns about the Pilgrims' coming to America, she considers the purpose of rules and who makes them. Once again, Clementine triumphs. The pen and ink illustrations and the students' concern over a bus with a particularly bad smell add to the book's hilarity. This title is filled with great lessons explored with intelligence and humor.

[Anu-vinkkari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klementiinat ovat ihan kivoja, mutta joku näissä mättää, kun eivät oikein mene lainaan. Suunnilleen samaan aikaan ilmestynyt Isa ja Bea -sarja pesee Klementiinat lainamäärissä 10-1.
Onko syypää kansi? Omasta mielestäni sekin on ihan ok, ja minä jos joku olen ronkeli kansien suhteen. Ehkä kirja näyttää kohderyhmästä liian paksulta? Kirja nimittäin usein hylätään jo valintavaiheessa ja tartutaan johonkin ohuempaan ja värikkäämpään. Sen vinkkaamani yhden osan lukeneet ahmatitkaan eivät välttämättä lämpene sarjalle. Kirjat ovat ehkä hivenen hitaita ja päähenkilö on aika omintakeinen ja pohdiskelee paljon (tässä nimenomaisessa niteessä mm. eläinten syömisen eettisyyttä). Kirjassa on myös aika paljon isoja aikuisrooleja ja kirjan aikuiset ovat lähes poikkeuksetta fiksuja ja ymmärtäväisiä kasvattajia. Lapset ei välttämättä jaksa lukea fiksuista aikuisista, haiskahtaa varmaan liikaa piilokasvatukselta.
No en tiedä. Sarja ei ole huono ja aion kaikesta huolimatta jatkaa sen tuputtamista.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Marla Frazee's illustrations. Having read only book 1 in this series, and then jumping in here at book 6, I didn't feel like I'd missed anything important, although I wonder if that's really true.

Perhaps what makes Clementine special is her ability and willingness to empathize with her friends. She automatically considers how a decision or event will effect another person, and often she decides to do something proactive based on her guesses. It turns out well for her, and her friends and family, and there is something wonderful in observing this unfold - but I think it will mostly be noticed by people who already do this kind of thing, whereas others will be too bored by the lack of action to take the time to absorb the message. Which is fine; everyone seems equally welcome on this bus-ride.

[Kaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite Clementine book, and I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it is because there was less internal thinking from Clementine, perhaps because she didn't have much in the way of heartfelt interactions that are her trademark, or maybe it was because it just wasn't as humorous as the others. It was okay, but it wasn't up to snuff.

[Stacey Mulholland · Rating 4 out of 5]

chapter 7 is field trip to Plymouth Plantation

[Tania · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clementine is excited for her class trip to Plimoth Plantation, until she learns that she'll be split up from her best friend Margaret and paired off with new girl Olive instead. Still, the trip must go on, and Clementine boards Bus #7, the stinky bus, with dread alongside the other 3rd and 4th graders. Can Clementine survive the field trip without making chewing noises? Can Margaret survive the field trip with all the dirt and grime an "olden days" exhibit comes with? Does Bus #7 ever stop stinking? The answers to these questions and more await in the delightful Clementine and the Spring Trip.

Clementine is a precocious young artist, big sister, and 3rd grader. She uses her drawings to cheer up her family and friends, asks her parents important life questions, helps her germophobe friend with all the "dirtier" tasks of life, and is helping to build a table for her growing family (her mother is pregnant). She's quite charming and resourceful. This story focuses on rules - the following and the breaking of them - and their consequences. Clementine is forced to face the reality of rules, who makes them, and why they exist, and her parents and teachers help guide her through the landmine of which rules are "real" and which are simply invented to cower others into submission. It's an interesting lesson and subtly woven into the text.

Clementine and the Spring Trip is well-written, with cute characters and life lessons that teach but don't preach. Love the illustrations and the quick pace of the story.

[Victoria Ouellette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clementine and the Spring Trip by Sara Pennypacker is the sixth book in the Clementine series. In this installment, she faces the dreaded Bus Seven; also known as “The Cloud”. She also faces the dreaded fourth graders as they go on a combined field trip to Plymouth Plantation and stands up to their rules. Finally, with the help of her new friend Olive, Clementine decides that she is going to be a vegetarian. This book starts in the middle of the action and ends without tying up all of the loose ends. I did not realize this when I chose to read it but it’s important for a student to read them in order so that they can see how Clementine and her family grows and changes. Marla Frazee illustrated this novel and there are pictures throughout the text that add to the reader’s visualization of what Clementine is seeing and doing. All of the images appear to be hand drawn and add to the text in an essential way for a young reader to phase out from picture books into novels. I would recommend this series to a third grader since that is the age that Clementine is in during the books. I think it is a very relatable text for an elementary school child as it includes real problems that occur at that age.

[Courtney Umlauf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here Clementine faces new challenges: bossy fourth graders who create difficult rules that must be followed if she's to survive a field trip, helping her friend Margaret deal with the prospect of soon being in fifth grade, and a new kid in class who also has a food for a name and seems to be the center of attention.

This was another sweet story with plenty of character development and learning that still features realistic and engaging relationship dynamics. I'll be sad to see the end of this series, but I also don't want to see the one-of-a-kind Clementine stuck in a perpetual third grade world. I appreciate an author who doesn't endlessly churn out more in a cookie-cutter series just because the series is popular. I could be wrong, but it feels like the next book will really be the final in the series, and if it is I'll be fine with that.


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[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites so far! The book started with what I thought was a fairly weak plot point -- a field trip where the fourth graders have crazy rules about not eating too loud, but then in the end Pennypacker somehow tied together all sorts of things throughout the book in such a clever and thoughtful way. She made a book that taught about why the Pilgrims would come to America in a relateable way for kids. I'm very impressed. It's so satisfying to see things you thought didn't matter come together in unexpected and yet perfect ways.

All of this is happening while large story arcs are still going on (her mom is still pregnant, she's working on the table with her dad, etc) and I just love it all. It's quality literature for kids that I'm enjoying reading just as much as Megan. It's too bad there's only one more book after this!

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clementine books never let me down. The cast of her life are always so joyous.

In this book the third and fourth graders are going on a field trip. The fourth graders have a rule about no eating sounds. This sends Clementine in a tizzy.

Also at the same time a new student comes whose name is Olive. Clementine is happy about another food name for a hot second until Olive shows the kids her Olive language and Clementine feels left out.

The continuing story of Clementine's family growing by one more continues as Clementine and her father build Pentagon table in secret.

I really love little Clementine. I really wish she had about twelve more adventures. But the great part about a book is that you can always reread it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

For Clementine, Spring is a really big deal.

Spring is for seeing her apple tree start to grow, for watching her friend Margaret go crazy with cleaning, and for going on the school trips, like this year's trip to Plimoth Plantation. Clementine is ready for Ye Olden Times, but she isn't so sure about surviving lunch there-the fourth graders have strict rules about no eating sounds. If that wasn't enough, Clementine also faces the challenges of learning Olive-language and surviving The Cloud on Bus 7.

Hearing the pilgrim lady talk about why she made the long journey from England makes Clementine think about rules. Who makes them, and what do they mean to the people who have to live with them? Today Clementine has to decide which rules are made to be broken.

[Angela Carrano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another delightful entry into Clementine’s world! I think what Pennypacker does best is when clementine is at her most flawed, watching her become extremely jealous of the new kid because now she feels less special feels very genuine from a nine year old. I also have grown very fond of her temperamental bestie Margaret. I wish Pennypacker had this poor girl see a doctor and understand she most likely has OCD, but that might be too real for a children’s novel. I found out today the story of this school continues in the fourth grade with Waylon- Clementine’s science partner who believes he has superpowers. I glanced at it and it seems to be written at a more advanced level for fourth graders- it’s clear Pennypacker has a great understanding of reading levels.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because of:

the screenshots about Olive language and principal life I want to take and send to friends/family!

the truth about upper grade rule-making/following; I remember feeling this way.

the last lines: "I don't know, Clementine. It's a lot to think about...but it doesn't matter. What matters is that you really believe this. And tonight, that makes you the captain of this family's team." What a great way to response to a impassioned love one.

the way I found this book--sitting in my sister's bookcase just waiting to be taken home with me.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clementine never fails me. Maybe it's Margaret's fear of germs, maybe it's her little brother, String Bean, Cauliflower, or whatever name she's chosen to call him, or maybe it's her parents who are very interesting given the lack of that in most "book" parents. Whatever it is, Sara Pennypacker, you've done it again. I'm looking forward to reading Waylon to see if he's going to have interesting parents and a friend as irritating as Margaret!

[AMY · Rating 5 out of 5]

150 pages. Another great story of Clementine when she takes care of the new girl in class Olive. While on a field trip to Plymouth she learns how one can break the rules without getting into too much trouble. Lots of humor and realistic school situations kids will easily relate to and enjoy reading. I think girls will like it better than boys. Highly recommended for Grades 3-5.

[Karla Twiggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought Rylee and Adi the entire series of Clementine books for Christmas. Before I could give them #6&7, I had to read them. In this one, Clementine is ready for the school trip to Plimoth Plantation, but is worried about having lunch there, learning Olive-language, and surviving The Cloud on Bus 7.

[Audiobook Accomplice (Gillian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, kinda pricey for such a little book - but your kids (And you!) will love it!
My Full Review

[Janet Hamm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, fun read - like Junie B Jones in 3rd grade, with better grammar. Clementine is a fun character with some unconventional insights along with some usual third grade troubles. I won't look for more of these for myself, but I would recommend them for younger readers.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never get tired of Clementine!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clementine is charming and likable; so are her parents. I could do without the drama with the best friends' divorced parents' girlfriends and boyfriends.