Amelia's Notebook

Amelia's Notebooks #1

by Marissa Moss (Illustrator)

When Amelia’s mom gives her a journal for her birthday, she finally has a place to share her truest feelings at last!

Nine-year-old Amelia’s mother gives her a blank notebook to write down her thoughts and tells her it will make her feel better. Why would a dumb notebook make me feel better, Amelia thinks. The only thing that will make Amelia feel better is going back to old house, her old school, and her old friends. Amelia does not—do you hear this!—want to move. But no one is listening to Amelia.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Picture Books, Humor

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Marissa Moss has written more than seventy books, from picture books to middle-grade and young adult novels. Best known for the Amelia's Notebook series, her books are popular with teachers and children alike. Her picture book Barbed Wire Baseball won the California Book Award gold medal. Moss is also the founder of Creston Books, an independent children's publishing house.

Reviews

[Beckie Coldiron · Rating 5 out of 5]

" Amelia's Notebook" was definitely one of my absolute favorite books in fourth grade! Marissa Moss does an excellent job creating a book that reads just like your reading out of someone's journal. Besides the fun text she incorporates, she also includes hilarious pictures which help make the book even better. I will definitely implement this in my classroom library because it definitely encouraged me to use creativity in my writing, and I'm sure it'll encourage other children. I also would love to use this book as a writing activity, where my students write a journal about them. Therefore, they are able to implement several awesome writing prompts! I would recommend this book for children in third through fifth grade.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a longtime fan of Disney Channel productions, this seemed right up my alley. It was a bit short and light on plot, but the illustrations were amusing, as well as the fun the protagonist had with the inside front and back covers of the notebook. Those who prefer more mature literature won't enjoy this, but, for kids at heart like me, this was fun.

[Stephanie Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

***Spoiler Alert*** Have you ever had to move to a new school and move from your best friend? The genre of my book is historical fiction. I think it was a good book I think it was a funny overall I enjoyed the book. Also, Amelia has a big imagination and to me thats what makes the story intersting.


The setting of my story is school and I know this because Amelia talks about her teachers and students. Amelia moves to a new school and she has no friends. She really misses her best friend Nadia but she learns that she can make new friends and it's okay. Nadia will always be her bestfriend, but she is so far away and she want a clse by friend. The conflict type of my story is person vs. self because Amelia is making this hard on her self I know it is hard to be the new kid and move away from your best friend, but can always make new friends. She acts like she will never make a new friend and some pepole are shy I understand, but at the same time making friend is not easy. If you wants friends you have to talk to people. A example is that it was Nadia's birthday and she called Amelia to tell her about her birthday party and how it was fun. Amelia started to cry. I think the theme of the story is friendship because Amelia learns a lesson that even though she has one friend she can have more than one and thats okay. She moved away from her best friend and she want a clse by friend that she can talk to.

The title relates to the book because Amelia always writes down what she feels in her notebookand the notebook helps her thoughts and it could help since she just moved. A majior event that changed the charcter is when she met Leah because Leah and Amelia share the same interest like drawing it changed her because she realizied that she can have more friends. The point of view in my book is first person because Amelia is telling the story from her perspective and she feels she wrtes it in her notebook and she uses words like we,me,I. The setting adds to the conflict because the setting is school and the problem is that she has no friends and they work together to help the story be more intersting. The passage " I made good pictures at Leahs house that shows me that she likes to draw. You have to be creative in order to draw and being creative means you can solve problems in a different way.

I was moved when Leah and Amelia became frends because now Amelia has a friend to play with and now she can be happy. If I were the author i would have added more information about Nadia Amelia's best friend that way we can relate to Amelia feels when she mpves away from her best friend. My favorite part was when Leah and Amelia went to Space World for her birthday and then she can tell Nadia how much fun she had on her birthday. Amelia Notebook is a good title for the book because in a notebook/jorunal it usually private so you never know what is going to happen in the book. The characters Amelia and Cleo are similar because they both just moved and just moved to a new school and have to make new friends. Cleo is Amelia's sister.

I would rate this 4 out of 5 stars because it was really good but it have added a few more details about the main chacter but i guess thats what the author wants us to do is to get to understand the chacrter by our selves. I would recommend this book to peole that like to draw and like funny books. What would you do if you had to move to a new school and make new friends?

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

2019 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge: A book that makes you nostalgic

[Holly Hardwick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never been much of a fan of graphic novels because I think the plot suffers in an effort to make illustrations the focus, and Amelia's Notebook by Marissa Moss is no exception. The novel is a choppy narrative of Amelia missing her friend and how much her sister annoys her. There is a slapped together resolution at the end where Amelia talks about becoming friends with Leah, which feels very rushed. I did not enjoy this story very much at all.
The aspect of this book that I did appreciate were the illustrations. I enjoyed how they looked like authentic drawings that an elementary aged girl would have in her notebooks. I also enjoyed how the picture would add more details to the sparse facts given in the book, which made it bearable to read.
This is a very easy book that was quick to read. I wouldn't use this book to teach anything or in whole class activities, but I would stock it in my classroom library for girls in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades that might be performing at a lower reading level. I would also recommend it for students that might have recently moved and are having a difficult time with it in hopes that Amelia finding a new friend would give them hope that they will make new friends too.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I want to read things I loved as a kid ok?!

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Amelia's Notebooks series by Marissa Moss. At the end of the school year in June, our oldest discovered one of the books in the series, Oh Boy, Amelia!, at a book giveaway at her school. She loved that book and I was surprised to see that there's a whole series of these journals and they're available at our local library. So we started at the beginning of the series with this book.

The narrative is a journal-like tale written by a middle-grade girl who is moving to a new house with her family. The pages are filled with illustrations, many of them are small doodles that would be totally appropriate for a girl's journal. Our oldest really liked this book and I'm sure she'll want to read the whole series.

I thought it was a very quick, entertaining read and I think it helps to capture a girl's thoughts and feelings at that age, especially when dealing with a new house, new school, etc.

[Kaitlyn Stanfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia's Notebook is written in a little girl's perspective of moving to a new house, a new city, and a new state. She is writing in a Notebook that her mother gave her to write down all of her thoughts to make her feel better about moving away from her home. In the Notebook, she draws pictures, talks about her sister Cleo, and her best friend Nadia. The Notebook has a purpose, it encourages students to imagine and to be creative with writing.
I think this book is more for the 3rd-5th grade level because of the disorganization in the Notebook because of the "diary" type entries. The pictures are illustrated as a young child with artistic talent but yet, still as a child. They also have describing sentences with each picture. I love the way the book is creative, colorful, and is written in her perspective, just like a student would write in a diary or notebook.
This book also gives me ideas to do with my students to help with their writing skills, it would be a great year long project, especially to know that Amelia's Notebook continues in a series with several grades.

[Sandy Sopko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is incredibly special to our family. When Madeline and Michael were very young, we read this book. It was the inspiration for a family tradition that continues, twenty years later. I bought Madeline a composition book and she recorded our family vacations. Later Michael contributed, especially with drawings and cartoons. The notebook filled; a second one was started. We began gluing or taping in brochures, tickets, etc. The tradition of the vacation log reading began next -- before setting out on a new adventure, we'd review previous trips. Sadly, children grow up -- sometimes to report their adventures in study and work abroad in online blogs that can be easily accessed by the voyeuristic loved ones left behind -- and move on to their own adventures with their own partners, so now I am the keeper of the family vacation journals. Yes, I still record trips made with my husband and, if we are supremely lucky to have all of our schedules work out, our children and their loved ones! Marissa Moss, words cannot describe the joy you brought our family with your story!

[Alyssa Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

After moving to a new town, nine year old Amelia gets a new journal as a gift from her mother. In her new journal, Amelia writes everything that happens to her and how she's feeling. She also uses the journal for doodling and a scrapbook. She even writes about her older sister Cleo, who "picks her nose with her little finger". The pages are colorful and mimic the format of the old black and white notebook that everyone has used at some point. The children friendly drawings and lots of handwritten text fill up the book, with language and style of art making the book very friendly for elementary students. The playful language would interest young readers because of Amelia's use of conversational words like "BUG OFF", it would definitely get some laughs.This graphic novel will help students that might be having a difficult time starting their own journal to dive into it and realize that it can be fun! It would be a fun way to model a journal for the students. The cover art is fun and is a very important part of sparking interest in readers, and this cover art does it effectively.

[JJ W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Both back when I was a kid and now, I really admire the creativity and originality of this book. It's a 9-year-old's view of the world through a composition notebook, and it's pretty dead-on, from what I can remember. I loved it when I was a kid because I was really jealous that Amelia could draw things that actually looked like what they were representing, and that the editorial team for the book kept the page structure of real comp notebooks, with the measurements table and class list. Really, I'm way more impressed with layout than story, but the story is quaintly nice, too. A great gift for any kid who's recently moved and is feeling a little lost--funny to be reading this while unpacking from my third move in six months.

[Jessica Furtado]

Amelia’s Notebooks was one of my favorite series when I was about 8 years old. I can vividly remember beginning to add more doodles and side notes in my own journals after being inspired by the Amelia books. It’s been fun revisiting this series as an adult, and I would love to see what my 7-11 year old nieces think of Amelia.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

MY CHILDHOOD! I used to be obsessed with these books - I read every single one of them.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had read these when I was younger, so great!

[Rayann Remick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I was a little girl, I was a nerd for Archie's Comics. Unfortunately as I got older, the expectations for the books read in class got higher, and Archie was kicked to the curve. But then, I discovered graphic novels! Graphic novels have always been appealing to me, naturally because of their fantasizing pictures, and easy to read stories. You can imagine how excited I was when I saw what our genre of the week was in my literature class. I found Amelia's Notebook on Amazon and instantly the intended doodles had me intrigued. I knew right away that this was a book that middle school me would've called, "to die for". The format of graphic novels isn't for everyone, but Amelia's Notebook makes it so much easier to be introduced too. All of the images correlate with the text and even adds tons of humor. The "doodles" are not at all overwhelming as they are simple and subtle. I love reading both nonfiction and fiction, and graphic novels can be used for both. Amelia's Notebook captivated the theme of school and life through the eyes of a young girl. It captivated all of the elements of a fiction book.

[Lexi Radlove · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia's notebook Is about a young girl and the story shares how she feels about leaving her old house and bedroom- because of her family moving, stories of her and her best friend, how she fights with her older sister cleo. When she is packing up her toys and clothes as she says goodbye to the shadows on the walls she envisions them as creatures. Later in her story she sees clouds and here also She sees the shapes as animals and this shows you continuously, how creative she is. She struggles settling into her new school and maintaining her friendship with nadia is hard with the distance between them. Once she begins to settle in she regains her confidence again once she begins to make a new friend. This book is written in the style of a journal. One of the first things i took note of was how the pages look like loose leaf paper, like a real composition book. The small drawings are accurate of how a diary would look of a young girl. With this being written in this way, you get her real raw emotions and reactions to her life as she is experiencing things. I also liked how the book can be read as more of a conversation between friends in a more casual way.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have seen these books at the library for my whole life, but I never read any of them until this week. I never gave much thought to them, but I probably assumed that they were shallow and rude, as many diary-focused series are. This week, however, I found an old scan of an illustration that I did for a story I wrote in eighth grade, and when I sent it to friends, one realized that being friends with me had fulfilled her childhood dream of being friends with Amelia from this series.

I was absolutely delighted, and of course had to read the books. I can confirm that Amelia is very, very me. This book is so light on plot that I'm only giving it three stars, but it's a cute story, and I related to it all throughout. The journal writing, drawings, and side commentary about the drawings all seemed like stuff I did when I was the target age for this book, and it was really fun.

[Marlee Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Nadia is the main character in the book, who has to face the hardship of moving away from her home and best friend. She spent many weeks upset, but then she realizes she is able to make new friends at her new home, while remaining in friendships with her old friends.

Evaluation: Amelia’s Notebook is a graphic novel, which journals the life of Amelia and the different things she experiences as she goes through this transition time.

Teaching Idea: I would use Amelia’s Notebook in a writing lesson, as a form of writing we are able to use, but I would also use it for a comparison and contrasting lesson on how different characters within the text feel about the same situation.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amelia's Notebook was the first book from my childhood that I recently reread. I used to love these books! This and the "California Diaries" are what got me into keeping a diary lol. I digress. The story was better than I remember. Amelia's character speaks a bit more "mature" than one expects from a 2nd grader but I love the details on the pages (including the mistakes). I also like how majority of the story is about Amelia's (slightly) complex emotions about moving and her bff. If I had a kid, I would totally recommend this to them.

Side-note: Is it the gay in me or did anyone else pick up on a queer undertone lol? Also, the hardcover version sucks compared to the paperback. Why? Because it looks too much like a "book" book vs. a journal. Stick to the paperback for realism.

[Jody Timmins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because it has been abandoned by students in my library, and I’m trying to figure out whether to book talk it to the many kids who love Dork Dairies, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and all the other notebook novels. In general, the story doesn’t feel too dated (the long-distance phone rules won’t make sense to kids now, but that’s one of the few moments that felt odd) and the many marginal illustrations are clever and fun. I’m definitely going to try to hand-well this to kids after the winter break, but I just don’t know. Amelia is younger than all the other notebook novel protagonists, so its likely audience is second grade — and the layout may be challenging for many of them. We shall see.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these books when I was younger so I decided to go back and read them all over again from the very beginning and read the ones I didn’t get to read at the end of the series. They are all amazing and I want to thank Marissa Moss so much for the hours of entertainment back when I was younger and now in coronavirus!
Luckily, by looking up the whole Amelia series, I found out about her other little series with Daphne and Max along with the historical journals. I am currently reading them now and have also read the graphic memoir, Last Things, which was really eye opening for me. I recommend it highly as well.

[Danielle Andino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grade level(s): 2-5
Summary: Amelia's mother gives her a journal on her 9th birthday. Amelia shared her feelings and shares events in her life through script and pictures.
Review: I remember reading this book growing up and loving it. It made me want to have my own journal and write. I love that this is just one of an awesome series show children that it's okay to express feelings and you don't always have to write in a formatted way!
Uses: Independent reading, can also be used in a lesson to show expressive writing is not always uniform!

[michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't believe there are 29 books in this series! I think I only got up to the 4th book as I think I was reading them as they were coming out (??). I loved how fun these books (or should I say notebooks?) were to read. Opening them up it felt like you were reading someone's journal. Lined paper, handwritten font, illustrations, objects that were taped to the pages (drawn to look like such with tape and shadows), all came together to really create the feel of a real journal. And Amelia was such a fun narrator. I'd definitely recommend this series!

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a random memory of this book a couple days ago and luckily it was on my library’s mobile app so I could satiate my curiosity. All the things I loved as a kid I still loved (the contrast between Amelia’s drawings and the drawings that are supposed to be real things she’s taping in her notebook is so cool) and it remains a sweet story. So short though! I guess because a full color art and letters book is expensive and time consuming to make, but I felt like I was just getting started.

[Becca G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series a lot as an 8-10 year old and recently reread it to see how it holds up. While obviously for a younger audience, I still found Amelia charming and the format clever. Personally, I prefer this series over the Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Definitely recommend to elementary readers, especial those who may be wary of reading.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hasn't everyone succumbed to peeking into someone else's diary at one point or another? Feeding into the journaling aspirational planner craze, Moss's young heroine Amelia busily fills her first notebook with sketches, thoughts, ideas and funny little side doodles. A pleasure to peek here, and no guilt!

[J.A. Giaquinto · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I normally don't read children's books, but this one was one I remember loving as a kid, and it is interesting. The way it's chaotically written is like something I would have written when I was 9. I just wish it was a tab bit longer, but then again, it's a kid's book in the style of a "notebook."

[M.L. Tarpley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this when it came out in the 1990s when I was a kid and I loved reading it in 2021.

A fun and snarky personal account of nine-year-old Amelia's life and her struggles with moving to a new state and school and leaving her best friend and all she knew behind. Love all the doodles and quirky layout of the notebook.

[Ana-Claudia Magana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to revisit an old childhood favorite! Somehow it’s more substantial to me as an adult, because of how universal the theme of moving away and adjusting to a new environment is. I hope this book is still read by children in an age where books compete with the Internet...because nothing in the world compares to an old-fashioned notebook and pen.

[Beth Hodge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved these books I'm elementary school. I think they may have sparked my love of journaling and sending postcards! I had a computer game based off these books where you could keep an electronic journal and decorate it like the books. It was awesome :)