Fat Chance, Claude!

by Joan Lowery Nixon, Tracey Campbell Pearson (Illustrations)

"In the frontier town of Hideyhole, feisty Shirley resists her parents' attempts to marry her off--especially since the only bachelor left is dull Elmer Twaddle."--Publishers Weekly. Full-color illustrations.

Genres: Picture Books

32 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 1987

About the author

Author of more than one hundred books, Joan Lowery Nixon is the only writer to have won four Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Juvenile Mysteries (and been nominated several other times) from the Mystery Writers of America. Creating contemporary teenage characters who have both a personal problem and a mystery to solve, Nixon captured the attention of legions of teenage readers since the publication of her first YA novel more than twenty years ago. In addition to mystery/suspense novels, she wrote nonfiction and fiction for children and middle graders, as well as several short stories. Nixon was the first person to write novels for teens about the orphan trains of the nineteenth century. She followed those with historical novels about Ellis Island and, more recently for younger readers, Colonial Williamsburg. Joan Lowery Nixon died on June 28, 2003—a great loss for all of us.

Reviews

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are several "Claude" books, and they are all delightful. My favorite line is "her hair bounced like hog fat on a griddle"... (it's been a few years, I could have that slightly wrong, but it's something like that). Each page has an armadillo & a cat to look for. Fun Texas style read.

[Christina Potter Bieloh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so fun. Davey loves reading about exploring the West, and this book was about traveling west to find gold in Colorado. Shirley and Claude were great. The descriptions and dialogue were great, and it was a lot of fun for us to read out loud.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so sweet! I loved the spunky Shirley and the grumpy (but softie) Claude!