Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting - Softcover

Child, Lauren

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0763647977 ISBN 13: 9780763647971

Publisher: Candlewick, 2010

Synopsis

Lauren Child’s spunky character returns and — as if things could get any livelier in Clarice Bean’s household —Uncle Ted is babysitting!

Who can Mom and Dad get to babysit the feisty Clarice, her pesky brother Minal Cricket, and the school’s guinea pig, Albert, who’s visiting for spring break? (Not to mention teenage brother Kurt, who abhors daylight; big sis Marcie, who chats on the phone all day; and Grandad, who tends to wander off.) Only Uncle Ted, firefighter and movie addict, can be persuaded. Will he survive the week?

About this title

Review:

When, for some strange reason, Clarice Bean's parents can't find anyone to babysit for a few days, they must resort to Uncle Ted, a firefighter ("so he wears special pants") who occasionally lassoes lamps and "can get you in a firefighter's carry before you can say 'Uncle Ted put me down!'" All goes well for a day or two, as Clarice Bean's daylight-despising older brother, phone-chatting big sister, accident-prone younger brother, and wandering Grandad, manage to say things like "please and thank you and sorry... and let people share their stuff without grumbling." But then her little brother Minal Cricket lets Albert (the school guinea pig on spring break) out of his hutch, and the fragile family balancing act topples. In no time, Minal is on his way to the emergency room, after an accidental bop on the head with a soccer ball, Grandad has wandered into the neighbor's house to watch the horse races, and the entire fire department shows up in time for Clarice Bean's mom's return.

It's no wonder Clarice Bean and her cool uncle get along "like a house on fire (ha ha)." Quirky and feisty, these two have a way with calamity that readers won't soon forget. Nor will they forget Lauren Child's unusual and tremendously appealing cut-paper and photographic collages. Her text wends its way around the illustrations, spiraling if need be, and growing or shrinking as appropriate. Fans of Lauren Child's Clarice Bean, That's Me will do backflips of joy to see a new title about this precocious girl and her very nutty family. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter

About the Author:

Lauren Child attended art school and did "lots of other things" before writing CLARICE BEAN, THAT'S ME. She designed ceramics for children, worked as an artist's assistant, and created lampshades for her own company. About the inspiration for this book—her first for Candlewick Press—she says, "I grew up with an older sister who read a lot and a younger sister who I had to share a room with whenever we had visitors (which was a lot, and my sister was very untidy, and guess who had to clean up the mess.)"

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0763647977
• ISBN 13: 9780763647971
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Child Lauren