You know what is weird? I first read Lauren Child's picture books about two years ago, and loved them. And I found out she had a series of novels out, and did nothing about it. Well finally I got it together and ordered a few of the Clarice Bean books in. And I scored some serious gift certificatage for my birthday last week so I picked up Clarice Bean Spells Trouble.

Not at all surprisingly, I loved it. Lauren Child cracks me up. Clarice Bean is one of those kids that is always getting into trouble. But its almost always not her fault. Really. Add to that, she is a horrendous speller ("I am not a good speller and ... it is not my fault if I don't know how many Z's there are in LOSER."), and has a tendency towards opening her mouth when she shouldn't.

Clarice and her best friend Betty spend much of their free time watching episodes of Ruby Redfort, girl detective, nagging their parents to buy Ruby merchandise, and checking out Ruby's website. Ruby Redfort is kind of like Nancy Drew, except cool.

Anyways, this particular book deals with Clarice Bean's dread of the upcoming spelling bee, her anticipation of the school play (the Sound of Music), and her friendship with Karl Wrenbury.

More than her illustrations (which I have always loved), Child's style of writing is quirky and funny. The kids in her books are not your average elementary students, and their voices are unique and wonderful. Note to self: read more Clarice Bean.

Clarice Bean Spells Trouble by Lauren Child
ISBN 0763629030
189 pages