Product Description

Clarice Bean needs a science project or she's in BIG trouble. Her brother Kurt just wants to save the planet. And now they're both up a tree.

"Sometimes I think gravity is a pity," says Clarice Bean, who is learning all about planet Earth in school. When Mrs. Wilberton assigns a project called The Environment, Clarice’s ever-active brain leaps to the holes in the sky caused by her sister’s hairspray, and to the nature safari that’s in her brother’s bedroom. But when she learns that a big tree right on Navarino Street is about to be chopped to pieces, Clarice has no choice but to join her quirky family up in the tree’s branches, eat spaghetti, and save the day.

In a welcome new installment in the Clarice Bean escapades, Lauren Child makes a clear case for ecoaction - and gives the cause of saving the planet a hilarious new spin.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265373 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-18
• Released on: 2002-02-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Amazon.com
While learning about the environment and planet Earth ("Sometimes I think gravity is a pity") Clarice Bean winds up with Robert Granger ("I mainly like to ignore him"), as her class partner. Robert wants to do a project on who walks faster, a snail or a worm, but Clarice Bean finds this topic exceedingly boring. Besides, there's something a lot more interesting going on at home. Brother Kurt has become an ecowarrior, which involves sitting in a doomed-to-be-felled tree, waving signs that say "Free the Tree ("because it rhymes"), and sometimes perching together with the whole family, eating spaghetti marinara.

Award-winning author-illustrator Lauren Child's by-now familiar, zany style (Clarice Bean, That's Me, Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting?) features collage illustrations with scribbly drawings and real photos, and fonts gone mad: big, little, upside-down, spiraling, sideways... whatever the text calls for, no holds barred. This Eloise of the 21st century is as weirdly appealing as any eccentric child you're likely to come across, reading comic books "with the T-shirts and undies in the laundry room." (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly
The star of Clarice Bean, That's Me and Clarice Bean, Guess Who's Babysitting? returns for a third adventure, What Planet Are You From, Clarice Bean? by Lauren Child. When she learns a neighborhood tree is about to be chopped down, the heroine's environmental assignment takes on new meaning as she joins her entire family for a spaghetti-eating sit-in amongst its branches. The mixed-media and collage illustrations heighten the hilarity.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Grades 1-5--Clarice Bean is back with a unique slant on gravity, relationships, and the environment. When the feisty girl (who thinks gravity is a pity) needs to come up with a science project for Mrs. Wilberton's class, she inadvertently becomes an ecowarrior, thanks to her adolescent brother. Kurt, as Clarice explains it, is too depressed to even chew his food when he learns that a neighborhood tree is to be chopped down. Novice protesters, he and a friend camp out beneath it. Clarice, her little brother Minal, and her friend Noah (who can draw anything except camels and horses) provide posters and join the older boys, attracting the local media. In the end, even stoic Mrs. Wilberton can't resist a slight smile when she hears of Clarice's involvement in the protest. Once again, Child hits the mark with her swirling, multi-font text and quirky, colorful illustrations that mirror her protagonist's astute observations. Each page is artfully designed with a mix of pencil-and-ink drawings and photo-collage. Clarice has a voice that children will identify with and delight in, making this a must for most collections.
Carol L. MacKay, Camrose Public Library, Alberta, Canada
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A FUN WAY TO MAKE A POINT!
Clarice Bean, the irrepressible little charmer created by Lauren Child, is seeing green. Green as in ecology, that is.

School is getting interesting for Clarice as she's learning about our planet Earth. Gravity is an amazing force to her, as is the fact that the sea doesn't spill over at its edges. Nonetheless, her class is assigned a project called The Environment. She's pleased because to her that is simply nature, and she knows a lot about that as there is plenty of it in her backyard.

Being paired with Robert Granger, the pest who lives next door, is enough but when Clarice learns a tree on her street is about to be cut down, well, things get really rugged. Brother Kurt decides to try to save the tree by camping in it, and others sport "Free the tree" signs.

Just imagine what Clarice comes up with in order to save the tree. Once again, Lauren Child comes up with a fun way to make an important point.

...

Clarice Bean is Back and Better than Ever.....
Poor Clarice Bean, just a bit late to school, and now her teacher, Mrs Wilberton, has paired her with that awful Robert Granger for a project on the environment. Boring Robert wants to see who can walk faster, a snail or a worm. Could things get any worse? Obviously, yes they can, as her teenage brother Kurt informs the family. The city's going to cut down a tree right on their street. An old hundred year old tree. Kurt is upset and too depressed to even eat, and decides to camp out under the tree to save it. Pretty soon, the whole extended family gets involved, making signs that say "Free The Tree", and spaghetti marinara dinner to eat while sitting in the tree, and becoming ecowarriors. When the local newpaper sends a photographer to take a picture of this ragtag protest, Clarice and Robert (of course Robert Granger got himself in the picture) find they have an even better environmental project in the works..... Nobody captures the irrepressible and feisty grade schooler like Lauren Child, and Clarice Bean's latest eco-adventure is sure to have readers laughing out loud. Her fast-paced, text is entertaining and engaging, true to life, and full of witty asides and observations. But it's Ms Child's marvelously creative and innovative illustrations that make this book stand out. Her busy and clever collage artwork, mixing colorful pen and ink drawings and photographs, with imaginative fonts of all shapes and sizes, traveling up, down, and all around, will have youngsters entranced and poring over the pages, finding something new and interesting every time they open the book. Perfect for readers 7-10, or younger for reading aloud, What Planet Are You From, Clarice Bean? is a charming and hilarious, manic romp you don't want to miss and the third installment of a terrific and delightful series.