I Barfed on Mrs. Kenly

July 1, 2010
In her third book, prone-to-motion-sickness Cleo is stuffed into the middle seat in a van traveling to a birthday party. When she realizes she doesn't have a barf bag, it's too late; super-nice Mrs. Kenly's fur coat gets the worst of it. The illustrated, very short chapters, Cleo's easy-to-relate-to emotions, and her good humor are just right for newly independent readers.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

March 1, 2010
This third book in the series contains another of Cleo's short, well-told stories. As readers learned in the previous book (Underpants on My Head, rev. 3/09), Cleo is prone to motion sickness, so her mom always keeps a barf bag handy. But when Cleo is stuffed into the middle seat of the middle row in a van traveling to a birthday party, she remembers too late that she has not come prepared -- and that she's eaten way too many pancakes for breakfast. The inevitable happens, and, to add insult to injury, Cleo is squashed up next to super-nice Mrs. Kenly, whose fur coat gets the worst of it. Harper's first-person text conveys Cleo's humiliation ("I wished I was dead. Well, not dead exactly, but unconscious or on top of the Eiffel Tower, far away") and then her relief when, at the swim club party, kind Mrs. Kenly encourages her to show off her fancy diving skills, which impress everyone, replacing Cleo's embarrassment with pride ("I noticed my smile was back to being real and everybody was acting like nothing ever happened"). When Cleo interjects a description of her breakfast earlier that day, chapter-book novices get an easy introduction to flashbacks, plus background information on her family of eight. The illustrated, very short chapters, Cleo's easy-to-relate-to emotions, and her good humor are just right for newly independent readers. _

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)