The intrepid heroine of three previous picture books makes her debut in full-length fiction. This time Clarice is having trouble with her obstreperous family, an irritating teacher, and a best friend who suddenly disappears. She draws solace from reading about girl-detective Ruby Redfort, who leads what Clarice considers a perfect life and inspires Clarice to use her own investigative skills to make some sense of her family, help out a classmate wrongly accused of stealing, and repair a misunderstanding with best friend Betty Moody. A funny, appealing individual who owns up to her shortcomings and tries her best, even if she doesn't always succeed, Clarice is an exceptionally strong character, and her story, delivered in deadpan, forthright prose, perfectly captures a child's voice in a way that will elicit laughter even from the grumpy. The frequent black line illustrations (some worked into the text) and the experimentation with word size and placement on the page are great carryovers from the picture books. A perfect choice for reading aloud or for newly independent chapter-book readers, this will utterly captivate a wide audience.

Clarice Bean's idiosyncratic takes on her mean teacher, her at-wit's-end parents, and her best friends combine for an entertaining, lighthearted read: in this chapter book, Clarice's book report topic (and mystery-solving inspiration) is girl secret agent Ruby Redfort. Clarice's voice of faux-naïf preciosity is grating at times, but scribbly cartoon illustrations and a wavy, bumpy typeface further the playful tone.

The flibbertigibbet, middle-child star of three picture books jumps to a more extended format without losing her exuberance, short attention span, or stream-of-consciousness style of narration. So wrapped up is Clarice in gobbling down mysteries featuring a Nancy Drew-like sleuth, that she can't think of any other books to use in a class project that's supposed to highlight reading's educational benefits. Then, not only does her partner and best friend Betty Moody disappear on a sudden family trip, leaving her saddled with class troublemaker Karl Wrenbury, but the trophy cup that was earmarked for the winning project disappears. Despite a lack of evidence, humorless teacher Mrs. Wilbarton blames Karl, thus leaving Clarice partnerless again. Meanwhile, there are mysteries on the domestic front. Using extra punctuation and changes in type and line shape for emphasis, Child not only gives Clarice a distinctive preteen voice, but captures the chaos around her with plenty of sketchy, interspersed ink drawings and collages. Not that it wins the trophy, but this middle-class Eloise turns out to be a good loser, and she will certainly win over plenty of readers. (Fiction. 9-11)

According to <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW, "Fans of Child's irrepressible, impulsive picture-book heroine—as well as kids who have not yet made her acquaintance—will devour her first chapter-book adventure." Ages 8-11. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(May)

Gr 1-5-Fans of this irrepressible picture-book character will appreciate this expanded episode for chapter-book readers. Clarice and her best friend are collaborating on a project for school, showing what they have learned from a series of books about their favorite girl detective. When Betty fails to return to school, their teacher pairs Clarice with the worst boy in the class. As they work together on the assignment, she realizes that Karl has really good ideas and isn't such a bad guy. When Betty comes back (from having been whisked off to Russia with her parents), she feels left out. But then Karl is accused of stealing a trophy cup, Clarice turns detective, and the girls patch up their friendship. These amusing characters speak in a delightful, childlike language. Many passages are done in type that playfully swoops over the pages, as when the protagonist is describing a swimming and diving experience. Stylized, mixed-media illustrations appear throughout. For those who can't get enough of Junie B. Jones, Clarice Bean is an utterly entertaining alternative.-JoAnn Jonas, Chula Vista Public Library, San Diego, CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.