Horn Book (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2006)

These retitled and resized books feature hand-lettered narratives in Amelia's distinctive, unassuming voice, joined by her creative, colorful marginalia: sketches, asides, and representations of "taped in" objects. Funny and endearing.

ALA Booklist (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 1995)

Moss may have her name on the title page, but this is really Amelia's book. The feisty, make-believe nine-year-old takes on a life of her own as she writes and draws her feelings about moving, starting a new school, and making new friends (some antagonism toward her older sister, Cleo, who picks her nose with her little finger, sneaks in as well). A colorful riot of childlike drawings and lots of hand-printed text spill every which way across the pages. Both the language and the art style are on target for the age group--Amelia is droll and funny and not too sophisticated for her years; she's also poignant and real as she longs for her far-away friend and takes tentative steps to find one close by. (Reviewed Apr. 1, 1995)

Kirkus Reviews

Amelia is a bit smug and precocious, but then so are some of our favorite nine-year-olds. Her story is told in her own words, pictures, and handwriting in her own composition notebook (the design of the book supports this pretext). What she has to say is funny if unremarkable, but most importantly, she sounds like a real kid. Readers meet her as she moves to a new city, and follow her through her first days in a strange school with new friends. If this were an adult book, it would be labelled metafiction'' (or some other hip term that eventually meansexperimental''). Amelia scribbles notes in her margins about the writing process, revealing something interesting about creativity. Why not simply publish a real child's notebook? It's Moss's awareness of her material that allows her to thrust a narrative thread through the patchwork of doodles, postcards, memorabilia, and other icons of children's culture. The informality of the presentation may help demystify the writing process for others; Amelia's comments on the copyright page and elsewhere will certainly make them laugh. This is a carefully coordinated story that only seems like haphazard scribbling. (Picture book. 7+)"