Clarice Bean: think like an elf by Lauren Child
Clarice Bean always looks forward to Christmas Day, shared with a large group of friends and family but this year Clarice’s Mum and Dad think their family of 7 is enough as it takes 114 potatoes to feed 19 people - that’s a lot of potato peeling!
Channelling the Christmas spirit, by ‘thinking like an elf’, Clarice embarks on a series of Christmas activities with unending Christmas energy.
Clarice creates Christmas cards, cooks fudge as presents, buys something special for her best friend Betty Moody (a Ruby Redfort inspired gift) and helps the family by posting a parcel to her Granny in New York. In true Clarice fashion, not everything works out as planned and there are several catastrophes along the way.
Nearly every page has drawings and images that add to the delight of reading the novel. ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ is a theme that starts at the beginning of the book, with the musical score and lyrics and continues throughout the story. I must admit like Clarice, the song was very much going through my head as I was reading the story.
There are twelve days of Christmas and twelve chapters in the book and a clever reader will spot a number in each chapter’s opening illustrations.
This is such an enjoyable story and so much is happening with Clarice’s family and friends, Christmas preparation, the Christmas concert, the turkey and her brother’s obsession with foxes. The final chapter is delightful and celebrates the joy of family and friends and how things ‘just work out for the best in the end’.
Clarice Bean does ‘think like an elf’ and the reader will love her for it.
Highly recommended for readers aged 7-10 years old.
Watch book trailer #1 here. ‘We made 12 short films about Lauren Child’s new Clarice Bean book ’Think Like An Elf’. Each film covers a different aspect of Clarice’s Christmas, and also gives an insight to Lauren’s creative process when writing and illustrating the book. This is the first one.’ Harper Collins
Themes: Christmas, Elves.
Jane Moore
