Genre- Fiction
Age- P
Despite it’s questionable message, I really liked this book. It was fun, it was funny, and it was definitely something I would have enjoyed as a kid. I thought it was very reminiscent of Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse in style and tone, which only added to my enjoyment. The story is about Chamelia who struggles to maintain her popularity when a new boy joins her class. As a result, she is mean to him, until her show and tell project beats his and she realizes that they can both be cool together. This is the questionable moral. Chamelia is jealous of Cooper, so she ignores him, then is openly rude when he gives a presentation, suddenly, Chemelia feels bad that she was mean. She doesn’t seem to learn much, and is easily forgiven by Cooper who becomes her friend. I thought maybe she should have had some consequences, but that’s really me nitpicking a bit. The artwork is what made this book for me. It followed the story, except it told more about Cooper than the text ever did. The way he looked in the pictures made it seem like he was just trying to get Chamelia’s attention, which is a nice touch, and something that could be discussed in class. The fact that it deals with a friendship between a girl and a boy is nice too, because that’s somewhat unusual in children’s books. This is a fun book for students to read alone or for a teacher to read aloud, even if it doesn’t fit neatly into a unit. There’s nothing wrong with adding a little dose of fun to your classroom routine! ( )

learning to NOT be the center of attention; kindness; great illustrations ( )

Oh dear. What do you do when you are a quirky kid (Chamelia) and a new kid arrives who is just as quirky (the new kid in class)? Oh dear. It’s trouble for Chamelia as she competes with the new kid to be the quirkiest, until she finally realizes that it can be fun to have a new friend who is just as quirky as you are. ( )