Sonderbooks     Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

More Info from Amazon.com

Rate this Book


Sonderbooks 50
    Previous Book
    Next Book

Nonfiction
Fiction
Young Adult Fiction
Children's Nonfiction
Children's Fiction
    Contemporary
        Previous Book
        Next Book

Picture Books

2002 Stand-outs
Five-Star Books
Four-Star Books

    Previous Book
    Next Book

Old Favorites
Back Issues
List of Reviews by Title
List of Reviews by Author

Links For Book Lovers

About Me
Contact Me
Subscribe
Post on Bulletin Board

I don't review books I don't like!

*****= An all-time favorite
****  = Outstanding
***    = Above average
**      = Enjoyable
*        = Good, with reservations

cover

****A Week in the Woods

by Andrew Clements

March 29, 2003.
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, New York, 2002.  190 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JF CLE)

Andrew Clements is the author of the wonderful book Frindle, as well as The School Story, which I’ve reviewed in Sonderbooks.

A Week in the Woods, like Frindle, is the story of an ordinary boy who is challenged by a teacher and turns out to be someone extraordinary.

When Mark Chelmsley has to move to New Hampshire in the middle of fifth grade, he doesn’t expect to like it.  His parents are rich, and he’s already been accepted to Runyon Academy, so he figures he just has to tolerate a few months at Hardy Elementary school.  When he hears about the Week in the Woods program taking the whole fifth grade camping for a week in April, he’s not even sure he wants to go.

Mark doesn’t expect to be captivated by the snowy New Hampshire landscape, but he is.  He learns things about being outdoors on his own, things that will come in handy on that week in the woods.

This is a relatively simple story, but a captivating one.  Andrew Clements takes the tried-and-true story of being the new kid and puts in some intriguing twists.

Review of other books by Andrew Clements:
Jake Drake:  Teacher's Pet
The School Story
The Report Card

 

Copyright © 2003 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.

-top of page-