*****= An all-time favorite
**** = Outstanding
*** = Above average
** = Enjoyable
*
= Good, with reservations
****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.
Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund