Thursday, April 23, 2020

Andrew Clements 1949-2019




I arrived home today to find the March/April (2020) edition of the Horn Book Magazine in my letter box. Browsing through the magazine I discovered the truly sad news that one of my favourite US Middle Grade authors died at the end of last year.

"He wrote about children with lively imaginations who liked to challenge the status quo as well as the teachers who helped nurture their creativity and guide them towards making a positive impact. He had enormous respect for his audience, and never let them down, as is evident in the long-lasting popularity of his books and his numerous children’s choice awards." Amy Berkower in Publisher’s Weekly

Andrew Clements was the author of over eighty books - what an amazing output. Here is his first book published under the name Andrew Elborn.



I put my favourite book by Andrew Clements at the top of this page - Extra Credit.  Here are some books by Andrew Clements which I have talked about on this blog:

8.5 Million copies sold, 15 languages





I was surprised to see I had not talked about this next set of books - all of which I also thoroughly enjoyed. I was an avid collector of Andrew's books and my former school library boasted a large collection of his books. I do appreciate the cover art which is by US illustrators Brian Selznick, and Mark Elliott.







Here are three very new books by Andrew Clements which I need to add to my to read list.





I want to expecially mention The Jacket which is a very short book (96 pages) by Andrew Clements with a very powerful story. I often recommended it for reluctant readers in my senior classes.



Here is a recent interview with Andrew Clements where he talks about the writing process. His school stories come in a set with very detailed teachers notes.


Here are some picture books which were in the collection of my former library.




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