Thursday, August 6, 2009

Keena Ford Melissa Thomspon

Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up by Melissa Thomson illus. by Frank Morrison
Keena and her best friend, Eric are getting reading for second grade. Before school starts they get the bad news that they won't be in the same class. Keena likes her new teacher Ms. Campbell a lot. Keena's class is asked to write their birthdays on a paper birthday cake. Instead of writing out the month and the date, Keena uses numbers and accidentally inverts the day and the month. Keena's birthday is in Feb 9 but Ms. Campbell thinks it's tomorrow, Sept 2. Keena is ready to correct her mistake but then Ms. Campbell, mentions birthday cake.
I really like Keena. She writes in her journal, using caps when necessary but not too much. Trouble seems to friends her but she always owns up to her mistakes and feels bad about it. One of the smaller characters that caught my attention was Mr. Lemon. According to Keena he teaches time out and she spends a lot of time with him. After being caught where she doesn't belong Keena is sent to Mr. Lemon. He listens to Keena. The two talk about what happened. Every kid needs a Mr. Lemon

"I showed my note to Mr. Lemon. Then I started to talk. Sometimes when I have to go to Mr. Lemon's class, all my thoughts come out."
Keena lives with her older brother Brian and mom in Washington D.C. Her dad lives in Maryland. The two visit their dad on the weekends. Keena loves to go to the coffee shop with her dad.

"Dad and I like to have grown-up talks at the coffe shop. Sometimes we talk about how it can be a little bit hard for me to live in two different places. Sometimes we talk about how I will try to stay out of trouble so my teacher stops calling my dad's cell phone and using up his daytime minutes"

This is a fun new series. Keena Ford is great. Ages 6up

Similar series
Gloria Rising by Ann Cameron

4 comments:

evelyn.n.alfred said...

Sounds like a cute book.

rhapsodyinbooks said...

This sounds very cute! Thanks for the review!

Doret said...

It is a very cute book.

Color Online said...

Oh this sounds too fun. And sounds like little me. LOL The cell phone minute line is hilarious. My birthday Feb. 9. I have to buy this for me. :-)