Review of the Day: Ellie McDoodle – Have Pen, Will Travel (Part Two)
(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE)
The temptation here is to call this book something trite like, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid but for girls!" or some such nonsense. Don’t get me wrong. I loved "Diary of a Wimpy Kid too, but I am of the firm belief that, like this book, it is a title that goes beyond gender. Everyone can relate to Ellie. I mean, seriously, who likes to be peed on in the middle of the night? Nobody. But any book with a girl on the cover can be a hard sell to boys. Here’s what I’m suggesting, then. When a kid comes to you asking for a copy of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and you’re all out of copies, cough surreptitiously into your hand and say, "Sorry, kid. All out. We got something just as good in the back, y’know. As funny as `Wimpy Kid’ and there’s a lot more pranks and games and wars between kids but …," shake your head, "I dunno. You might not get it. I mean, it’s hilarious, and gross, and it has all these great drawings and sketches, but maybe you’re just too young…" After that, reel `em in, give them the book, and watch it fly off your shelves in no time.
Part "Harriet the Spy", and part "Amelia’s Notebook", "Ellie McDoodle" is just one of those books you can’t help but enjoy. It flies low on the radar, so I suggest discovering it for yourself. There’s never been a better time to indulge in a book that can offer you cool pictures, great characters, a fun story, and a little redemption on the side. A small pure gem.
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Other Blog Reviews: Oz and Ends, Read Read Read, A Year of Reading, and Becky’s Book Reviews.
Misc: Neat. An authorial blog. An authorial website. An author who goes about sketching other authors. What more is there to want?
Filed under: Reviews
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Thank you for the Link! 🙂
I really got a kick out of Ellie McDoodle, too. I loved, loved, loved the portrayal of her cousin as a fedora-clad dinosaur. Probably my biggest regret was the brown-paper-looking cover the publisher gave the book. It’s so snazzy on the inside, and so blah on the outside. Not as bad as a sepia-tone photograph, I guess, but still… so very brown. Why couldn’t Ellie’s notebook have been bright and shiny?
I’m looking forward to reading this after reading your review.