CM Magazine: Clara Humble: Quiz Whiz.

________________ CM . . . . Volume XXIV Number 20. . . . January 26, 2018

cover
Clara Humble: Quiz Whiz.

Anna Humphrey. Illustrated by Lisa Cinar.
Toronto, ON: Owlkids Books, 2017.
239 pp., hardcover, $17.95.
ISBN 978 1 77147 215-9.

Grades 2-6 / Ages 7-11.

Review by Keiralyn Beauchamp.

**** /4

excerpt:

“Do you think you have what it takes to be a contestant on Smarty Pants?” Mitch went on. “If so, come down to the Gleason Community Center on Saturday, April 10th at 11:30 a.m. for auditions. You could earn a chance to participate in the live taping of Smarty Pants. And if you’re our winner of the week, you’ll take home a thousand dollar cash prize. That’s right! One thousand dollars! Plus the right to call yourself the smartest kid in your city.”

Clara Humble is a nine-year-old girl who has the chance of a lifetime to be a contestant on Smarty Pants, her favourite game show. Her best friend, Bradley, is also lucky enough to be a contestant as well. They both make it through the auditions and continue to the live TV show. Between the host Mitch’s strange ties and the bizarre challenges, this competition is going crazy! What’s more, some of the boys are playing tricks on the girls to get them out of the competition. This turns the competition into more than a challenge as it becomes a girls vs boys fight. When Clara and Bradley make it to the semifinals together, the pranks on them include a fruit fiasco and a whole lot of booing. Who will win this crazy competition? Which gender has what it takes to conquer?

internal art Once again, this installment of the “Clara Humble” books has illustrated scenes of @Cat, a character created by Clara that she describes as the hero: part computer, part cat, and all awesome. These illustrations added humour to the scenes in the book and related to the current story but used different characters from Animalia to describe the story in a parallel way. I found it to be a neat addition to the story, and it kept me engaged as I was always wondering if the next page would have an @cat scene.

Clara Humble Quiz Whiz has many interesting parts and was highly amusing. I found myself unable to put it down, and I would have finished it in one sitting, but my mom told me it was time for “lights out”. Luckily, I was able to finish it the next day. I think kids who like to laugh would thoroughly enjoy this novel.

Hightly Recommended.

Janet Beauchamp, a high school teacher and teacher librarian, is the mother of three girls and lives in L’Amable, ON. Keiralyn Beauchamp is her “just 10” year old daughter who is not as busy this time of year and agreed to try her hand at writing a review for this novel. She is the type of kid who gets in trouble for reading too much!

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