Drita, My Homegirl by Jenny Lombard

This is Belle again. I’ve finished another William Allen White Book Award nominee. It’s called Drita, My Homegirl. Drita is an immigrant from Kosovo to New York City. In case there are some dogs out there who don’t know what an immigrant is—it’s a person who comes to a country from another country to live permanently. Drita is assigned to a class that includes a black girl named Maxie. The teacher assigns Maxie the project of finding out about Drita’s experience of coming to the U.S. for a report to the class. But Drita speaks no English! If both girls knew dogspeak, it wouldn’t be a problem, would it? How will Maxie find out anything about Drita’s life? Drita’s mom is not handling the move well and Maxie’s grandma (a nurse) helps get her to the ER for treatment. You’ll want to read this book to find out if she recovers, how Maxie does on her report and how Drita copes with her new life. Since she’s from another country, there are a lot of foreign words in the story. You’ll get to use the reading skill of context clues frequently because there is no glossary for looking up the meaning of the words. But don’t worry, you can figure out the meaning easily by the context. OR you can call or email me, Belle, and I’ll help you. Enjoy, Homeys!!

I give this book a 4 bone rating.

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker

Hi, my name is Belle Karlin. I was invited by Milo to talk about some of the William Allen White Book Award nominees that I have read. So here goes! Clementine is a third grade girl who reminds me a lot of Ramona Quimby or Junie B. Jones—not that I’ve read books about either of them but my owner has told me about those 2 girls and how they are always getting themselves into a lot of trouble—just like Clementine does. She has to go to the principal's office A LOT—usually for not paying attention which really isn’t fair because she ALWAYS pays attention to something—just not what the teacher thinks she should pay attention to. You’ll want to read this book to find out why she cuts off her best friend Margaret’s hair and colors what little is left with a permanent red magic marker, why she says Margaret is lucky to have bracelets put on her teeth, why she calls her brother Spinach, Radish, or Broccoli instead of his real name, why she thinks her principal has a tattoo, and how she helps her dad fight The Great Pigeon War. The only thing I didn’t like about this book was that it talks about CATS, but no dogs. In fact, Clementine at one time had a cat named Polka Dottie and her friend has a cat named Mascara. How dumb are THOSE two names? I don't know how Milo gets those award bones to show but I give this one a 4 1/2 bone rating.