Utterly Me, Clarice Bean, by Lauren Child

I read this to my sons in about school Year 3/4. despite looking "girly" its witty prose and great font/layout nicely bridges the picture book/novel gap. The chapters are a good length too.

The main character is a thoughtful and funny girl with a crazy family and realistic school life, we roared at several bits.

Wonderful, hilarious, one off, child centred writing. This is the first of a series of three chapter books, which can be read to younger children but then be read on their own by older ones. It was the first chapter book my daughter ever read (when she was seven) and now nine she still re-reads it for pure enjoyment and she always laughs out loud. The subject matter of families, friendship and I quote her "real situations in families" (!) have also helped her when for example her best friend moved to Mozambique for a few years - this also happens to Clarice when her "utterly best friend" Betty Moody moves to another part of the United States. My daughter is only sad that Lauren Child has not yet written any more. She equally loves the other two in the series, which are called "Clarice Bean spells trouble" and "Don't Look Now". We highly recommend them.