Clementine

Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2006

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-7

Chapters 8-10

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 3-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary

Clementine’s not-so-good week continues when Margaret’s mother writes to the school and asks them not to let Clementine play with Margaret. Clementine’s father is the manager of their apartment building. When Clementine gets home feeling mad, he lets her ride the elevator four times. She goes to the seventh floor to see the painters. When she gets back to the apartment, she hears her mother saying, “as if our daughter is a common criminal!” (31) in reference to Margaret’s mother’s note.

Clementine feels nervous that her parents might want to “trade her in for an easier kid” (32). She goes upstairs to confront Margaret’s mother. But when she gets to the front door and Margaret’s mother answers, Clementine doesn’t know what to do. She is only able to say “Hi” (33).

Upon returning to her apartment, Clementine finds her mother wearing overalls with a drawing table set up in the middle of their living room. Clementine wonders if she wants her mother to wear dresses. Her mother says she chooses to wear “comfortable” clothes so she can get messy. Even though Clementine understands this, she struggles with the fact that her mother is not the kind who “work[s] in a bank and w[ears] dresses” (37).

They have a loving interaction where her mother tells her that she, Clementine, is already “an artist” (38). Clementine gives herself permission to go “notice the good stuff” (41), which was advice from a writer who came to her class. She goes to the park and observes a woman “eating lentils from a thermos…with a toothbrush!” (42) and draws it.

Chapter 4 Summary

It’s Wednesday morning. Clementine tries to avoid going to school because she has cut off her hair in solidarity with Margaret. When she gets to school, Principal Rice is shocked by the haircut and engages Clementine in a conversation about why she should be “sitting still” more in class. Clementine describes how she is “allergic” to class and argues back and forth with the principal.

While she is talking to Principal Rice, Clementine begins thinking about her hair, Margaret’s hair, and the “bracelets” she wants on her teeth “more than anything” (52). Thinking about sharp and pointy things makes Clementine need to observe round things “to erase pointy things” (52). Distracted from the conversation, Clementine comes back to the present moment to ask Principal Rice about tattoos.

Chapters 3-4 Analysis

An emerging theme of Clementine is what it means to be an artist. Since Clementine’s mother is an artist, Clementine has some ideas about pursuing creative things; additionally, her parents fully support her creativity. In Chapter 3, being an artist is the focus of Clementine’s conversation with her mother. This leads to an important revelation for Clementine: Like her mother, she is also an artist and can lead a different life as a result. Clementine draws energy from this exciting observation and solidifies her sense of self.

Clementine’s struggles lie in her desire to be seen as easy or normal against the backdrop of other people’s ideas of her as bad or difficult. Clementine is aware that there are easy children and hard children. She also overhears her mother using the term “criminal” (31), which usually implies deviance or badness.

While Pennypacker presents Clementine’s struggle through her unique perspective, readers of all ages might see themselves going through similar experiences. As the reader, we know that Clementine doesn’t do anything intentionally cruel or destructive; instead, all of Clementine’s behavior is spurred on by her creativity or compassion for other people. Yet because she thinks and does things a little outside of the norm (like coloring in Margaret’s hair), others see Clementine as being bad, especially people who believe in the importance of normalcy, like Principal Rice and Margaret’s mother.