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julie_reads15's review
4.0
Summary
Penny Pollard's Diary written by Robin Klein and illustrated by Ann James is an Australian middle grade book in the format of a girl's diary.
Penny Pollard is a 10-year-old girl who despises elderly people for being boring, Annette Smurton for owning a horse, and Simone for being a goody two shoes.
Her class visits a nursing home for senior citizens as part of their community work project. She escapes and goes outside where she meets Mrs. Edith Bettany, an elderly lady who shares a similar personality to Penny. They quickly become friends and Penny visits her frequently.
Penny's humorous voice shines through in her diary, accompanied by photographs, illustrations and mementos.
Review
I remember reading about Penny Pollard as a child, and loving her quirky sense of humour, and the interesting format of the books.
I thought the diary format was interesting and unique. I liked the contrast between the illustrations and photographs.
The shorthand diary language was a little hard to get into, especially when I put the book down several times. However, I got the hang of it after a while.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 9 years and older and wants to read a book about a humorous and troublesome girl's adventures in diary format.
Penny Pollard's Diary written by Robin Klein and illustrated by Ann James is an Australian middle grade book in the format of a girl's diary.
Penny Pollard is a 10-year-old girl who despises elderly people for being boring, Annette Smurton for owning a horse, and Simone for being a goody two shoes.
Her class visits a nursing home for senior citizens as part of their community work project. She escapes and goes outside where she meets Mrs. Edith Bettany, an elderly lady who shares a similar personality to Penny. They quickly become friends and Penny visits her frequently.
Penny's humorous voice shines through in her diary, accompanied by photographs, illustrations and mementos.
Review
I remember reading about Penny Pollard as a child, and loving her quirky sense of humour, and the interesting format of the books.
I thought the diary format was interesting and unique. I liked the contrast between the illustrations and photographs.
The shorthand diary language was a little hard to get into, especially when I put the book down several times. However, I got the hang of it after a while.
I recommend this book for anyone who's 9 years and older and wants to read a book about a humorous and troublesome girl's adventures in diary format.
rollforlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
Revisiting a book that I considered fabulously cool when I was eight or so. Glad to find it's still fantastic and Penny is just as rebellious and determined as I remembered. I picked this up as a conversation reminded me of this book, and well, heck, why not?
The edition I read this time wasn't quite the fabulous original edition I read in primary school, given that book would now be around thirty I daresay any copy in a library has suffered a painful death by now.
Still, good fun to revisit something from my childhood and find it's still got it.
The edition I read this time wasn't quite the fabulous original edition I read in primary school, given that book would now be around thirty I daresay any copy in a library has suffered a painful death by now.
Still, good fun to revisit something from my childhood and find it's still got it.
sean67's review
4.0
Beautiful story of young girl meeting older lady and the friendship that happens as she understands and learns from them older lady. Some great moments here. Klein is a great author.
megelzbth's review
3.0
The edition I had of Penny Pollard's Diary featured a swap card with a picture of a horse. Of course, I just had to have it and bought it at the Scholastic book fair in primary school. I remember really liking it because Penny was Australian and there was that immediate connection and familiarity there. It was a very typical middle-grade book for girls that I read countless times. Penny was a cheeky trouble-maker!
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