Fine, Anne. Jennifer’s Diary. Kate Aldous, Illustrator. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2007.

Annotation: Jennifer has just received a new diary, but there’s one problem…she can’t think of anything to write. Her best friend Iola has lots of creative ideas, but nowhere to write them. In Anne Fine’s chapter book, Iola desperately tries to get her hands on Jennifer’s underused diary, while Jennifer is jealous that Iola is so creative and she is not. Jennifer is angry when Iola swipes the book to write wildly imaginative entries, like “today I saved a boy who was drowning!” But soon the girls strike a deal. Iola can keep the diary, but she has to give Jennifer ideas when their teacher assigns creative writing assignments.

Recommendations: This book would be well suited for children, and particularly girls, between the ages of 7-10. Not only is the simple text and easy chapter format appropriate for their age level but they should also take interest in the book’s themes of friendship, empathy, and creativity. This book would best be used as an independent read for young girls, as it will suit their interests, but not necessarily support school curriculum in a strong way. Also, children should understand that there may be other options for Jennifer, in terms of her lack of creativity. Children should be made aware of ways Jennifer could boost her own imagination, rather than have Iola feed her ideas for all of her writing assignments.

Art: Kate Aldous has created 27 illustrations to accompany the text. The drawings are black and white comic book style sketches that appear on the ivory matte text. This type of drawing would likely be appealing to children in this age range as it is common in other media designed for them. Most drawings take up less than a half page and serve to illustrate a particularly humorous moment in the book such as the fictitious and fantastic stories Iola dreams up for Jennifer’s diaries.

To see my review visit www.bpl.on.ca. Kids, Good reads, books reviews. ( )