{"product_id":"clarice-bean-smile-isbn-9781536251234","title":"Clarice Bean, Smile","description":"\u003cb\u003eWith her school project overdue, the irrepressible Clarice ponders big themes, like the delicate balance of life on Earth, the nature of happiness, and how even the smallest person can make a difference. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClarice Bean is thinking about all the endangered things: the BIG creatures, the LITTLE creatures, the plants and the trees. If only she can stop daydreaming, she might come up with a subject for her big school assignment—or is daydreaming part of the creative process? Meanwhile, it’s not just the planet that needs help; there’s her whole family too—like a forgetful granddad who keeps falling and a dad who is literally getting sick from a stressful office merger (whatever that may be). Welcome back to the beloved world of Clarice Bean, whose books have sold more than six million copies worldwide and garnered huge critical acclaim. As always, Lauren Child brings her signature quirky humor and enchanting black-and-white illustrations to this smile-inducing story about honoring your unique gifts—and using them to make things better.A worthwhile selection featuring a beloved character.\u003cbr\u003e—School Library Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn underlying theme of community subtly runs through the story, reinforcing the idea that everyone—even grumpy neighbors—can offer support.\u003cbr\u003e—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books\u003cb\u003eLauren Child\u003c\/b\u003e is the author-illustrator of many picture books, including \u003ci\u003eThe New Small Person\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAbsolutely One Thing\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eA Dog with Nice Ears\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as the Charlie and Lola, Ruby Redfort, and Clarice Bean series. She has won numerous awards, including the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. Lauren Child lives in London.\u003cb\u003eWishfully Thinking\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSometimes when I am meant to be doing something else, like for instance my project about endangered species, I get this urge to lie on the floor and watch the dust circling around my room. And what you notice is that you can only see it in the sun rays.\u003cbr\u003e   And if the sun doesn’t shine it is utterly invisible to the eye. And when you stare at it for a long time you notice how it keeps changing direction and you lose one speck of dust and follow another, and it is exactly the same with daydreaming. All the thoughts get lost in other thoughts, and before you know it you are in Australia wondering what would happen if a kangaroo got into your garden. Which makes you think how strange kangaroos are, such big feet and such small arms, like Martians.\u003cbr\u003e   Not that we can be sure what a Martian even looks like. I don’t think anyone has ever gone up to anyone from out of space and asked them, “Are you from Mars?”\u003cbr\u003e   I wonder what it’s like up there.\u003cbr\u003e   I wonder if Martians daydream about coming to Earth.\u003cbr\u003e   I wonder if they daydream about growing trees on Mars.\u003cbr\u003e   I wonder if they even know what a tree is.\u003cbr\u003e   Can you daydream about things you have never heard of?\u003cbr\u003e   I daydream a lot.\u003cbr\u003e   At the moment I am daydreaming about inventing something that could change the world. I’m not sure how or what it would do, but I would like to invent something which changes everything for the better, because of all the things, it’s the better that’s needed.\u003cbr\u003e   They say smiling makes things better. And if you practice smiling you feel better.\u003cbr\u003e   Even when you are sad and you aren’t smiling inside.\u003cbr\u003e   It’s something to do with the chemicals in your brain and smiling switches them on.\u003cbr\u003e   Betty’s mom, call-me-Mol, once told me that smiling is contagious, which means it is highly catching—so when we see other people smiling it makes us feel . . . more like smiling.\u003cbr\u003e   There are twenty-one ways to smile.\u003cbr\u003e   I read that in \u003ci\u003eRuby Redfort: A Guide to Totally Almost Everything.\u003c\/i\u003e It’s not one whole guidebook all in one go—it’s a series that comes out every month, like a magazine but not.\u003cbr\u003e   Granny sends them to me.\u003cbr\u003e   This month’s one is the guide to unspoken language, which basically means body language and facial expressions, except it’s got a much better title than that. Ruby Redfort never bothers to make things boring when they can be interesting. Why would she?\u003cbr\u003e   It’s called \u003ci\u003eSmile It Up.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   If you don’t know who Ruby Redfort is, where have you been living all this time—Mars? That’s the kind of thing Ruby would say.\u003cbr\u003e   Of course you will know that Patricia F. Maplin Stacey created Ruby Redfort—she is a very famous writer and campaigner for nature. She even started a wolf sanctuary. In case you are from Mars and don’t know it, Ruby Redfort is a thirteen-year-old schoolkid codebreaker agent. She has a house-manager butler named Hitch, who is secretly an undercover agent. And she has a housekeeper named Mrs. Digby, who makes pancakes. Ruby’s parents never know what she is up to and don’t realize that she spends her time either hanging on to a cliff edge, escaping evil-doers, or hanging out in the Twinford Diner with her friends.\u003cbr\u003e   Betty and me are nuts about her.\u003cbr\u003e   That’s another thing Ruby would say:\u003cbr\u003e   \u003ci\u003e“I’m a nut for it.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   Which means “I love it,” which is a good thing.\u003cbr\u003e   Or, \u003ci\u003e“You are driving me nuts.”\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   Which means “I can’t actually stand you right now.”\u003cbr\u003e   It’s funny how a word can mean a good AND a bad thing.\u003cbr\u003e   Someone who does drive me nuts is my younger brother, Minal Cricket. I used to share a room with him, but now I’ve been rehoused in the attic—it’s just me up here.\u003cbr\u003e   I was moved into the attic just after Betty Moody left, which was sad because I had imagined my room with her sitting on a beanbag.\u003cbr\u003e   Now she lives probably hundreds or even thousands of miles away in San Francisco. She’s been gone a long time and I don’t know if she’ll ever come back.\u003cbr\u003e   Sometimes I daydream that our doorbell will ring—even though it’s broken—and there will be Betty Moody standing on the step.\u003cbr\u003e   It’s what Granny would call wishful thinking.\u003cbr\u003e   I do a lot of wishful thinking.\u003cbr\u003e   Although wishful thinking doesn’t always work because you are just leaving life up to chance and chance doesn’t always go your way.\u003cbr\u003e   I wish Betty was here to help me with my summer project.\u003cbr\u003e   I have picked the category \u003ci\u003eendangered predators,\u003c\/i\u003e and once I have chosen which exact one to focus on, I then have to make it into a work of art. It’s got to be decided before September.\u003cbr\u003e   Which is tomorrow.\u003cbr\u003e   I’m not sure where all the time went. I start off with a lot and then it suddenly drifts away. And I find myself lying on the floor watching the dust float in the sun.\u003cbr\u003e   I know what Mrs. Wilberton is going to say. “If you spent even half as much time on your schoolwork as you spend on looking at dust floating, then you wouldn’t be struggling to know what thirteen times nine is.”\u003cbr\u003e   Mrs. Wilberton is not an endangered species. She has been my teacher forever, but it feels like longer, and even though she keeps promising to leave she never does.\u003cbr\u003e   She says I waste a lot of time daydreaming.\u003cbr\u003e   She says, “Where on earth does it get you, staring into space all day long?”\u003cbr\u003e   But if we didn’t do any staring into space then we wouldn’t have the space to think, and if you can’t think then how can you think about how to change things for the better?\u003cbr\u003e And it’s true. You might only be thinking about the small thoughts, but small thoughts can turn into big thoughts.\u003cbr\u003e   And small ideas can change the world.\u003cbr\u003e   Or is that just wishful thinking?","brand":"Candlewick","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233030123749,"sku":"NP9781536251234","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781536251234.jpg?v=1767723788","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/clarice-bean-smile-isbn-9781536251234","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}