mrsbond's review against another edition
3.0
This is a lovely book. However, I'm not sure who the intended audience is. My picture book loving early elementary students do not know who Twain is, nor do they know how to read cursive. The older students.... I'm just not sure they will love it as much as someone who has read and appreciated Twain's work. It does have potential for discovering how great biographies are written.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Another children's picture book biography. This one at least I know. Well kind of. Because actually it's the story of the biography of Mark Twain that his daughter started writing when she was 13. It's kind of cute and funny and done pretty well. And it's also Mark Twain. With good enough art. And apparently the whole journal is published so ...
paperfemme's review against another edition
4.0
I love the embedded journal excerpts as mini-books with the original errors and all. A fun read with lovely illustrations. It made me want to go to his house in Hartford. Immediately.
pwbalto's review against another edition
5.0
I had a review for this book half written, and then I looked through it again. I caught the variety of voices - Twain's, his daughter Susy's, and the author's. I surveyed the back matter - author's notes on Twain and on Susy, and a one-page outline of "How To Write a Biography." And I don't know, man. I'm not sure this is so much a library book as it is a textbook, and I mean that in a good way. It's readable, entertaining, true, and totally instructive. Possibly it should be required in every elementary school classroom.
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2010/03/extraordinary-mark-twain-barbara-kerley-review.html
Full review on Pink Me: http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2010/03/extraordinary-mark-twain-barbara-kerley-review.html
abigailbat's review against another edition
5.0
Biographies of Mark Twain have been done, right? Well, this one is a little different... it was written by Mark Twain's 13-year-old daughter Susy! Yes, 13-year-old Susy Clemens did start a biography of her father, wanting to record the truth about him. Using quotes from this document, Barbara Kerley creates an interesting look at this famous author through the eyes of someone who knew him best. Beautiful, bold illustrations accurately portray this man who was larger than life. Excerpts from Susy's biography are included in small inset pages. Kids will delight in reading the words written by another kid (misspellings and all!). The author includes sources and some tips for kids on writing their own extraordinary biographies.
More on the blog: http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/2010/11/extraordinary-mark-twain-according-to.html
More on the blog: http://www.abbythelibrarian.com/2010/11/extraordinary-mark-twain-according-to.html
libraryrobin's review against another edition
4.0
Susy Clemens thinks people have the wrong idea about her father and intends to set them straight by secretly penning his biography herself.
Outstanding, creative biography of the beloved author, based on the actual journal written by his daughter, Susy. Clever insertions of quotes from her journal, complete with variant cute spellings, give the reader a sense of her love and devotion to her father, his love for cats, and his humorous and serious sides. Delightful!
Outstanding, creative biography of the beloved author, based on the actual journal written by his daughter, Susy. Clever insertions of quotes from her journal, complete with variant cute spellings, give the reader a sense of her love and devotion to her father, his love for cats, and his humorous and serious sides. Delightful!
tcbueti's review against another edition
5.0
Terrific and charming--This book, based on a biography twain's 23-year-old daughter wrote about him, may inspire kids to read Mark Twin, or to write about their own family members.
As his daughter Susy says, Twain was more than a humorist, and here we see some of the more serious, and even tragic parts of his life, either through Susy's words, or in the comprehensive author's notes.
As his daughter Susy says, Twain was more than a humorist, and here we see some of the more serious, and even tragic parts of his life, either through Susy's words, or in the comprehensive author's notes.
jshettel's review against another edition
5.0
This was a fascinating book within a book! Based on an actual biography written by Twain's young daughter.
nerfherder86's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful biography of Mark Twain, using quotes from his 13 year old daughter's biography of him, complete with misspellings. I love the illustrations (same illustrator did The Mermaid Queen, one of my other fave picture book biographies from the last couple of years) and the way it incorporates her journal as a lift-the-flap.
lemon_drop's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful! I've visited the Mark Twain house many times, and this brought me right back there. I loved 13-year old Susy's take on her famous dad.