Monday, September 20, 2010

Emma Dilemma and The New Nanny by Patricia Hermes

In the tradition of Ramona, Junie B., Clementine and Judy Moody, comes Emma O’Fallon, better known as Emma Dilemma.  Emma Dilemma and The New Nanny centers around Emma’s struggles to be more responsible.

When Emma is around mishaps abound.  Most often they center on Marmaduke, her pet ferret.  Marmaduke tends to escape from his cage (ok, Emma frequently forgets to put him there.)  One night Emma’s mom finds Marmaduke in her mattress and threatens to return him to the pet store unless Emma shows more responsibility.  Not only is Emma worried that this will happen she’s afraid her parents will not think she’s responsible enough to be on the Under Nine Traveling Soccer Team.
On top of all this, the family gets a new nanny, Annie O’Reilly.  Emma and her brothers and sister take to Annie right away, but Emma is worried her mom will think Annie is not responsible enough to be their nanny.  A burned passport, an adventure with a locked door and a near fall from a tree add to the mayhem.  Things work out as Emma learns to be more responsible and her mom learns that no one, including parents, is perfect.  With a reading level of 3.1 this is an enjoyable early chapter book and good read-aloud.
Other books in the series: 

Emma Dilemma and The Two Nannies
Emma Dilemma and The Soccer Nanny
Emma Dilemma and The Camping Nanny
Emma Dilemma, the Nanny and the Secret Ferret

Mrs. Archer’s Rating:  5 of 5 stars!

Do you have a favorite character that always seems to get in trouble? Post a comment and let me know.

2 comments:

  1. One of my all time favorite characters has been Anasi the Spider. Anasi is always looking for ways to get out of work or responsiblities. It is a story that came from African story tellers so it is also written by many different authose. My favorite is Anansi Goes Fishing by Eric Kimmel. I have also heard the stories told by Denzel Washington. That was a real treat to hear the characters in an island voice.

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  2. I think it would be fun to let the students listen the Anansi stories read by Denzel Washington. I'll have to see if I can find a clip of that.

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