Amber Brown is the main character in a series of 9 books that all feature her name. Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon is the catchy title of the first one.
Amber, as I mentioned, is a third grader who has a rough year, but she thinks things will get better in the future. She learns several important facts as we progress through the series.
She learns that things change, even if you don't want them to, and you have to learn to live with them because you can't change them back. Yet, while some things change, others stay the same.
At the beginning of the series, her parents' divorce is still pending. We learn what Amber's feelings about the divorce are. She slowly adjusts to her new family life. Some of the changes she likes, but others are difficult to accept.
She decides that her life is a lot like bowling, and she intends to be a winner.
This series really shouldn't have been a series stretched out over most of a decade. I can't imagine waiting so long (usually about a year) for each new book to arrive. It's pretty obvious at the end of each book that another will be coming. It would have been cool if these books could have been combined and published within a two or three year period.
A third grade reader of the first book probably wasn't interested in them anymore by the time she reached high school.
This is almost a better series for divorced adults to read than for children. I bet the author, Paula Danziger, could enlighten many such grown-ups.
This is also a good series for any child whose parents, like Amber's, are going through a divorce. I would think it would be good for the child to understand he or she is not the only one ever to experience and feel the things that they are and that Amber did.
Each book is an easy read that an adult can complete in one sitting.
Each book contains a number of fun puns. You also learn other interesting items along the way, such as British lingo.
I thoroughly enjoyed (the puns helped) each of these books. I think you would too, no matter your age or marital status.
The books in the series:
- Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon
- You Can't Eat Your Chicken Pox, Amber Brown
- Amber Brown Goes Fourth
- Amber Brown Wants Extra Credit
- Forever Amber Brown
- Amber Brown Sees Red
- Amber Brown Is Feeling Blue
- I, Amber Brown
- Amber Brown Is Green with Envy
