Reviews for Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House

The average rating for Kaline Klattermaster's Tree House based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-25 00:00:00 Andre Manzo This is a difficult book to review, because even after a waiting period, I can't tell you if I even liked the book or not. The back of the book is misleading, the summary describes things that are basically just the last five pages of the book. The basic plot is that a spastic child named Kaline is dealing with starting a new school year, his father leaving, and various learning disabilities. Throughout the book you are subjected to his viewpoint, leaving you to piece things together yourself. Kaline calls his mother crazy and says she forgets him in the bathtub, when in reality Kaline's father is horrendously OCD and sets timers for everything, including Kaline's bathtime, so when the father leaves, Kaline can't handle the changes and says his mother does everything wrong. While I think that technique is very effective, the book is also littered with randomly capitalized words and stream of thought consciousness from Kaline, which make the reading difficult and disjointed rather than adding to his voice. I don't think the age levels for this book are very appropriate, the character is 6, which may throw off younger readers in the 7-12 bracket because they don't want to read about BABIES ew, and the subject material isn't all that interesting for many in the older crowd. The best audience may be teachers and caregivers who will appreciate getting in the child's head and can understand the large leaps the narrative takes at times. Younger children may believe what Kaline tells the reader at face value, which would make for a much different and much scarier story.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-03-29 00:00:00 Jose Marquez It is hard to describe a conventional plot for this book. The basic storyline is that the title character, Kaline Klattermaster, is starting third grade and his dad has mysteriously disappeared, his mom is having a hard time concentrating, and he is being bullied at school. To cope with these unsettling developments Kaline creates an imaginary tree house full of two older brothers and hundreds of puppies. When I first started reading I was slightly annoyed by the style. It drops you right into Kaline's stream of consciousness. And what is with all the CAPITALIZED words? The rapid fire thoughts and the lack of introduction or explanation were disorientating at first. I wasn't sure what I had gotten into. But as I continued on I began to appreciate and enjoy the unique perspective. And I soon found myself a fan of Kaline and of Kimmel's story. It is a tender and humorous account of one boy's imaginative coping with the chaos in his life. Whether you will enjoy this book has a lot to do with expectations. If you want everything spelled out for you and for everything to make sense and fit into a perfect puzzle then you will be disappointed. If you can put those thoughts aside and just enjoy the chaos so to speak I think you will find a endearing character and and entertaining story.