Penny Pollard's Letters

Penny Pollard #2

by Robin Klein, Ann James (Illustrator)

Penny is a lively, horse-crazy tomboy, but how she learns to stop hating babies and (certain) boys, is revealed in this collection of letters.

Genres: Childrens, Humor, Middle Grade, Young Adult

101 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Winner of the Dromkeen Medal (1991).

Robin Klein was born 28 February 1936 in Kempsey, New South Wales into a family of nine children. Leaving school at age 15, Klein worked several jobs before becoming established as a writer, having her first story published at age 16. She would go on to write more than 40 books, including Hating Alison Ashley (adapted into a feature film starring Delta Goodrem in 2005), Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (adapted into a television series for the Seven Network in 1992), and Came Back to Show You I Could Fly (adapted into a film directed by Richard Lowenstein in 1993).

Klein’s books are hugely celebrated, having won the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award in both the Younger Readers and the Older Readers categories, as well as a Human Rights Award for Literature in 1989 for Came Back to Show You I Could Fly. Klein is widely considered one of Australia’s most prolific and beloved YA authors.

Reviews

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read May 2012! Penny is sent to live with Aunt Winifred while her parents prepare for the birth of her new baby brother. While there she writes a ton of letters to everyone and it's hilarious seeing how she twists things around, depending on who she's writing to :D AND how she comes around to liking Alistair ;)

Also oh god the letter from Jason whose middle name is Gabriel made me cry with laughter!

I turned many erasers into tombstones for E. Raser in grade two because of this too :D

[East-Daikon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second Penny Pollard book. It makes more sense if you've read the first one because the characters are the same. The first book was a diary but this is an epistolary novel. They're both hilarious!!! As an adult you can see exactly where the book is going but the journey there is still fun and satisfying.

I really think Penny and Angie sound extremely similar (see example below). Idk if it's just the author's voice? Might have to read one of her more serious books to cross-check...

Penny:


Angie:

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second of the Penny Pollard books and whilst the first was in the form of a diary, this one is in the form of letters. This one feels more with Penny's dealings with this near the beginning of life as opposed to the first one where it was those near the end of life. Reasonably well done, bit it did not have the same gravitas as the first book.

[Carlyn Brody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thursday, 4 October 2012Penny Pollard’s Letters by Robin Klein Illustrated by Ann James

I was first introduced to the Penny Pollard book series when I was in the third grade. The teacher librarian read the first book to the class. I bought Penny Pollard’s Letters at a fete that a local school was having, they had a book stall where they sold off a lot of their old books.


Penny Pollard is a fictional 12 year old Australian girl. She’s horse mad, feisty, tomboyish, and independent. She’s quite unusual too; Penny does things differently from everyone else and sometimes that gets her into trouble. For example, she had a secret pet rat who died, so she put it in the freezer to await for burial when she returns on holiday.


There are 6 books in the Penny Pollard series:


1. Penny Pollard's Diary (Oxford University Press, 1983)


2. Penny Pollard's Letters (Oxford University Press, 1984)


3. Penny Pollard in Print (Oxford University Press, 1986)


4. Penny Pollard's Passport (Oxford University Press, 1988)


5. Penny Pollard's Guide to Modern Manners (Oxford University Press, 1989)


6. Penny Pollard's Scrapbook (Hodder Children's Books Australia, 1999)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Klein


Each book has little illustrations and photographs of things that Penny sees. The books are easy for children to read and long enough for more competent younger readers.
In Penny Pollard’s Letters, Penny has to stay with her aunt Winifred during the school holidays while her mum stays in hospital awaiting the birth of her second child. The book consists of Penny writing letters to her friends, her other aunt and uncle, her dad and her enemy who owes her $2.75 for the rat she bought off him who later died.


Penny doesn’t like staying with her aunt Winifred, a former music teacher who wants Penny to have an interest in classical music which Penny finds boring. Penny is a wild child who fidgets and gets up to mischief so it’s not that fun for Winifred to have Penny stay over.


Penny finds staying at her aunt’s house boring because there isn’t much to do. There are two little kids next door who only have interests in preschool stuff like playing dress ups. Penny also meets another 12 year old named Alistair who at first she thinks is a “four eyes nerd” but later grows to respect and like him. She also comes to terms with getting a new brother or sister.


I think I may collect the book series or at least collect the other two that I liked which were Penny Pollard’s Diary (the first book that I read) and Penny Pollard goes to Europe. I like Penny; I think she’s funny and unusual. The only flaw that I don’t like is that I think she’s a little gross at times.

[Cowgirlgem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penny Pollard is a wonderfully rude young lady, and here is a collection of letters that she wrote while staying with her horrible Aunt Winifred's.

This is part of a series I read when I was a bookish child, who would have loved a brash tomboy friend like Penny.

It has a lot of stamps and photos and other things decorating the pages so it is rather delightful to read and really feels like you got Penny's stash of letters.

[Gen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book Penny is sent to live with a posh aunt over the school holidays while her parents get ready for the arrival of a new baby. This one tells the story of Penny's friendship with the kid next door Alistair and her getting used to the idea of a younger sibling.