Amelia Writes Again

Amelia's Notebooks #2

by Marissa Moss

Can Amelia keep a friend and her deepest secrets at the same time?

Amelia’s sister, Cleo, gives her a new notebook as a tenth birthday present, and Amelia can’t wait to fill it with all her secret thoughts and drawings. But when her best friend Leah wants to read her notebook, Amelia is Sometimes secrets are better when shared with friends, but other secrets are private. How can Amelia keep her friend from feeling left out while still saving some secrets for herself?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Graphic Novels, Picture Books, Humor, Juvenile

40 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Marissa Moss has written more than seventy books, from picture books to middle-grade and young adult novels. Best known for the Amelia's Notebook series, her books are popular with teachers and children alike. Her picture book Barbed Wire Baseball won the California Book Award gold medal. Moss is also the founder of Creston Books, an independent children's publishing house.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book except for one incident of fat shaming. What a surprising reminder of how body messages are sent to women from a young age. In one place Amelia draws her mother in a sweater, and then captions it: "Sorry Mom for making you look fat." The woman doesn't look fat, and if she did, why does that matter? Why is that a bad thing? I took a pen and changed it to "fart" so that when I give the book away to my nephew I won't be passing that bad message on to the next generation.

[Rainie 🎧 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will always remember her sister’s roly poly nose

[Forever Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amelia Writes Again is the sequel to Amelia's Notebook. Well, one of them...I think there are several now. This time, something unfortunate happens at Amelia's school, and she uses her notebook to write her feelings & thoughts about the event.

In addition, Amelia writes about her friendship with Leah and whether or not she should share her notebook with her secrets with her friend.

I might check out one of the other notebooks with Amelia in 7th grade. In this one, she is 10, which is a little younger than my students. Still a fun example of mixing words with doodles and scrapbook items in a journal. I think if students had more freedom with their notebooks, they might find more ownership and worth in using them.

I'll keep this one around along with the other Amelia book. :)

[Ubalstecha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amelia is back! Her first notebook chronicled her move across country and starting at a new school. This notebook looks at Amelia's attempts to trust her new friend Leah enough to let her read Amelia's notebook. Author Marissa Moss has again done a great job capturing the voice of a 10 year old girl writing in her journal, right down to the doodles in the margins.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this tonight to my b/g twins, and they both loved the plot, and the cute illustrations scattered all over the pages. My son seemed very concerned about the concept of arson and would not stop talking about this book for a good half hour after we'd finished. Love it!

[Julia Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember hating that Leah refused to be Amelia's friend unless she was allowed to read her diary - invasive much?

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember being impressed with the idea of a kid my age writing postcards to her friends. It seemed a wonderfully antiquated thing to do, and shortly after, I found an Amelia-themed stationary kit with some Amelia-themed postcards and used one to send to Kate Klise, telling her how much I loved her books Regarding the Fountain and Trial by Jury. I realized after I sent them Ms. Klise may or may not be offended by having another author's creation branding her postcard, but of course it was too late.

Amelia's Notebook has yet to come in from another library, and I had too many holds to wait, so I started my reread of the Amelia's Notebooks with Amelia Writes Again. These books, unsurprisingly, don't exactly thrill me like they used to. Happily, they've retained their '90s charm without seeming too dated. The relative simplicity of Amelia's life, while maybe not as widely applicable to children's lives now, is celebrated with Amelia's candid writing and doodles sprinkled throughout her notebook, where she tells us all about her friends Leah and Nadia, her new school, and her life living with her mom and the infamous Cleo. Amelia even talks about her worries after a very scary incident involving the safety of her school, which all schoolchildren can certainly relate to now. My main complaint is that this notebook just feels so short.

Oh, and this is the one where one of Amelia's friends pressures her to let her see her notebook, even saying, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." I will gladly snap a pic from any of my journals to anyone who asks, but anyone being that persistent about seeing them would be suspicious. I'm an emotional flasher.

[Panda Incognito · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want a journal with caution tape on it, guys.

This is the second book in the Amelia's Notebooks series, and I read it based on a friend's realization that being friends with me had fulfilled her childhood desire of being friends with Amelia from these books. Once again, I totally related to the character, and she even wrote about the personalities she thinks numbers have. I did the very same thing in a letter to the aforementioned friend, once! She says that the only reason she didn't make this connection sooner must be because it was just too obvious.

I wish that these books were a little bit longer, because they seem rushed, and all of the humorous asides leave even less time for the plots to develop. However, they are great for young and reluctant readers, and can either inspire journal-keeping or make journalers feel deeply seen. I relate to these books enough that I will probably pursue some of the other titles that my library doesn't have anymore.

[michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't believe there are 29 books in this series! I think I only got up to the 4th book as I think I was reading them as they were coming out (??). I loved how fun these books (or should I say notebooks?) were to read. Opening them up it felt like you were reading someone's journal. Lined paper, handwritten font, illustrations, objects that were taped to the pages (drawn to look like such with tape and shadows), all came together to really create the feel of a real journal. And Amelia was such a fun narrator. I'd definitely recommend this series!

[Amy Bruestle · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!! I totally forgot about these books!!!! I LOVED THEM when I was a kid! I always used to try and make my own journals and imitate hers! I still love the whole creative journal thing with doodles and stuff instead of just a simple, plain-jane, diary. I have always been into that kinda thing, so these books were right up my alley!

[ShaeDuke | Upstate NY · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was more entertaining than the first notebook.

This notebook is still pretty tame but today's standards But it deals with the everyday stuff children deal with - friend and family drama. There is a building fire but it doesn't directly effect our main character and is a good way to show how a community can come together.

[Misbah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this sequel to Amelias Notebook. This is the one with all the drawings from Amelias birthday party.
These books inspired me to get creative with my journaling style.

[Sophia Pease]

it was ok :/

[Faloni © · Rating 5 out of 5]

🥳🤑Once your a whore, your nothing more.

[Tony Tagialuchi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tedious.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny how even though these are such fast reads, I really memorized all the small details in the artwork and they were a big part of my childhood.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet. Not a lot going on but also a lot going on? Felt like this one had no real plot.

[Jennie Huntoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely 90s, both good and bad

[Mervyn Ceridwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ADORED this series when I was younger after picking it up from the Scholastic Book Fair in the 90s. I finally found the authors name!

[Aditha Reddy]

Yes, I will continue to count these as books read this year. No, I don't think I enjoyed this as much as I did when I was younger because she is like 9 in this book and I am like 29.

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even better than the first!

[Maggie Cheesman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the graphic novel, Amelia Writes Again, Amelia receives a new notebook from her friend for her birthday. In the beginning of the graphic novel, Amelia is in a situation. Her friend Leah has found out about her notebook and she wants to be able to read it. Amelia is very torn about this. Half of her wants Leah to read the notebook while the other half wants her privacy and doesn't want Leah to be able to read it. Leah ends up getting upset about not being able to read it and she tells Amelia that they can't sit together at lunch because they aren't friends. As if the fight with Leah wasn't enough, Amelia's school had a fire and she found out when she attended school the next morning. Amelia and her classmates got to go on a tour of her school, luckily her classroom didn't have any damage from the fire. Once the talk of the fire had calmed down, Amelia came up with a great idea for her and Leah. They were going to make a story together in Amelia's notebook. To do this, Leah would write a sentence, then Amelia, then Leah, etc. Leah and Amelia loved this idea and this was hopefully going to get Leah to stop asking to read what is in Amelia's notebook.
This book is perfect for elementary students. There are many reasons why this series is perfect for all elementary students. The first reason is because students will be able to relate to all of the problems that Amelia discusses in all of her books. All of the problems that Amelia faces, elementary students face as well. These books are also fun to read because of the way they are written. It is truly like we are reading someone's journal because of the pictures and the honesty from Amelia on each page. Amelia's notebook is a piece of writing that any elementary student could do and I think this is why all elementary students will be able to relate to this series. The illustrations and side comments on each page help make the book more interesting and exciting. These pictures will help keep the student interested because it is a longer book than what some are used to at this grade level. I think this book deserves four out of five stars but overall the series deserves five stars. I would recommend this series to any of my elementary students in the future.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book in the Amelia's Notebooks series by Marissa Moss. At the end of the school year in June, our oldest discovered one of the books in the series, Oh Boy, Amelia!, at a book giveaway at her school. She loved that book and I was surprised to see that there's a whole series of these journals and they're available at our local library. So we decided to read the rest of the series in order.

The narrative is a journal-like tale written by a middle-grade girl who is adjusting to making new friends at a new school, celebrating a birthday, and expressing her feelings about a tragic event (like an arsonist burning down part of her school.)

The pages are filled with illustrations, many of them are small doodles that would be totally appropriate for a girl's journal. Our oldest really liked this book and I'm sure she'll want to read the whole series.

I thought it was a very quick, entertaining read and I think it helps to capture a girl's thoughts and feelings at that age, especially when dealing with a new house, new school, new best friend, etc.

[PSU · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this book so much because you don't read that much you could finish that book like in 10 minutes or less but if you like to read those type of books its fine also they are really intersting and fun to read but like they have a few pages and you want to keep on reading more but you already finish the book and so that is what I don't like. there is this girl that likes to write in her diary and when she goes back to school she finds out that her school is burn because somebody burned it and so what they do is they are going to build it again and they put cement and the kids need to put like a toy or something else so that could represent the kids that go to that school. If you want to read more don't forget to read because its a really good book

Abigail Chavez
P.S.U.

[Tashuna Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.I liked that this book is meant to look like a journal that has entries of what the character was thinking about and how she was feeling. I also enjoyed this book because it reminds me of my own journals that I have kept over the years where I've written down memories that I didn't want to forget. I liked the fact that the book also had pictures to go along with the journal entries which makes you enjoy the book even more.

2.This Book Does Make Sense Because It's A Bout A Little Girl Who Keeping A Journal About The Things That She Does And Memories She Wants To Remember Forever. That's She Also Incorporates Pictures With The Thing She Writes To Give People A Better Understanding About What She Explaining In Her Journal Entries.

[katyjanereads · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. I read these books when I was a kid and was obsessed with them.
2. I still talk about the thing under your nose being a place where snot funnels into your mouth because of this book.
3. I love her obsession with noses. In her first book she drew all different kinds and now this one she talks about the snot funnel.
4. I'm so happy her sister gave her this notebook.
5. I love the drawings that Amelia does.
6. I'm an English teacher and I have my kids draw and write in a notebook.
7. Perfect for elementary ages kids and reluctant readers.
8. I totally understand her math struggles.
9. LOVE LOVW LOVE the cement idea!!

[Ma.cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have one more book to read by Marissa Moss "Amelia" series. Amelia is a very caring person, she cares about what other people feel. I can relate to Amelia's emotions because, in the story her friend Leah wants to read her notebook, but Amelia isn't sure if she should let her. Amelia decided to write stories with Leah in her notebook, and later on show Leah the other stories Amelia wrote. I would recommend this book to all my classmates, just for a real quick read. I rated this book 3 out of 5 because the book is not that organized.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful. I'm keeping it because I want to try to copy some of the artwork. The story is insignificant, but the journal with art is cry appealing.

I can't imagine a young reader not wanting to make their own journal after reading this. After all, it made me want to! Unfortunately, I started out with a finger pointing at something, seen from the side. Looked super easy, but my attempts were pathetic, even when I tried to trace.

[Chanelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is excellent to have your older students start a journal at the beginning of the school year. They can write about their time in 4th or 5th grade and about anything else that may be going on in their lives. I like this book because it shows writing from a perspective of girl that students can relate to. This can encourage writing on a whole other level.

[Isabelle Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! Even though I read 4 years ago, I still read it over and over again. This book was funny, but I found sometimes she kind of overexagerated a little bit too much. But overall this book was great.