APA Reference of Book: Park, B. (1992).
Junie B. Jones and the stupid smelly bus.
New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books.
Summary: Junie B.
Jones, who is almost six years old, experiences her first day at kindergarten.
She rides on the school bus for the first time and hates it, because the bus is
loud and smelly, and some of the other children on the bus are unkind to her.
At the end of the school day when the children line up to board the bus to go
home, Junie B. Jones stays behind to hide in the classroom. Alone in an empty
school besides the janitor, Junie B. explores the media center and the nurse’s
office. After her adventures, she has the sudden urge to use the restroom, but both
restroom doors are locked. She calls 9-1-1 to inform the police about her “emergency.”
The janitor finds her and unlocks the restroom door for her just in time. The
police and firefighters arrive on the scene. Her mother and the principal also
arrive and sternly inform her how wrong it was to hide at school, because many
people were afraid when Junie B. was missing. Junie B. tearfully tells her
mother that she does not like riding the bus because of the mean children. Her
mother comes up with a solution: Junie B. can ride on the bus with a new friend
from school named Grace.
Impressions: I understand
why Junie B. Jones is a popular series. The book is quick and easy to read. The
illustrations are fun, charming, and detailed. Even though Junie B. is a
childish and self-centered girl, she is honest, imaginative, dramatic, and
creative. Readers can relate to her worries of riding on the school bus, her
experiences of going to school for the first time, and dealing with classmates
who are rude and unkind. Junie B. is an unintentionally humorous character
because she is dramatic and overreacts, which is entertaining. It was fun to
read about the part when she was alone at school. Even though she was the only
child there, she had fun exploring the school and using her imagination to
amuse herself. It was funny when she called the police to help her, because she
had a strong urge to use the restroom and did not want to have an accident
while wearing her best imitation velvet skirt. I would like to read the next
book in the series out of curiosity to see what kind of adventure she gets
herself into next.
Professional Review: “One
of the initial titles released under the First Stepping Stone imprint, chapter
books aimed at newly independent readers and arranged in series, Park's
(Skinnybones) jolly caper is the first installment to feature Junie B., a
feisty almost-six-year-old who is not at all happy about riding the bus on the
first day of kindergarten. In fact, she doesn't like a single thing about this
vehicle: not the kids who get on it ("Loud kids. And some of them were the
kind who look like meanies"); not the door ("If it closes on you by
accident, it will cut you in half, and you will make a squishy sound");
and not the black smoke it emits ("It's called bus breath, I think").
Other equally candid, on-target perceptions fill Junie B.'s first-person
narrative, which is peppered with reader-involving questions ("Only guess
what?"; " 'Cause guess why?") that help to propel the story at a
whiz-bang pace. When a classmate tells Junie B. that kids will pour chocolate milk
on her head on the way home, the spunky child finds a way to avoid the dreaded
bus. Park convinces beginning readers that Junie B.--and reading--are lots of
fun.”
Junie B. Jones
and the stupid smelly bus [Review of the book Junie B. Jones and the stupid smelly bus, by B. Park]. (1992). Publishers Weekly, 239(32-33), 250. Retrieved from https://libproxy.library.unt.edu:5154/login?url=http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2143/ps/i.do?p=LitRC&sw=w&u=txshracd2679&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA12499719&asid=eabac55d7cf2384eafa1978b74ab1c37
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