Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

Module 8

SLIS 5420/Module 8/August 2-8

Book for this module

Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business by Barbara Park

Bibliographic

Jones,. (2007). Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business. New York: Random House Books.

Summary
Junie is a little girl who has an addition to her family. Her mother has a baby brother whom she does not see right away. Her Grandmother visits mom and the baby and describes him as a little monkey which Junie informs her classmates of her brother looking like this, and now all her friends want to be the first to see her monkey looking baby brother.

My Impression
Junie B. is a very interesting little girl. It reminds me that we must be careful of of what we say because children take things literally. Junie is in my opinion a spoiled child and somewhat selfish but learns a value lesson. Since Junie is known for yelling and throwing tantrums I'm not sure that all children should be introduced to these books. It could very well send the wrong message to the readers.


Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
The fractious kindergarten of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus has a new baby brother her grandma calls "the cutest little monkey!" Junie hasn't seen him yet, but she has told the kids in her class that he's "A REAL, ALIVE, BABY MONKEY," and she's taking bids from her "bestest" friends for the first look. So far she's got Lucille's locket, Grace's ring, Lucille's red sweaters, Grace's hightops, and Lucille's red chair. But when Junie tries to turn in the extra snack tickets that she also extorted, she finds herself in the Principal's office. Kids who like literal-minded Amelia Bedelia's linguistic misadventures will probably enjoy Junie's. Occasional sophisticated words ("confiscate, beauteous") and Junie's non grammatical speech may challenge new readers; if so, this may work best as a read aloud for Junie's contemporaries.

Use in Library Setting
This book could be used with older children like first graders and up since they would know right from wrong behavior. We could read this book and do some role playing of good behavior and honesty acts vs. disapproved ones.