Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business

Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business (Novel series)

Barbara Park

1993

Junie B. Jones is quite a character first grader.  In this book in the series, she is expecting to be a big sister at any time and she is not happy about it.  She is having some issues adjusting to everyone around her thinking that the new baby brother is great.   She tries everything she can to “show out” due to the new addition to the family. 

Thinking back to my childhood, I was about Junie B. Jones’ age when my brother was born also.  Junie also has a close family throughout the story, as well as she herself being close to her grandparents.  I, too, was close with my grandparents and I remember them trying to make me feel special when my brother was born.  I can see how this story in the series would be easily connected to many of the students we teach.  As a first grader, my son, who is now a fourth grader, loved Junie B. Jones and the series because his teacher had read aloud some of the texts in the series.  He would imitate the voice she would portray when reading Junie B’s part aloud to the students.  I remember this being his first experience with chapter books, which was a truly positive one.