and her Big Fat Mouth
by Barbara Park
This one was pretty good. In
Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth, our little protagonist can't decide what she wants to be when she grows up. All her classmates have picked things like artist, superhero, guard, princess, fireman, etc. Junie B. wants a job that uses
all the things she finds attractive- paintbrushes are cool, so are rings of keys, and she'd love to help save people. Can she figure out a job that encompasses all her passions? I really liked how Junie B. highlighted a blue-collar job that the kids at first laughed at, but in the end they recognized how important it was to the normal functioning of their very own school. And in the meantime Junie B. has a new grown-up friend and role model. Sure she has a smart mouth and says things like "stupid" and "hate" but kids can be like that. As long as yours recognizes that Junie
is misbehaving, I think they can see the humor in the book and this one happens to have a really good message too. I wonder if the title could be more appropriate, though. It doesn't quite seem to fit what the story is actually about.
rating: 4/5 ........ 69 pages, 1993
I wonder if my 9 year old would like this? she changes her mind about what she wants to do every so often. Sometimes I think that because we have banned kids from saying so many words, that to hear them like this, in titles, is a kind of relief for them. My kids are always asking why some iffy words can be said at home (but not too iffy!), and not at school.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you reviewed this, I will see if she's interested. She has started to read Goosebumps books, which is a change from the nature books she loves.
My daughter has the same issue with words. If a word is "bad" she wants to know why, and what it means. I've actually given her a definition of most of them. Some words she hears our house but I know other people object to, so I've explained that to her and she understands to not use them in public.
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