Junie B. Jones

and a Little Monkey Business

by Barbara Park

My first-grader keeps bringing Junie B. Jones home from the school library, and I keep sneaking them off her bed at night to read! They're easy to get through in one sitting, and make me chuckle. In Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, Junie is delighted when her parents announce they have a surprise for her, and upset when it turns out not to be a present. I thought the story would be about how Junie adjusted to the new baby's homecoming, or felt jealous, or something like that. But it turned out to be about how kids can misunderstand simple metaphors. In this case, due to a comment her grandmother makes, along with remarks about the amount of his hair and length of his toes, Junie becomes convinced that her baby brother is really a monkey. She's even more sure when she notices that the baby's bed looks like a cage and his room is decorated in a jungle theme. So she announces to her classmates that her brother is a monkey, and her two best friends start vying to see who gets to view the monkey brother first. Junie takes this too far when she starts collecting gifts from her friends, but a quick march to the principal and an explanation in class of common metaphors straightens things out. Quick, amusing read. My daughter got a real kick out of it, too.

rating: 3/5 ........ 68 pages, 1993

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