Junie B., First Grader (at last!)

Author: Park, Barbara
Title: Junie B., First Grader (at last!)
Book Genre: Realistic Fiction
Publishing Info: Random House,
Inc., 76pp.

Summary: After our class book talks, I was inspired to read a book from the Junie B. Jones series. This book gave the accounts of Junie B. as she apprehensively begins first grade. This was a very humorous story, especially Junie’s unique views of herself, her classmates, and her teacher. Not only is Junie having difficulty adjusting to her new first grade class, but also begins to realize that she is experiencing problems with her vision. Everything begins to work out for Junie B. as she makes a few “real” friends, and she gets glasses that allow her to view the world in a different way. Junie B. learns the valuable lesson of change not always being a bad thing, and realizes that first grade will be as good as she makes it. I think this is a great story in which many readers could relate and enjoy.

Personal rating: ****

Rationale: Well-written; detailed plot; great characters and situations in which students can truly relate; illustrations which serve as visual cues of particular text

Reading level: 2.6 Interest level: 1st-5th

Thematic Areas: Identity; self-esteem; friendship; life changes; social interactions; diversity; humor

Content Areas: Social development and experiences

Potential Problems or Difficulties: N/A

Possible use in classroom: Each student could create their own mystery literacy box, in which they place the answers to comprehension questions asked after the read aloud of each chapter; students could cut out pictures that they feel relate to the story from magazines, pasting them on construction paper and sharing these with the class; using the Junie B. face mask printable online, students could cut out and color their mask, so they will look like the character as they retell the story to the class