Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth

November 15, 1993
Gr. 2-4. In another hilarious, easy chapter book about Junie B. Jones, the irrepressible kindergartner veers from catastrophe to rapture and back again. This time she has trouble deciding what to be on Job Day. Older kids will laugh at Junie's mistakes and misunderstandings, especially with language, and they'll remember their own bewilderment and bloopers. She gets punished for shooting off her big fat mouth ("Punishment is the school word for sitting at a big table all by yourself"). She's frank that the Pledge of Allegiance is a jumble for her ("I don't know what that dumb story is even talking about"). She's heartbroken to discover that Mickey Mouse isn't real. When she hates, she hates (even her "bestest" friend); when she's humiliated, she can't bear it ("I hided my head"). Brunkus' energetic drawings pick up the slapstick action and the spunky comic hero. ((Reviewed Nov. 15, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)