Junie B., First Grader: Boss Of Lunch (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Junie B. Jones is a first grader and she just got a brand new lunchbox with baby birds all over it! Junie B. just couldn't wait until lunch time to open her new lunchbox so she opened it in class, and of course, her mean classmate May tattled on her. It finally got time for lunch and Junie noticed that her and only one other boy named Sherman brought their lunch. A few of her classmates went on to explain to her that in first grade, BOUGHT lunch was way better than BROUGHT lunch but Junie B. didn't care because she was still flattered with her brand new lunch box. A few minutes later she noticed that the lunchroom gave her classmates sugar cookies, and all her mom packed her was a plain ole fruit bar. Junie's friend Herb shared his sugar cookie with her and told her that Mrs. Gutzman (the nice lady that brought her Kindergarten class snacks each day) was working in the lunchroom now. Junie B. broke the lunchroom rules and ran in the kitchen to find Mrs. Gutzman. She asked her if she could start bringing her snacks in first grade but her teacher caught her and told her that she broke the rules. Mrs. Gutzman told Junie B. that if she promised to follow the rules for the rest of the day then she could come back in the kitchen tomorrow and be her special helper, then she gave her some gloves so she could practice wearing them when she got home. Junie B. made sure that she followed the rules and her teacher gave her a permission slip for her parents to sign so she could help the next day. It was time for school and Junie B. could hardly wait. She got to go to the lunchroom at 10 so she could start helping Mrs. Gutzman. When she got there, Mrs. Gutzman told her all of the rules and gave her her very own apron, hair net, and gloves. The lunchroom was serving tuna noodle casserole that day and it made Junie B.'s stomach feel queazy. When it got time for the kids to come in that mean girl May who tattled on Junie B. told her that she wasn't a real lunch maker and that made Junie B. mad. Junie B. screamed at her that she was a real helper and that she was even keeping her hair and germs out of the TUNA NOODLE STINKLE. That grossed all of her classmates out and they decided that they didn't want to eat lunch that day. Junie B.'s day as a lunchroom helper didn't go so well and now her classmates were all mad at her. Can she redeem herself to make her classmates like her again?I love the Junie B. Jones series. She is just a little ball of optimism and excitement. If I'm having a bad day, all I have to do is read a book about one of Junie B.'s adventures and it can turn my day right around. This book would be perfect for a second grader to be able to read easily. I love the language that Barbara Park uses in this book (i.e. I smiled real proud. "I use napkins at my very own house," I said. "I use them to wipe my mouth after dinner. Plus sometimes I use my sleeve.") which is why I think a second grader would love these books. I also think that first graders would be a great class to use this book as a read-aloud because I think some of the things that she says would be over their heads and would need explaining while reading it. I love the illustrations throughout the book. They are just simple black and while drawings that are shown occasionally throughout the book that way the children get a visual idea of what is going on. The cover art is also great! In all of The Junie B. First Grader series, there is a picture of her on the front cover and this gives us a good idea about what Junie B. looks like throughout the book.
Plot: The book Junie B., First Grader Boss of Lunch, is about a first grade girl who gets to be a lunch time helper. Last year for Junie's class Mrs.Gutzman brought cookies and milk for her class every week so when Junie saw her working in the lunch room she asked her why they didn't get cookies anymore. When Mrs. Gutzman told her that only the kindergarten kids get them Junie got really mad and threw a fit. In order for Mrs.Gutzman to get her to calm down she invited Junie to help in the kitchen for lunch the next day. This made her so excited and she said she would. The next day when Junie came to school she got her hair net, apron and rubber gloves from Mrs.Gutzmacher and she ready to be a lunch lady. Her job was to wipe down the table with the trays on it and to keep the napkins stocked up. When the kids started to show up, she started to get nervous and kids where laughing at her. When her class showed up she got happy and started to running around saying "I'm the boss of the lunch room!" until she screwed up and started to spit all over her friends lunch trays. After that, Mrs. Gutzmacher told her she could stop working and go eat lunch. On Monday she was still embarrassed, but when Mrs.Gutzman came and brought her whole class cookies, Junie got really excited and got to hand them out to her class.Characterization: Junie B. Jones is the main character of this book and she is a crazy kid. During this book she gets angry, excited, and embarrassed for many different reasons. Junie is a girl who likes to show off to her class and have all the attention especially over the girl she hates in her class May. Junie also is a really loud kid but has a good sense of humor sometimes too. Audience: I would recommend this book to elementary kids or early middle school kids. I think that is a good age group because this is a easier book to read with easier text and it is about a kid in first grade. I would also mostly recommend this to kids that are girls because the main character is a girl so they could relate to that more.Personal Response: I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars because I really liked it. I liked this book because it reminded me of when I helped the lunch ladies in elementary school clean off the tables at the end of lunch. I also think this book was good because it had a little more humor in it because of Junies sarcastic comments. I think that any first grade girl would love this book and the rest of the series.
What do You think about Junie B., First Grader: Boss Of Lunch (2009)?
I read this to the kindergarten class. In this slim entry, Junie (now a first grader) is allowed to help out her friend Mrs. Gutzman in the school cafeteria, but soon realizes that there are rules there too. I didn’t care too much for the other Junie book I read (Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth) in 2006; this time around, I was a bit more tolerant of Junie’s self-absorbed ways, and I really enjoyed the subtle humor, likely to go over most kids’ heads. This book seemed to have a more concrete lesson, which I appreciated. And her grammar has gotten better, as well.
—Ensiform
Reaction: I absolutely adore all of the Junie B Jones books, so I decided to reread this one. Junie is an interesting character that I loved when I was little. Reading as an adult, I found her bratty and disrespectful. However, the story line overall was nice. It seems to be appropriate for first graders to read.Independent: I feel like this would be good to suggest to girls in first grade. Junie experiences many things that girls at this age experience. IN this story in particular, she gets to do a very big job that gets to her head. She learns she can't be bossy and has to be respectful for everyone. This is important for all kids to know. Curriculum: I feel like this book would be a good for the beginnings sessions of a book talk. The story line and language is easy to comprehend so students will be able to remember what happens. The story line is pretty predictable too so the teacher can ask vague questions and still get an answer. The language isn't too hard so the student should have no problem understanding what is happening. I think it is also important that it is written in first person which is a good perspective a child can read in. This encourages independent writing too.
—Mackenzie Sipes
My Kindergartner brought this book home on library day. He and his brother (3 1/2) enjoyed the story and laughed out loud at several parts.A few of the jokes were over their heads and had to be explained.The book is written like a 7 year old would speak/think. In some ways, I don't mind the poor grammar at all (I'm no grammar police and I'm sure there is someone shuddering at the errors in this review), especially in the dialogue, since young children can easy relate to the characters.However the whole book is written in this way (ie "I looked at her real serious.") I guess I just feel that books geared toward children can be fun an whimsical, but should also set an example instead of reinforcing bad grammar, especially since this is just one book in a long series.
—Amy
