What do You think about Junie B. Jones And The Stupid Smelly Bus (1992)?
I loved reading Junie B. Jones books when I was younger. "Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus" is the first of the series and is a good book to include in your classroom because it talks about the being scared of coming to school the first day. Junie B. Jones, who is a kindergartner, does not even want to step foot on the bus because there may be "meanies" on it. She ends up hiding in her teacher's closet until everyone leaves the school to go home. When she comes out, she goes on an adventure around the school and gets to do things she normally would not be able to, such as playing with the nurse's equipment. A janitor finds Junie B. and her mother has her sit with a classmate the next day on the bus.To include this in the classroom, teachers can have their students write about something that they were scared of when they first started going to school. They can also discuss what rumors are and how they get started. They can discuss their effect on people as well and how they can spread. What can students do to prevent rumors from spreading? It would be nice for the students to share some of the things that they may have heard before coming to school that they were worried or scared about. This could really open up the classroom to forming a community by students seeing that everyone has something that they are worried about when coming to school. They can also talk about how to deal with what they are worried or scared about and how they can help a friend.
—Kaitlyn Steckbeck
“Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus”The book starts off with Junie starting school for the first time. She meets the teacher and likes her. She is anxious and excited about starting school. The only problem is, she is worried about riding the bus. When she first gets off the bus, she starts her day of school and gets shown around the school. Some kids tell stories about older kids being mean on the bus, so Junie was scared and hid in the closet. After everyone left, she was able to explore the school on her own. She ends up dialing 9-1-1 when she had to go to the bathroom because it was an emergency. That night her mother comforts her and tells her about Grace, a girl she could sit next to on the bus.Junie is a kindergartner who is just starting school. She is a little obnoxious because she wants attention. She goes from being scared to ride the bus to feeling comfortable doing it because of her friend Grace.The primary setting is at Junie’s school in room nine. The time period is over the course of a weekend when she goes to to Open House through the weekend and then the start of school.The theme of the story is to observe first before becoming the center of attention. It’s okay to take in what’s going on around you before giving your opinion or asking a lot of question.I would recommend this book to both girls and boys who might enjoy a short story with a good message.
—Norberto Leyva
I have heard so much about how great these books are so we decided to check them out. I can't think of a single thing from this book that was a "good example" for the kids. None of the people say anything kind or helpful. Many things are described as "stupid, "hate," and "dumb." My kids don't talk that way .. do others really? Do we want to encourage this? The kids and I talked about how it is sometimes fun to read about someone doing things they are not supposed to do and how it can be fun to imagine it and not actually do it. But even they were not impressed with this book and said that everyone is not nice. In fact my 7 year old said she "dislikes" (happily surprised she did not co-opt "hate") this book. I also find it strange when authors chose to have their characters speak incorrectly to be "authentic" but I chose to read the sentences in the correct form so as not to confuse my kids. I understand that perhaps the humor is meant to be over-the-top (and the incorrect words are supposed to be cute .. is it written that way for adults or kids?) .. but it did not work for us.
—Denise
