Junie B Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth - Review

Junie B Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth (Junie B. Jones, # 3)

By: Barbara Park

Expected Publication: August 24th 1993 by Random House Children's Books (first published 1993)

69 pages

Genre: Children's Fiction, Humor

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Sometimes life is P.U.

Junie B.'s having a rough week. First she got punishment for shooting off her mouth in kindergarten. And now she's in big trouble again! 'Cause Monday is Job Day, and Junie B. told her class that she's got the bestest job of all. Only, what the heck is it?

My daughter is now 6.5 years old. She's finished kindergarten and can finally read. Over the last two years, we've dipped our toe into the world of chapter books. I've read The Little House on the Prairie, Mercy Watson to the Rescue, and we started reading The Secret Garden. I've been wanting to do more read-alouds with the kids, so I looked at what the elibrary had available to borrow immediately and saw some Junie B Jones. I knew nothing about the series, except I remember my niece reading them when she was younger.

Guys, I struggled with this one. For one, Junie B. Jones does have a terribly sassy, disrespectful mouth. I didn't like how she talked to her friends, the kids that were not her friends, her teacher, her parents, or well...anybody. She also has terrible grammar. I don't know if the goal was trying to make her sound young, but if so, I don't think the execution was successful. She just sounds uneducated. And rude. And mean. And I even found myself editing her words while I was reading.

I guess some people could find her humorous, but I don't think I'll be seeking out any more Junie B Jones books for my kids for read-alouds. Of course, we can read books and easily see what we don't want to do by what the characters do and the consequences, but I would prefer read books with better role models for my kids. At the very least, I'd rather not be constantly reading out loud such bad grammar to them. And at most, I don't want to need to edit a children's book language for my kids.

Junie B Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth gets 3 Stars. The kids liked it. But from a parent standpoint, I don't think I can recommend it. And I don't think we'll be reading any other Junie B. Have you read Junie B Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth? What did you think? Let me know!