Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus

Title: Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
Author: Barbara Park
Number of Pages: 69
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Copyright Date: 1992
Grade Level: Primary – Intermediate (2-6)
Honors/Awards: None
Type of Book: Easy Reader

Synopsis:
Junie B. Jones is off to her first day of kindergarten, except there’s one problem: she doesn’t want to ride the bus. This book is the first in a large series of Junie B. Jones books. It begins with Junie B. meeting her teacher on “Meet the Teacher Day.” She can’t remember her teacher’s whole name, so she just calls her Mrs. At “Meet the Teacher Day,” Junie B. finds out that she will be riding the bus to school, which makes her a little bit scared, because she has never ridden on a bus before. Her mom tells her not to worry, but she worries anyways.
On the first day of school, Junie B. gets on the bus, but a girl wouldn’t let her sit next to her. She put her purse down on the seat and said that she was saving it for her friend. So Junie B. sits in a different seat. But a boy named Jim who was very grumpy sat next to her, and when Junie B. tried to unzip his backpack he yelled at her and moved to a different seat. As people started to pile on to the bus, it got loud and hot. Junie B. decided that she hated the bus.
In school, Mrs. Has the children write their names on name tags and draw pictures of their families. She also brings them on a tour of the school. She has to have a buddy, so she and a girl named Lucille hold hands. Lucille tells her that on the bus ride home, people pour chocolate milk on your head. On the tour, Junie B. learns about the nurse’s office and the principal’s office and the bathrooms (there are two – one for girls where no boys are allowed and one for boys where no girls are allowed). A boy named William has “an emergency” and goes into the boy’s bathroom.
When it is time to line up to get on the bus, Junie B. hides in the supply closet so that she won’t have to get on the bus. When she has hid in the closet for a while, she gets out and starts playing with the art supplies that Mrs. has. Then she decides to go to the Media Center, where she almost gets caught by the school janitor, or, as she calls him, “the man with the can.” So Junie B. looks for a better hiding place in the nurse’s office. Here she puts Band-Aids all over her body, pretends to make calls on the phone, and finally tries to use crutches that are too big for her. This makes her fall down and hit her head on the desk. She runs out of the nurse’s office into the cafeteria, where she realizes that she needs to go to the bathroom, so she runs to the girl’s room, but the door is locked. The boy’s room is locked too, and it’s an emergency! Then she remembers what her mom told her to do if there is ever an emergency – call 9-1-1.
Junie B. runs to the nurse’s office and dials 9-1-1. She tells the woman on the other line that it is an emergency and all the doors are locked, but when the woman keeps telling her to calm down, she hangs up the phone.
She runs outside, not knowing what else to do, and finds that an ambulance, a fire truck, and a police car had shown up at her school. The janitor comes running out and yelling for Junie B. to stop running, and when Junie B. tells him about her emergency, he brings her into the school and unlocks the door to the girl’s room. Mrs., Junie B.’s mom, and the principal come out and scold Junie B. for hiding and not getting on the bus. When Junie B. gets home, her mom tells her about a girl who will be riding the bus for the first time the next day, and she suggests that Junie B. sit next to her. Junie B. likes that idea, and decides that she will bring her purse to school and set it next to her on the bus to save a seat for her new friend, Grace.

Commentary:
All of the Junie B. Jones books are hilarious for those of us who are fluent readers and can understand the humor in her grammatical errors and the mind of a rambunctious kindergartener. I would hesitate to use this book with children who are just learning to read, or who are having trouble with grammar. The good thing, though, about using this book with very young children is that there are many opportunities for teaching moments. Discussions of respecting authority, being nice to other children, and using your inside voice may be a necessity with this book. Junie B. can be disrespectful at times, and she certainly doesn’t treat everyone in her class as a friend.

Teaching Ideas:

• Use passages from the book for children to correct as a grammar/writing assignment


• Junie B. noticed that the name “Lucille” sounds like a seal. Come up with what animal your name sounds like, and talk about spelling differences


• Make name tags on big circles, just like Junie B.’s class did


• Talk about safety, and the meaning of the word “emergency.” Emphasize when it is appropriate to call 9-1-1 and when it isn’t, especially since this is not directly addressed in the book


• Talk about safety in school and on the bus


• Have the children write about a time that something happened to them on the bus, and what they did to make the situation better


• Write thank-you notes to the school bus driver

Related Books:
Books by Barbara Park:
Junie B. Jones series
The Kid in the Red Jacket
Almost Starring Skinny-Bones
Mick Harte Was Here
Books with a School Bus:
The Magic School Bus series by Scholastic Books, Inc.
Miss Honey’s School Bus by Richard Scarry

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen