Junie B.'s Essential Survival Guide to School

Children's Literature - Jacquie Skurla

Perennial first-grader Junie B. Jones is back, full of all the wisdom she has gained in surviving school for one and a half years. This time, she shares hints to make the school year a rousing success for her readers. Cleverly formatted as a ring-bound, composition-style black-and-white notebook, Park's Junie divides her wisdom into five sections. Written with Ms. Park's trademark humor, this book addresses the heft of a backpack, cautioning that the heaviest load is a bad note from a teacher. Rules of the bus are edged out by Junie's musings on the fantasy idea of a car pool, where children actually splash around in delight. Suggestions to stay out of trouble and what to do if one gets into trouble may not keep a child saintly, but the admonition that "[t]eachers are tattletales" may help. "Delightful" is a good word to describe this guide. Included in this 120-page, ring-bound book are stickers and button covers as well as a generous supply of blank pages for the reader to jot down her thoughts. Simple illustrations are mostly of the stick-and-ball variety. Although aimed at the beginning reader, many older primary children will certainly enjoy reading and writing in this book. Reviewer: Jacquie Skurla