During my years of working at a bookstore, I have become very familiar
with the popularity of Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones series, but until
the other day, I had never actually read beyond the back-cover blurb.
When my friend Libbie picked up a couple of the books at a block sale, I
got my first full dose of Junie B., a sort of latter-day Ramona Quimby.
The books are divided into chapters and run about 60 pages each, but
the large print and the many illustrations make them easy for an adult
to devour in well under an hour. I began my immersion with Junie B. Jones and A Little Monkey Business, the second book in the series.
In the first 17 Junie B. Jones books, the protagonist is a spunky
kindergartener. While Beverly Clearly gets readers into Ramona's head,
those books are still written in the third person, while Junie narrates
these stories herself. That means that there is a lot of improper
grammar, as Junie isn't anywhere near mastery of the English language
yet. It also means that everything is filtered through her limited
understanding. Denise Brunkus's illustrations are detailed and full of
expression, and Junie herself is usually the focus of them. Aside from
the cover art, these pictures are all in black and white.
Monkey Business
opens with Junie reacting to her parents' announcement that they have a
surprise for her. It's a rather troubling scene because it is
reminiscent of a typical day in the Dursley household in the Harry Potter
books, with spoiled young Dudley ranting and raving because he wants
something and it isn't being delivered quickly enough for his liking.
When Junie hears "surprise," she thinks "present," and when it turns out
that what her parents have instead is news of an impending baby, she
behaves in a manner that is most unbecoming.
Later in the
book, after Junie has adjusted to the idea of sharing her home with a
sibling, she encourages a bidding war between her best friends Lucille
and Grace, both of whom want to be the first to see her newborn brother.
Lucille, who comes from an affluent family, is the one who plants the
idea in her head by offering Junie temporary ownership of her locket in
exchange for first dibs. Junie thinks that allowing Grace the chance to
pay her off as well is only fair, though of course it would have been
better to tell both girls that they could see her brother soon, no
charge. This scene reminds me of Tom Sawyer's fence-painting con, in
which the rascal manages to make his chore sound so appealing that his
friends start paying him whatever they can find for the privilege of
participating. It ceases to be funny, however, as Junie begins to feel
that she is entitled to everything of value that both of her friends
possess, whether it's fancy new shoes or snack tickets. The tantrum and
the extortion are the most unseemly moments in the book.
Junie
is more willfully naughty than Ramona. However, some of the mistakes
that she makes are simple misunderstandings that become magnified when
coupled with her forceful personality. The biggest misunderstanding in
this book has to do with idioms and serves as a reminder that for those
just learning the language, these phrases can be very confusing. In this
instance, Junie's grandma describes the new baby as a "cute little
monkey" with long fingers and loads of dark hair, which leads Junie to
believe that her brother is literally a monkey. I thought this was a
clever premise on which to hang a story, and I liked the compassionate,
level-headed way the principal responds to the situation, turning an
embarrassing mistake into a learning experience for everyone.
My favorite character aside from the principal is Frank Miller, Junie's
grandpa. We don't see him very much, but he's a warm and funny man who
seems especially adept at understanding how a kid's mind works. He makes
her waffles and plays games with her, and because of his attention,
Junie is too busy having fun to feel left out of the birth process. I
have a vivid recollection of waking up in the middle of the night in
September of 1988 to the sight of my grandparents; when I asked if the
baby had been born yet, Grandpa assured me, "Well, he's thinkin' about
it!" He didn't live to see my brother's first birthday, so I'm
especially glad that we were able to share such a landmark event.
Now that I've read a couple of books in Park's series, I would say that
they're not nearly as classic as Cleary's books. For one thing, there
are many more of them, with nearly 30 in the series so far as opposed to
eight Ramona books. For another, they are considerably shorter, and
some are likely to find the writing style annoying. Additionally,
Junie's behavior tends to be a little bit more intentionally bratty than
Ramona's.
On the other hand, the books are very funny, and
Junie usually walks away from her latest adventure wiser in some way,
and perhaps chastened. The principal is a great example of a school
administrator who truly cares about the students in his care and strikes
a good balance between strict and understanding in dealing with
transgressions. Moreover, as Junie discovers new words, she passes her
knowledge onto readers with custom definitions that entertain as they
inform, which reminded me a bit of Lemony Snicket.
I'd recommend these books for young readers, preferably a little bit
older than Junie so they will come into it with a solid understanding of
what constitutes appropriate behavior, especially in school. In any
case, I advise parents to familiarize themselves with the stories so
that even if the children read them on their own, some frank
parent-child discussions can follow. Junie has many lessons to teach,
but most are by negative example, so it's important to talk about why
some of the things she does are out of line and what might be a better
way of handling the situation. As long as young readers approach it with
that spirit, Junie B. Jones and A Little Monkey Business is a bundle of fun.
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