Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim’s Birthday

Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim's Birthday is a very funny school story for 8 year olds about the one child in Room Nine who isn't invited to the party.

What happens

Junie B. is in kindergarten and she has OPINIONS. So when that meanie Jim boasts on the school bus about his birthday party, with a petting zoo and a real live pony, she tells him ponies stomp you into the ground.

Big mistake. Jim announces he's bringing invitations for every single person in Room Nine tomorrow. Everyone except her.

What follows is Junie B. trying every plan she can think of. She'll move her birthday from June to Saturday (nobody in Room Nine knows when it is anyway). She'll move house, to the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland. She'll buzz round Crybaby William like a bumblebee and snatch his invitation.

None of it goes well. Her teacher, who she just calls Mrs., has eyes like a hawk.

The whole book is in Junie B.'s own words, grammar and all. She "runned" and "hided" and her best friend is her "bestest". Some grown-ups wince at that. It's deliberate, and it's a big part of why she sounds like a real five-year-old talking. The sentences are short and punchy, which makes it lovely to read aloud.

You'll probably laugh at different bits from your reader. Dad quietly knocking his head on the kitchen table when she announces the Disneyland plan is a proper laugh-out-loud moment!

Underneath the jokes is a feeling most children know. Who hasn't been the only one left out? Junie B. hides under her covers and says all the mean things she can think of, where nobody can hear. Her grandma, her mum and dad and even the principal are kind to her about it. And the way it's all sorted out is funny, warm and not quite what you'd expect (there's a toilet involved).

It's an American school, so there's a trash can and a pledge of allegiance, but none of it will trip up a reader.

This is the sixth Junie B. Jones book. Junie B. introduces herself and her friends all over again as she goes, so it's a fine place to start.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, the next in the series is Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren. There's a new boy in another class who has been in a TV commercial, and Lucille, Grace and Junie B. all want him as their boyfriend.