Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake

Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake by Barbara Park is a very funny story for 8 year olds about a girl who has decided she is the best at winning.

What happens

Junie B. is in the afternoon kindergarten class and she tells you everything herself. She beats her grampa at Old Maid five times running, mostly by keeping the old maid card sticking up higher than the rest so he keeps picking it.

That settles it. She is the bestest game winner in the whole world.

Then she gets on the school bus and discovers that other children can win things too. Grace beats her at skipping. Lucille beats her at hopping. Neither of them is even slightly sorry.

Junie B. has an explanation ready for every defeat. Grace has bigger feet. Grace has pink high tops. The race was not fair and square.

Reading her is like listening to a small child who has not yet worked out that you can leave bits out. She brushed her teeth, except for the wiggly one. Her favourite jumper was in the dirty washing, but it did not even smell that much.

She is quite rude, which is most of the fun. Grace calls her a name and Junie B. pats her kindly and tells her she does not take criticism very well.

Then the teacher announces Carnival Night with hundreds of prizes, and Junie B. goes straight home to practise. She drops clothes pegs into a mop bucket. She putts a grapefruit round the house. She throws a wet sponge into the toilet and shouts bullseye.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Junie B. talks the way a very young child talks and it is printed exactly that way, so your reader gets I winned and I runned and bestest on every page. That is the joke of the whole series. Some parents love it and some cannot bear it, and it is better to know which you are before bedtime.

She is cheeky with grown ups as well. She yells at her baby brother to shut up his face in the opening pages, and gets told off for it.

What to read next

If your reader likes a girl with firm opinions about everything, try Judy Moody Was in a Mood. Judy is a bit older and facing a brand new school year she wants absolutely no part of.