Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny by: Barbara Park

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Random House

Copyright Date: 2007

Number of Pages: 119

Reading Level: 4-8

Summary:

Junie B. Jones is in Mr. Scary's first grade class. One day Lucille announces that she will be having a birthday party and that everyone is invited! Lucille is rich and she has a huge mansion so all the kids are excited to go. She announces that there will be an Easter Egg hunt and whoever finds the golden egg will win a grand prize: a swimming play date with her! Junie is excited and determined to find the golden egg. However, so are other kids in the class, including Sheldon and May. Sheldon starts flirting with Lucille and everyone knows its because he wants to win the prize.

When the day comes Junie wakes up really early to get ready for the party, even though it isn't until lunch time. She waits and waits... finally its time to go to the party. She and her classmates show up around the same time and are greeted by Lucilles parents and Nanny. They are very stuck up people who don't like kids much. Once Junie spent the night at Lucilles and she did such damage that the maid still hadn't forgotten her. The parents have all the kids get into a "nice straight line," and they take them to the back. There are picnic tables set up with nice dishes and food. They all sit down for their picnic and they are served by their kitchen staff. It is really fancy.

There was a rumor that the Easter Bunny was coming. The kids were all excited. As lunch came to an end, Lucille's dad brought out a bag. In the bag was a jar full of jelly beans. They were going to play a game. There was only one purple jelly bean and whoever picked out the purple jelly bean got a special prize. Junie was determined to win, and she did! She pulled out the purple jelly bean! She got the prize that was all wrapped up. As she opened it, it was a giant bunny suit. Apparently the person who was supposed to be the Easter Bunny didn't want to come. Junie was disappointed because now she had to be the dumb bunny! Then she found out that she got to take pictures with all of the party guests and she got excited.

The egg hunt started. Junie couldn't go very fast because of her big bunny feet. But, according to Lucille's dad, there was no running allowed, so she was good. May suspected that Lucille told Sheldon where the golden egg was... So, May stuck to him like glue. He had the habit of yelling out every time he found an egg, so every time, May would sneak in and snach it from him. Junie had given up on the egg hunt. She was sitting on a rock pouting a bit when she saw something golden in the grass. It was the golden egg!! She started to run to get it just as Sheldon and May did the same thing. When the tackling ended it was Junie's hand that was on top of the egg. She ended up giving the egg to Sheldon because, afterall, he was Lucille's boyfriend. May was sulky. Junie got to give the person with the most eggs collected a giant bouquet of flowers to take home. It was a good day.

Who would benefit from reading this book/ who would I recommend this book to?

This is a cute book that is fit for any young child. I think that the humor in it is great and Junie is a very likeable character. I would recommend this to everyone.

What problems/conflicts could this book potentially cause?

It doeas involve Easter which is a religious holiday, but it doesn't talk about Christ or anything.

My Reaction: This is the first Junie B. Jones book that I have ever read. I thought it was really cute. It was an easy read and it is definately something that I would read to my kids someday.