Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed

Title: Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed
Genre: Audiobook
Author: Barbara Park
Major Awards: None
Age Group: Kindergarten-3rd grade

This is the story of Junie B. Jones finding out that maybe monsters really do exist. On picture day, Junie B. wears a sweater with a dinosaur on it. She tells classmate, Paulie Allen Puffer that dinosaurs aren't even real anymore, but she still likes them. This prompts him to bring up the fact that dinosaurs may not be real, but monsters sure are. This stuns Junie B., and she argues that they aren't real, even her parents say so. Paulie Allen says that his seventh grade brother says that they are real, and this is why there is droll on your pillow when you wake up. Junie B. then goes on a mission to prove to herself that monsters, in fact, are not real. She questions her classmates, saying "Guess what, there's no such thing as monsters. There's really, really, not. So a monster doesn't even live under my bed probably, right?" Her classmates all ignore her, making her even more frustrated. On the bus ride home that day, she asks Grace sitting next to her this same question. To her surprise, Grace tells her that monsters really might live under her bed because monsters turn themselves invisible so that nobody can see them. Junie B. becomes very scared after this, and spends the whole night awake in bed. The next day, Junie B. starts talking to Grace about monsters again, and Grace says that she found a way to get rid of them, by sucking them up in the vacuum cleaner and then putting the bag in a trash compacter. Junie B. gets home that day, and vacuums under her bed, but realizes she doesn't have a trash compacter in her house, so the monster can still be real. She again stays up all night worrying about the monster. The next day at school, the students receive their school pictures. Junie B.'s is hideous, and everyone makes fun of the face she is making in the photo. This gives her a bright idea; she will put her scary picture under her bed to scare away the monster! In the end, she does just that and is never scared of monsters again. 

I will most definitely have this book, along with many other Junie B. Jones books in my classroom one day! This series was one of my favorites in early elementary school, and I still love them today. I definitely caught myself laughing out loud while listening to this audiobook! Junie B. is a hilarious character, which is one of the many reasons children love to read these books so much. 

I would say that Kindergarten through third grade is the best age group for this book. Like Junie B., many young children are scared of monsters hiding under their bed, and could definitely relate to Junie B. because of that! The book is also a very easy read, with short and easy-to-sound-out words on the pages. It also is a very short chapter book, making it perfect for new readers. Although I think this would be tough for a Kindergartener to read on their own, it would be perfect for a read aloud! 

In my classroom, we could make "monster traps", and the students could put them under their bed at night for fun. We could also design our own monsters out of craft supplies! I could also give them a sequence of events from the story, and they would have to put the events from the story in order. We could also talk about character traits, and I could give them a worksheet on Junie B., and they would have to write traits she exhibited in the story.