by Barbara Park
Principal started asking me a jillion questions. Mostly they were questions about hiding in the supply closet.
“I’m a good hider,” I told him.
Principal acted a little bit grumpy. He said I wasn’t allowed to do that anymore.
“When you go to school, you have to follow the rules,” he said. “What would happen if every boy and girl hid in the supply closet after school?”
“It would be very smushy in there,” I said.
Then he made his eyes frowny. “But we wouldn’t know where anyone was, would we?” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “We would all be in the supply closet.”
Then Principal looked up at the ceiling. And I looked up, too. But I didn’t see anything again.
After that, Mother looked at my Band-Aids. “Did you hurt yourself?” she asked.
And so I told her all about the dangerous nurse’s office. And then I showed her the nurse’s purple sweater. And she made me give it back.
After that, everybody started leaving. The firemen. And the policemen. And also the tall lady with the bed.
Then finally, my mother got to take me home. And guess what? I didn’t have to ride on the stupid smelly bus.
Except the car wasn’t that fun. ’Cause Mother was grouchy at me.
“I’m sorry the bus wasn’t fun for you, Junie B.,” she said. “But what you did was very, very wrong. Didn’t you see all the commotion you caused? You had a lot of people very scared.”
“Yes, but I didn’t want chocolate milk poured on my head,” I explained to her.
“That’s not going to happen,” growled Mother. “And you can’t just suddenly decide for yourself not to ride the bus. Hundreds of kids ride buses every day. And if they can do it, you can do it, too.”
Then my eyes got wet again. “Yeah, but there’s meanies on that thing,” I said all sniffly.
Then Mother stopped being so growly.
“What if you had a friend to ride with?” she said. “Your teacher told me there’s a girl in your class who will be riding the bus for the first time tomorrow. Maybe you could sit together. Would you like that?”
I made my shoulders go up and down.
“Her name is Grace,” said Mother.
“Grace?” I said. “Hey! I know that Grace! I learned her today!”
And so when we got home, Mother called that Grace’s mother. And then they talked. And then me and that Grace talked too. I said hi and she said hi. And she said she would sit with me.
And so tomorrow I get to take my little red purse on the bus. And I get to put it on the seat next to me so nobody will sit there.
Nobody except for that Grace, of course.
And then she and me might get to be buddies. And we can hold hands. Just like me and Lucille.
I will like that, I think.
And guess what else?
Tomorrow I think I might like yellow a little bit, too.
Laugh out loud with Junie B. Jones!
#1 Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
#2 Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business
#3 Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth
#4 Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying
#5 Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake
#6 Junie B. Jones and That Meanie Jim’s Birthday
#7 Junie B. Jones Loves Handsome Warren
#8 Junie B. Jones Has a Monster Under Her Bed
#9 Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook
#10 Junie B. Jones Is a Party Animal
#11 Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy
#12 Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy
#13 Junie B. Jones Is (almost) a Flower Girl
#14 Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime
#15 Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket
#16 Junie B. Jones Is Captain Field Day
#17 Junie B. Jones Is a Graduation Girl
#18 Junie B., First Grader (at last!)
#19 Junie B., First Grader: Boss of Lunch
#20 Junie B., First Grader: Toothless Wonder
#21 Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants
#22 Junie B., First Grader: One-Man Band
#23 Junie B., First Grader: Shipwrecked
#24 Junie B., First Grader: BOO…and I MEAN It!
#25 Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May.)
#26 Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-ha-ha!
#27 Junie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny
Top-Secret Personal Beeswax: A Journal by Junie B. (and me!)
Junie B.’s Essential Survival Guide to School
About the Author
“I never missed the bus on purpose,” says Barbara Park. But she admits that she did go to the principal’s office for talking too much in class. “It’s funny,” she adds “because now principals actually want me to come talk in their classrooms!”
The author of ten hilarious books for middle-grade readers, Barbara Park has received many awards, including seven children’s choice awards and four Parents’ Choice awards. She lives in Arizona with her husband, Richard, and their two sons, Steven and David.
Text copyright © 1992 by Barbara Park.
Illustrations copyright © 1992 by Denise Brunkus.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by
Random House, Inc., and simultaneously in Canada by
Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Park, Barbara. Junie B. Jones and the stupid smelly bus/
Barbara Park; illustrated by Denise Brunkus. p. cm.
“A First stepping stone book.” SUMMARY: In her own words,
a young girl describes her feelings about starting
kindergarten and what she does when she decides not
to ride the bus home.
eISBN: 978-0-307-75484-4
[1. Kindergarten—Fiction. 2. School buses—Fiction.
3. Schools—Fiction.]
I. Brunkus, Denise, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.P2197Ju 1992 [E]-dc20 91–51104
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