The purpose of this website is to look at several novels by young adult author Barbara Park, who has written the popular Junie B. Jones series. Her books have been challenged by several school districts for bad grammar and displays of disobedience This site will also explain the effects of book censorship and banning, as well as the motivating factors censorship has and how it affects society as a whole.
Why Have These Books Been Challenged?
The Junie B. Jones series came up as # 71 on the American Library Association's list of top 100 books banned in the 2000-2009 decade. The reason for the ban in some schools and libraries is due to the bad grammar, mispronunciation of words and encouragement of disobedience. In 2006, parents of the Wake County, NC schools challenged Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky, Peeky Spying for not adhering to family values. Years earlier, a parent from the Harmony Township school in NJ complained that Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus sent a bad message to kids about extreme emotions, like hate (Yakowicz). In reading the three books above, here are some examples of the bad grammar, misspelled words and disobedience:
Bad Grammar-"I springed up again"
-"My bestest friend named Grace waived her hand in the air" -"Me and that Grace rode the bus home together" -"Then me and her sat on the couch" -"Then I runned to the garage" -"I runned at my grandma very happy" -"I quick ran to the front door" -""And she digged in the dirt from her garden" -"And she runned right out of the room" -And me and him zoomed outside to the garden again" -"Grandma Miller stoled Sparkle!" -"But here is the bestest part of all!" |
Misspelled Words(At the end of someJunie B. Jones books, she writes in her journal, and these are where the misspelled words are found)
-desishun (decision) -confuzing (confusing) -baloony (bologna) -resonable (reasonable) -speeker (speaker) -resikaling (recycling) -dikshunary (dictionary) -brees (breeze) |
Disobedience-"No" Mother said, "You may not take a raccoon to class for show and tell." "YES YES YES" I said back.
-"No way, missy" mother said. "You are not bringing that fish to class!" "Yes, Mother, I will!" Junie said. |