Junie B. Jones Is Not a Crook
by Barbara Park · · 1997
When kindergarten student Junie B. loses her favorite mittens at school, she experiences firsthand how painful it is to have personal property taken. Later, after finding a flashy multi-colored pen on the school floor, she wrestles with whether keeping it under the rule of 'finders keepers' makes her a crook. Through her humorous internal struggle, she eventually learns a valuable lesson about honesty, empathy, and doing the right thing.
- Age range
- Ages 6–9
- Category
- Early Chapter Books
- ISBN
worldview score
Content ratings
0 means absent, 5 means heavy and central.
Contains rude, disrespectful, or poorly modelled behaviour some families will want to talk through.
Heads up: bad behavior / disrespect feature prominently in this book.
Parent notes
Barbara Park's Junie B. Jones series is well known for capturing the authentic, often exaggerated inner monologue of a young child. While Junie B. frequently uses incorrect grammar, displays a sassy attitude, and calls classmates names, the core story centers on her developing conscience. Parents reading alongside younger children can use Junie B.'s poor linguistic and behavioral habits as teaching moments while affirming her eventual choice to follow the Golden Rule.
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Discussion questions
- 1Walk through how losing her beloved black mittens affected Junie B.'s feelings, and explain what that personal heartbreak ended up costing her peace of mind when she found the multi-color pen.
- 2Faced with the temptation to keep the shiny pen under 'finders keepers' rules, Junie B. struggled with her decision—would a follower of Jesus treat finding lost property as an opportunity to keep it or as a chance to serve the person who lost it?
- 3How does Junie B.'s ultimate decision to take the pen to the principal's Lost and Found mirror the biblical instruction in Luke 6:31 to treat others as we wish to be treated?
- 4What sustained Junie B.'s inner tug-of-war against her own selfish desires long enough for her to do the right thing despite how much she wanted to keep the pen?
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