Junie B. Jones

Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park

rating: 1 of 5 stars

There are some books that giving my honest thoughts about does not bother me at all. But this one is different. It's with sadness that I report my thoughts and thus place this book (& most likely series) into my "do not read" category.
While I laughed hysterically at many points as I listened to this with my daughter (audio book!), I also was quite bothered by the use of "stupid" and "hate". Junie B mentioned several times that she hated one of her classmates and used the term stupid about multiple things. While I don't have a problem with those words, I do have a problem with they way they were used and of course the fact that a 5 year old was using them.

So despite the cute stories and great humor, I will not let my daughters listen or read this series and I would encourage other mom's to not let their daughters either. My children pick up to quickly wrong things to do, say, and think. I don't need to teach them to say they hate people when they do things they don't like, nor do they need to be taught to call random objects stupid just because the don't like it at the moment.

I hope I can find another series that will be just as funny without the bad influence. Or better yet...it would be great if the author would revise the books!