Barbara Park, author of the Junie B. Jones series, was born on this day.

Barbara Park was the author of over two dozen Junie B. Jones books, as well as several stories for older readers including My Mother Got Married and Other Disasters, Skinnybones, and Mick Harte Was Here. Park's books have earned a number of awards, including many children's choice and parents' choice award lists. Titles in the Junie B. Jones series continue to appear on bestseller lists.

Have your students write their own "Junie B." stories after brainstorming issues they've experienced during the school year.

• First have the group make a list of the Junie B. adventures in the books they've read (e.g., cheating, school play, losing a tooth).
  
  
• Then ask students to brainstorm a second list of ideas that would make interesting stories.
  
  
• Students can work alone or in pairs to write their stories, using one of the ideas from the class list. Have students use the interactive story map to plan their writing.
  
  
• After all stories have been completed, have each student or pair share their story with the class.
  

Have students turn their stories into books, with illustrations, and then work with your school or community librarian to create a library display of all the new stories.

• Junie B. Jones Classroom Club
  

  This Random House resource provides summaries and teacher's guides for all of the Junie B. Jones books. Links are provided to other book series resources as well.

   

• Barbara Park
  

  This resource contains a brief biography of Park as well as some notes and a list of some of her Junie B. Jones books.

   

• Barbara Park-Author
  

  This site provides links to resources about Barbara Park, including an interview in which she describes her experiences in writing the books.

   

• Junie B. Jones
  

  A website for kids, including a bibliography of Junie B. books, interactive and printable activities, as well as information about Park's books for older children.