Search Results for: blog junie b jones and captain underpants too

Great Books for Ten-Year-Old Girls

My co-author for this blog is my ten-year-old daughter, Caryn. She’s been reading a lot this year and we’d like to share with you some of the books that she has enjoyed the most. 1. “The Pixie Tricks” series by Tracey West. Violet Briggs is given the job of tricking pixies who have escaped from the Otherworld and come into ours. Her helper in this quest is Sprite, a green pixie who has been given the title of Royal Pixie Tricker by Queen Mab. (Click here for a complete review) Caryn says: “Pixie Tricks are very fun books. It’s well … Continue reading →

The Dragon Books by Dav Pilkey

Dav Pilkey is not only the author of the somewhat controversial “Captain Underpants” books; he is the author of a charming series of books for smaller readers about an adorable dragon, named, appropriately, Dragon. Each book, while it shares the same theme throughout, is broken up into smaller chapters so that if your reader gets tired easily, they can make it “all the way through” a chapter and feel the sense of accomplishment without wearing themselves out. The first book I’m reviewing is called “A Friend for Dragon.” In the first chapter, Dragon is looking for a friend, but all … Continue reading →

The Good, the Bad, and the Inappropriate: Banning Books from Your Child’s School Library

I first started thinking about this issue when Tristi Pinkston wrote a review of the Junie B. Jones books. One commenter felt like Junie’s grammar was atrocious and so she wasn’t thrilled her daughter was reading them, but I feel like they will eventually be part of the ‘modern classics’ along with Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume. Then I read an article about a mother who is apparently engaged in a fight with the Georgia Board of Education to remove the popular Harry Potter books claiming that they encourage witch craft among young children. Here comes my dilemma. While I … Continue reading →

Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants, Too!

In the comment trail for my review on Junie B. Jones, Valorie and Rex each left a comment that sparked an idea in my mind for this blog. Thanks, guys! Rex commented on the bad grammar used in the series, and Valorie replied that it was vernacular, and that many of the great classics were written using a vernacular. I would like to agree with both of you, and then to tell all of our readers the particular reason why I find this vernacular to be useful in my family. As you have probably noticed, we’re a homeschooling family. Each … Continue reading →

The Captain Underpants Books – Dav Pilkey

I had heard about Captain Underpants many a time and frankly, the whole idea didn’t thrill me all that much. I don’t care for underwear jokes and wanted to establish a higher level of thinking within the heads of my young, gullible, impressionable children. However, one day my husband took the children to the library. Without proper supervision (i.e. without nagging wife) he allowed my son to check out the book. I wasn’t terribly amused. They were three chapters into it before I discovered the misdeed, and they were laughing their heads off. After reading my husband the riot act, … Continue reading →