Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
34 pages • 1-hour read
Barbara ParkJunie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
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Chapters 8-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “The Dangerous Nurse’s Office”
Junie B. runs to the nurse’s office, where she finds a box of Band-Aids. She dumps them all out and sticks several to the sites of past injuries. When she sees the nurse’s purple sweater, she puts it on and declares that she is the nurse. Junie B. pretends to call the hospital, ordering more supplies. Next, she pretends to call her classroom, asking Mrs. to send Jim to the office for a shot. Finally, she sees a pair of crutches and gets very excited. She tries to use them, but they are too tall, so she climbs onto the chair. When the chair starts to roll, Junie B. gets stuck, suspended from the crutches at an impossible height, before falling and banging her head. Yelling, she picks up the nurse’s phone again and hollers that she is quitting this “stupid job.” Junie B. decides that the office is a dangerous place and that crutches are no longer her favorite.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Zooming Speedy Fast”
Junie B. runs to the cafeteria, but the door is locked. Trying another door, she finds it locked, too. Next, Junie B. realizes that she needs to use the restroom, but that door is also locked. She starts yelling because this has become an emergency. She remembers that her mother told her that if she ever had an emergency, she should call 911. Junie B. runs back to the nurse’s office and shouts at the lady who answers her 911 call, saying that she’s all alone and needs help. The lady keeps telling her to “calm down,” but she can’t stand still. She runs outside and hears sirens. Suddenly, the custodian starts chasing her, calling her “Missy,” but she gets scared because that’s what people call her when she’s in trouble. She begins to cry and explains that she can’t hold it, that she’s having an emergency, and that the bathrooms are locked. The custodian grabs his keys and takes her hand, and they run back inside.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Me and That Grace”
The custodian unlocks the bathroom, and Junie B. manages not to have an accident. She washes her hands and notices the gold star still stuck to her forehead; it looks beautiful to her. When she leaves the bathroom, firefighters, police officers, Mrs., Mother, and Principal surround her. Principal is grouchy, and he tells Junie B. that she must follow the rules at school, asking her what would happen if all the students hid in the supply closet. She thinks that it would be very crowded, but the adults would know where to find everyone. Principal rolls his eyes, and Junie B. looks at the ceiling but sees nothing there.
On the ride home, Junie B.’s mother is grouchy, too. She tells Junie B. that her actions were wrong and scared many people. Junie B. explains that she didn’t want chocolate milk poured on her head. Her mother “growl[s]” and says that that won’t happen. She says that if all the other kids can ride the bus, she can, too. Junie B. starts to cry about the “meanies” on the bus. After that, Mother stops being grouchy and says that a girl called Grace will ride the bus for the first time tomorrow. Maybe Junie B. and Grace could sit together, Mother suggests, and Junie B. gets excited because she met Grace that day in class. That night, Junie B.’s mother calls Grace’s mother, and the girls talk. Junie B. starts to get excited about tomorrow, and she suspects that she might even like yellow just a little.
Chapters 8-10 Analysis
The climax of Junie B.’s story arrives when she has her bathroom emergency and runs outside. It is the moment of the most tension: The custodian yells and calls her “Missy,” she can hear sirens and see an ambulance and police cars entering the school’s parking lot, and she is trying desperately not to have an accident. Junie B. panics about needing the bathroom as well as the fact that the custodian uses the name she thinks she’s called only when she’s in trouble. This climax also helps to make it clear that the text’s main conflict is character versus society. Junie B. may have minor conflicts with Jim, Lucille, Mrs., and even Mother, but these are all indicative of a larger conflict between herself and a society that tends to expect too much of children or fail to listen to and assuage their concerns through explanations. Junie B. is expected to simply ride the bus, though the thought of it causes her such anxiety. She is expected to “follow the rules” while she’s at school (65), though she doesn’t know what all the rules are or why they are so important. Adults and other children frequently get “grouchy” with her, insisting that she be quiet, hurry up at the drinking fountain, ride the bus without complaint, and “calm down”; in short, people expect her to be obedient and quiet, even when she doesn’t know the rules she’s meant to follow and becomes too frustrated to remain calm. Her misbehavior demonstrates the theme of The Consequences of Dismissing Children’s Feelings.
When Mother dismisses Junie B.’s feelings about riding the bus, Junie B. tries to solve the problem herself, but, being five years old, she makes an inappropriate choice. She never considers the effects of her actions on others; she’s only seeking a way to avoid the thing that scares her. This is a strategy that many adults adopt, and yet the adults in Junie B.’s life fail to ask her why she did what she did and, instead, chastise her for doing it. Her attempts to problem solve indicate how ineffective this dismissal is. Junie B. mentions that Principal and Mother are “grumpy” with her, and Principal only reminds her to follow the rules, while her mother complains about all the people Junie B. frightened. It takes Junie B.’s tearful admission of what made her so frightened before her mother finally understands. Her choices further highlight the consequences of dismissing children’s feelings.
It is in the text’s falling action, when Mother finally listens to Junie B.’s concerns about riding the bus and addresses those fears, that Junie B.’s fears decline, and she becomes more compliant. This demonstrates the power of The Anxiety Created by New Rules and Experiences and the Human Desire for Independence and Control. Mother finds a way to make the bus ride more pleasant for Junie B. by setting her up with a new friend and reaching out to Grace’s mother so that the girls can chat before the next day. Further, in reassuring Junie B. that no one will dump chocolate milk on her head, Mother makes Junie B. feel better, lessening her anxiety in a way that simply telling her that she does want to ride the bus—when she knows very well she does not—cannot accomplish. When Junie B. felt that her life was out of her control—that she would be forced to ride the stupid, smelly, loud bus home and get chocolate milk poured on her head—she simply took steps to feel more in control and avoid the source of her anxiety.
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