Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime by Barbara Park

1 / Party Ideas
    My name is Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except I don’t like Beatrice. I just like B and that’s all.
    I go to school in Room Nine. Room Nine is where they have afternoon kindergarten.
    Also they have morning kindergarten. Only I am not familiar with that arrangement.
    Today at school, my teacher had a ’nouncement to make.
    A ’
nouncement
is the school word for
listen to me…and I MEAN it.
    My teacher’s name is Mrs. She has another name, too. But I just like Mrs. and that’s all.
    Mrs. told us that we are going to have a special day in Room Nine. And it is called Valentime’s Day.
    She said that valentimes are special cards about friendship. And all of us in Room Nine are going to give them to each other!
    My bestest friend Lucille squealed real happy.
    “Oooo! I love getting cards, Teacher!” she said. “I especially love getting the kind with money in them. Money is my favorite kind of mail!”
    “Me, too, Lucille!” I said. “Money is my favorite kind of mail, too. Plus also I enjoy the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes.”
    Mrs. did a chuckle.
    “Well, I’m sorry, girls. But I’m afraid there won’t be money in our valentines,” she said. “In Room Nine we will just be sending happy wishes to each other. But it will still be lots of fun.”
    She smiled.
    “We will be making a special valentines box to hold all the cards. And on the day of our party, I will personally deliver the cards to each one of you,” she explained.
    Just then, I jumped right out of my chair. ’Cause nobody even mentioned a party before!
    “Hurray!” I yelled. “Hurray for parties! Can we have cake and doughnuts, Mrs.? And what about cheese popcorn and cotton candy and pretzels and candy apples?”
    I thought some more.
    “Plus also we’ll need red licoriceand peanut butter cups, probably. And chocolate-covered raisins. Oh yeah, and malted milk balls! AND GUMMI BEARS!”
    I looked over at her.
    “Maybe you should be writing this down,” I said.
    Mrs. shook her head no. She said we would have cupcakes, punch, and candy hearts.
    I sat back down very disappointed.
    ’Cause not much thought went into the menu, that’s why.
    Lucille stood up.
    “What kind of punch, Teacher?” she asked. “Will it have fresh raspberries and strawberries floating in it? My nanna’s caterer always puts fresh raspberries and strawberries into our punch. And it is delicious.”
    After that, Lucille twirled around in her fluffy dress.
    “And what about dancing? I am learning ballroom dancing at my expensive dancing school. And so I would be happy to teach the children who are cheaper than me.”
    Mrs. stared at Lucille a real long time.
    “How very generous of you,” she said finally. “But I don’t think we’ll be having ballroom dancing, Lucille.”
    Jamal Hall waved his hand in the air.
    “Then what about a puppet show?” he asked. “If we can’t have dancing, can we have a puppet show?”
    “Yes,” said a girl named Lynnie. “Or else maybe we could hire a magician.”
    “Or what about a wild animal act?” asked a boy named Roger. “Like a grizzly bear or a sea lion?”

    Just then, a boy named Paulie Allen Puffer ran right to the front of the room. And he jumped up and down all over the place.
    “NO! WAIT! I’VE GOT IT! I’VE GOT IT!” he shouted real excited. “WE COULD GET SOME OF THOSE JUGGLERS WHO JUGGLE CHAIN SAWS!”
    After that, Room Nine clapped and whistled and hooted and hollered.
    ’Cause who doesn’t love chain-saw jugglers? That’s what I would like to know!
    After we finished clapping, we looked at Mrs.
    Her head was on her desk. And her eyes were staring out the door.
    Then all of the children in Room Nine got very quiet.
    ’Cause Mrs. was scaring us a little bit.
    Plus also we were out of party ideas.

2 / Scribble Scraps
    The next day, me and my bestest friend named Grace were playing on the playground.
    And guess what?
    We saw Mrs. carry a giant box into Room