Review:  Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth - Colleen AF Venable and Honie Beam -  May 2026 There are books you read, and then there are books that read you right back  cracking open a chapter of your childhood and handing it to you with a grin. Junie B. Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth, now reimagined as a full-colour graphic novel, did exactly that to me. Here's my confession: I was seven or eight years old when I first fell headlong into the world of Junie B. Jones. Barbara Park's junior fiction series was pure joy on a page ,  chaotic, hilarious, and narrated by a kindergartner with absolutely zero filter. I tore through those little chapter books like they were going out of fashion. Now, thirty-something years later, I find myself sitting down with the graphic novel adaptation and laughing just as loudly. Possibly louder. My family thinks I've lost the plot. Maybe I have, but I regret nothing. In this story, Junie B. has made one of her classic, spectacular blu...

Review: Junie B. Jones and The Stupid Smelly Bus - Adapted by Colleen AF Venable and Illustrated by Honie Beam - April 2025 As someone who devoured Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones books back in the mid-1990s, I was thrilled when Penguin Random House Kids Graphic offered me the chance to review this fresh adaptation of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus — now reimagined as a junior graphic novel. I vividly remember reading the original between 1994 and 1995, laughing at Junie B.’s sassy voice and wild adventures, and this graphic adaptation brought all those nostalgic feelings rushing back. The story follows Junie B. on her very first day of kindergarten, where she faces a massive hurdle: the dreaded school bus. From the title alone, you know exactly how Junie B. feels about the bus — she’s convinced it’s dirty, smelly, and full of mean kids. Her stubbornness, quirky logic, and hilarious antics shine through as she tries to navigate this new experience. Whether it’s deciding she’...