Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy

Kindle about $5   Paperback about $5
Pros: Child riveting prose, great illustrations,  Child and adult  friendly,  just plain fun read

Cons: none noted
Junie B Jones is a Beauty Shop Guy follows a 70 or so page, 8 or 9 chapter format found in many of the other Junie B. books.
Junie B., B for Beatrice, AKA Pinkie Gladys Gutzman, which is the loveliest, cutest name Junie B. knows. Junie is a precocious youngster who charms adults and children alike.  Childlike, Junie B. really cannot understand why her Daddy is not quite so thrilled with her new name.

A trip to the barber shop appearing in Chapter 2 brings Pinkie Gladys Gutzman not to the shop where Daddy usually gets his hair cut but to a beauty shop which causes Junie, ummm Pinkie to shout to the world that her Daddy is going to a Beauty Shop. Meeting the beauty shop lady, Maxine, who also wore a name tag set the scene for some floor sweeping shenanigans at the shop as Pinkie Junie served as Maxine’s helper.
Before long Junie B. is practicing hair cutting and snip, snip, snipping. Philip, Junie’s bestest elephant volunteered to be first, only, made of smooth velvet, he had no fur.  Next to volunteer were Junie’s bunny slippers with the long white fur.  They were not pleased. And their fur did not grow back.
Junie B. flung them under her bed. Who knew bunny fur does not grow back.

Monday at school a glum Junie B. confided her dashed hopes for becoming a beauty shop guy to her bestest friend Grace. Grace’s aunt IS a beauty shop guy and she has already told Grace that she can be the shampoo girl.  And, maybe Aunt Lola will let Junie be a shampoo girl too.
Of course becoming a shampoo girl is going to take practice.
Home from school, and before long Teddy is a sog ball covered with shampoo and water and under the bed he went.  Unfortunately Junie’s dog Tickle chose that moment to scratch at the door.  It didn’t take long before Junie was busy trimming his fur.

Hearing the sound of her Mother’s step in the hallway; Junie tried without much success to push Tickle under the bed.
Running down the hall and out into the yard did no good; Mother is speedier than she looks.
By morning Junie realized her problem trying to trim hair, Tickle has dog hair.

Junie is sure that she can trim people hair, her own, just fine.  So she snip, snip, snipped; first bangs then sides, some top and some back, and then she tried to even up the bangs.  And, they just kept getting tiltier and tiltier.  So she took a big chunk and cut it right off.
How Junie solves her problem with the sprigs of hair she has left before setting out for school  is a chuckle unto itself.
Boys and Girls alike, Osage County First Grade enjoys the Junie B books. As always Junie B is the focus of the tale told in child friendly verbiage and filled with the impossibly child single-mindedness I see exhibited on a daily basis in the classroom.
Illustrations are perfect accompaniment to the text. That writer Park and illustrator Brunkus know their kids is obvious.
The situations in which Junie B finds herself, the  noise and shouting and fixated notions surrounding Junie B are convincing, not forced or unreliable.
Filled with anticipation, resolve and inventiveness; Junie B behaves much as do many 5 year olds; noisy, notionate and determined.
Has there been a child alive who had not cut their own hair?
Daddy came home from work to find my Mother laying in bed and whimpering, holding my long braids, one in each hand and near tears.  Youngest sister cut herself bangs half way to the top of her head.  My own youngest son took scissors to his hair the day before picture day at day care when he was little.   Has there been a child alive who had not cut their own hair?
A book about scissors, a five year old and hair is one sure to please Little Readers.
And, Junie B Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy does just that.
12 thumbs up from Osage County First Grade, I am happy to recommend Junie B Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy as a read to book for the younger set ages 3-7 and as a read with help for the 6 and 7s. Children with strong reading skills will enjoying read the book to themselves, younger siblings or to others in the classroom.
Price varies by when and where the book is purchased. I found several Junie B. books, paperbacks for little to nothing at the local jumble shop.  Because they are already well loved, and didn’t cost much; Junie B. books are carried home nearly every evening by Osage County Little Readers for reading to parents.
 
Product Details
Age Range: 6 – 9 years
Reading Level: read to younger set and old children too during evening cuddle time
Read with help first grade readers
Read alone to other second grade and older
Paperback: 80 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (June 16, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0679889310
ISBN-13: 978-0679889311
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.2 inches