Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentine (Junie B. Jones Series #14) Book

One of the little girls who I brought to the zoo on Saturday had two Junie B. Jones books with her, and asked if I'd like to read one. I eagerly accepted, having heard good things about them and wanting to know what all the fuss was about.

This was a really cute book, I'll admit. I of course knew the ending well before the end, but that's probably because I'm 28 and not 7. Junie gets a fancy mushy valentine from a secret admirer and then sets out to solve the mystery of who sent it. Along the way we get a lot of cute antics from the independent and talkative five year old.

But I must say, I'm surprised/impressed kids can read this and do well with it. Or either that, the particular 7 year old I am with is a better reader than most. The author tries to write as if Junie is talking/thinking, so it jumps around quite a bit, as an easily distracted five-year-old would. Not only that, but many of the words are spelled wrong (valentime, nouncement) and the sentence grammar is wrong and the sentences go on and on (like, well, a five-year old). I think it would be a great, funny book to read aloud to a small child, but I would think these intentional errors would make it more difficult for someone who is just getting to the chapter book stage of reading.