I find the term perfect child to be an oxymoron.
Even though sometimes you can control your anger, you can't control your sadness.
Can't we be friends?' I hate your guts, Frankovitch' Can't our guts be friends?
Our nannas are losers.
Moving makes you feel all alone inside.
The upside to grief is it takes away your appetite. When people say you look good they really mean it. Nature's thoughtful that way.
I don't even like clowns. Clowns are not normal people.
My senior year of high school, I was voted Wittiest. So, several years later, I decided to try my hand at writing humor to see if I could be witty enough to make some money.
A little glitter can turn your whole day around.
I happen to think that a book is of extraordinary value if it gives the reader nothing more than a smile or two. It's perfectly okay to take a book, read it, have a good time, giggle and laugh - and turn off the TV. I love that.
I was a good kid, but I was just very chatty. Teachers were rarely entertained, but occasionally a child was, which was enough for me. Everything was so urgent. I needed to say it immediately.
Society just has a way of inhibiting you, which is good and bad.
Junie B. Jones. The B stands for Beatrice. Except, I don't like Beatrice. I just like B and that's all.
And sometimes when you're very mixed-up inside, you do things you know you shouldn't do.
Sometimes grown ups don't act their right old age
I don't really believe in pretending to be happy when you're not. Mostly I believe that you should burden your friends with your problems.
I'm so lazy as far as liking to get up, go to the office in my pajamas, get dressed about noon. And I hate flying. So I have this really laid-back, good lifestyle, and it's hard to nudge me out of it.
A stick or a stone only stings for a minute. A name seems to hurt forever.
Sometimes I think he’s the kind of friend that grownups call a ‘fair-weather friend.’ That means when everything’s going smoothly, he’s the best friend a guy could want. But as soon as something goes wrong…(he) sort of turns on you.
I'm not actually sure I'm grown-up enough for grown-up books.
There are those who believe that the value of a children's book can be measured only in terms of the moral lessons it tries to impose or the perfect role models it offers. Personally, I happen to think that a book is of extraordinary value if it gives the reader nothing more than a smile or two. In fact, I happen to think that's huge.
When you’re in between dreams, you get to lean back and relax and stop trying so hard. Trying to be somebody, I mean. It’s not as exciting as being a television star, but it’s not that bad, either. You just have to learn to be satisfied with the way you are for a while. Not Forever. Just until you’re finished resting.
Author details
Barbara Park: Biography and Life Work
Barbara Park was a notable Author. The story of Barbara Park began on April 21, 1947 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, U.S.. The legacy of Barbara Park continues today, following their passing on November 15, 2013 in Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S..
Barbara Lynne Park was an American author of children's books . She is most well known for writing the Junie B. Jones series of chapter books . She has also written several middle grade and young adult books, including Skinnybones (1982), Mick Harte Was Here (1995), and The Graduation of Jake Moon (2000). Park's works frequently visit themes of familial relationships and children's experiences in school, and she based characters on her children and her own childhood memories. Park did not allow adaptations of her works except for stage plays.
Legacy and Personal Influence
Personally, Barbara Park was married to Richard A. Park.
Philosophical Views and Reflections
After her first books were established, Park wrote two with girls in mind as the main audience. She published Beanpole , about a girl in middle school , in 1983. She then published Buddies in 1985, which follows a young girl as she discovers that her actions can hurt others. Park received the Texas Bluebonnet Award the same year, which helped her develop a reputation in the literary industry. After these two books, she decided to write without considering the gender of her readers. Park wrote The Kid in the Red Jacket about being a new student and published it in 1987. Following the success of Skinnybones , she published a sequel, Almost Starring Skinnybones , in 1988. She then wrote another sequel for one of her books in 1989, following Don't Make Me Smile with My Mother Got Married (And Other Disasters) to show the child of divorced parents learning to accept step-siblings. Park began a new series of three books, The Geek Chronicles , in 1990. The first was Maxie, Rosie, and Earl—Partners in Grime , which was her first book written from third-person perspective . The second was Rosie Swanson: Fourth-Grade Geek for President in 1991, a political satire about running for class president to challenge more popular kids. Finally, she wrote Dear God, HELP!!! Love, Earl about bullying in 1993.
Park developed a reputation for dealing with serious subject matter in a lighthearted way. Across her books, characters frequently find themselves in embarrassing situations around other children. In books like Don't Make Me Smile and The Kid in the Red Jacket , she portrayed children expressing their worries by talking through them. She rejected the idea that children's books must always teach morals, instead seeing simple entertainment as a legitimate purpose for a children's book. When the child characters do learn from their actions, Park has them do so on their own instead of having an adult explain things to them.
