After my 4th grade teacher, Ms. Crouch, read Skinny Bones and Almost Starring Skinny Bones, Barbara Parks officially became the first author I looked up at the library (a la card catalog, of course!)
I can still picture the section at the Glen Arden Elementary School library where I found Beanpole, Operation: Dump the Chump, and The Kid in the Red Jacket, none of which managed to entertain me quite as much as Skinny Bones, but I became a loyal Barbara Parks fan nonetheless.
What could I possibly remember about books I loved when I was nine years old? Well, I remember how her character's made me feel.
Parks wrote for problems that might seem silly (read: childish) to everyone else but that matter deeply to someone.
Life is full of figuring things out as they come, and laughing while we do.
Real heroes are misfits from all walks of life who nevertheless know they are worth having what they want, but who still have the flexibility to learn when there might be better things to want.
I loved Barbara Parks, and I was thrilled when she resurfaced as a recommendation for my Kindergartner, when Alena needed something age appropriate to read on her own. Her teacher dove right into convincing me of how funny and spot-on Parks depicts the sassy six year old, unaware that she already had me at "by Barbara Parks".
But...it does make me sad that the series seems to be the only work mentioned in the news I've read of Park's passing.
So, if you and your kids have loved Junie B, give a chance to her predecessors: Alex Frankovich--a scrawny little-league kid tangled up in his major-league lies-- and Lillian Pinkerton--a girl who's towering height won't let her "fit" in-- and even Howard Jeeter--the new kid who has also been recruited as new best friend by a six-year old.
Forever, Barbara Parks will be "The author of Skinny Bones" to me!
Photo attribution: George Goodwin Kilburne [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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