Author: Dawn Quigley
Genre: humor/early chapter book
Similar books: Junie B Jones series by Barbara Park
Izzy in the Doghouse by Caroline Adderson
Rating:
Summary (provided by publisher): Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-old who moves through the world a little differently than anyone else on her Ojibwe reservation. It always seems like her mom, her kokum (grandma), and her teacher have a lot to learn—about how good Jo Jo is at cleaning up, what makes a good rhyme, and what it means to be friendly.
Even though Jo Jo loves her #1 best friend Mimi (who is a cat), she’s worried that she needs to figure out how to make more friends. Because Fern, her best friend at school, may not want to be friends anymore…
My opinion: There are definitely Junie B Jones vibes in this book. The base concept is very much the same: a young kid at school who consistently misunderstands or misinterprets things that people say. In this case, some of this can be attributed to cultural differences since Teacher is white and Jo Jo is Ojibwe. In fact, I wish the cultural comparison were a larger role instead of being a side element. This series suffers a little from comparison with the Junie B Jones monolith but with time and further volumes it will shine on it's own.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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