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Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus · Garden Heights
Part 2
for Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus · Part 2 · Chapter 2
8 Parts40 min
What Happens in Part 2
A whole week of dread. Junie B. tells Mother at bedtime that she does not want to ride the bus, and Mother tells her it will be fun. It does not help: she sleeps badly, wakes up droopy, and her stomach feels squeezy enough that she cannot eat her cereal. She gets dressed carefully and walks with Mother to the corner, where another mother waits with a girl who has curly black hair. The bus comes around the corner with its brakes screeching, the door opens, and Mr. Woo invites her aboard — but her legs will not move, and it takes a push from Mother to get her on.
Small troubles stacked into comedy, and a worry planted for later
Cross-Curricular
The shape of a school day — schedules, bells, and why we take turns
Chapter Summary
Ch.
What happens
2
Feeling Squeezy — She stays frightened of the bus for a whole week. The night before, she tells Mother she does not want to ride it; Mother says it will be fun. She sleeps badly, wakes droopy, and her stomach feels squeezy, so she cannot eat her cereal. She dresses in a skirt that looks like velvet and a fuzzy pink sweater. At the corner there is another mother and a girl with curly black hair. The bus arrives with screeching brakes and Mr. Woo tells her to hop on — but her legs will not move, and Mother has to give her a little push.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Chapter 2, then answer each question.
🕑Knowledge Bank · Words That Cut the Day into Pieces
Time & School · Schedule WordsSchool runs on time words, and Junie B. meets nearly all of them in one confusing morning. A schedule is the written plan that says what will happen and when it will happen. Each piece of that plan is a lesson or a block of work, and the break outdoors between blocks is called recess. The sound that ends one block and starts the next is the bell, and it belongs to the whole building rather than to any one class. Before any of that begins, a teacher takes attendance, reading names aloud while everyone else stays quiet — which is a young child’s very first daily practice at waiting for a turn.
nervousadj.Ch.2
Worried and jumpy about something ahead
“A whole week of being nervous wears a person out.”
dreadv.Ch.2
To feel afraid of something that is coming
“She begins to dread the bus days before it arrives.”
droopyadj.Ch.2
Tired and drooping, with no energy
“A bad night’s sleep leaves her droopy at breakfast.”
appetiten.Ch.2
The wish to eat
“Worry can take a person’s appetite away completely.”
screechn.Ch.2
A loud, high, scraping sound
“The brakes make a screech as the bus pulls up.”
brakesn.Ch.2
The parts that slow a vehicle down and stop it
“The driver presses the brakes at the corner.”
cornern.Ch.2
The place where two streets meet
“The children wait at the corner at the end of the street.”
sweatern.Ch.2
A soft knitted top you pull on
“She chooses a fuzzy pink sweater for the first day.”
refusev.Ch.2
To say that you will not do something
“Her legs seem to refuse to climb the steps.”
curlyadj.Ch.2
Growing or twisting in little rings
“Another girl at the corner has curly black hair.”
ⓘ The vocabulary words in this list are selected to help you understand and complete this workbook. Some may not appear verbatim in the original novel.
1To feel ___ is to feel worried and jumpy about something ahead.Ch.2
2The parts that slow a bus down and stop it are the ___.Ch.2
3A screech is a soft, quiet sound.Ch.2
4The place where two streets meet is the ___.Ch.2
5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.2
Word choices:appetitedroopysunnysweater- some words will not be used
A person with no does not feel like eating.
After a bad night she looked tired and .
6To dread something is to look forward to it happily.Ch.2
7A soft knitted top you pull on is a ___.Ch.2
8To refuse means to say that you will not do something.Ch.2
9Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.2
Word choices:cornerbrakessmoothcurly- some words will not be used
The bus stops at the at the end of the street.
Another girl waiting there has black hair.
10Someone who is tired and has no energy looks ___.Ch.2
Part 2
Comprehension
Show you understood what happens in Chapter 2.
📅Knowledge Bank · Who Decides When Things Happen
Civics · Planning a School DayA kindergarten schedule looks simple, but it is stitched together out of things a teacher cannot control. The gym, the music room, and the lunchroom are shared by everyone, so each class is handed a slot and has to take it. Buses arrive and leave at fixed times, and that sets the first and last minute of the whole day. Inside those edges the teacher does get to choose, and most kindergarten teachers keep the blocks short, because five-year-olds pay close attention for a while and then stop. The order stays the same every single day on purpose. A child who cannot yet read a clock can still learn the shape of a day by heart.
1What does Junie B. tell Mother the night before?Ch.2
2How does Junie B. feel when she wakes up that morning?Ch.2
3What does Junie B. manage to eat before she leaves?Ch.2
4Who is already waiting at the corner?Ch.2
5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in Chapter 2. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch.2
She cannot manage her cereal, so she eats half a tuna sandwich.
The bus pulls up and Mother gives her a push so she will climb on.
She sleeps badly and wakes up feeling droopy.
She and Mother walk to the corner, where another mother is waiting.
At bedtime Junie B. tells Mother she does not want to ride the bus.
6Mother tells Junie B. that riding the bus will be fun.Ch.2
7What does Mother do when Junie B.’s legs will not move?Ch.2
8Junie B. climbs on and finds the bus is fun after all.Ch.2
9Who greets Junie B. as she gets on?Ch.2
10Junie B. spends about a week worrying before her first bus ride.Ch.2
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY Barbara Park tells the story across Chapter 2.
🎭Knowledge Bank · Funny on Top, Worried Underneath
Literary Craft · Humor and FeelingChapter 2 is built out of small troubles: a night without sleep, a bowl of cereal she cannot face, half a tuna sandwich, and legs that will not climb three steps. Read quickly, they are comedy. Read slowly, they are a list of what fear does to a body. Barbara Park keeps the sentences short and the complaints loud, so a reader laughs before noticing the pattern underneath. Then Mother promises the ride will be fun. A writer who wants a reader to feel a character’s fear rarely announces it. It shows instead in a body that will not eat and legs that will not move, so the reader notices without being told.
Small troubles
The author stacks up little accidents — a fall, a stepped-on shoe, a taken chair — instead of writing one big disaster.
Comedy and worry
The same events can be funny to a reader and awful to the character. Park writes both at the same time.
Planting a problem
A story often drops a promise or a worry early and lets it grow. Mother's promise that the bus will be fun is planted here, and the next chapter goes straight at it.
1Chapter 2 spends almost all of its time on ___.Ch.2
2Fill in each blank with the correct term.Ch.2
Word choices:suspensesettingrhymenarrator- some words will not be used
The uneasy waiting an author builds before an event is .
The person telling the story is still the .
3Why can a reader smile at troubles that feel terrible to Junie B.?Ch.2
4Mother’s promise that the bus will be fun is something the story sets up to be tested.Ch.2
5Because Chapter 2 is funny, the things that upset Junie B. do not matter.Ch.2
6Junie B.’s squeezy stomach mainly shows the reader ___.Ch.2
7Fill in the blank with the correct term.Ch.2
Word choices:first personthird personchapterrhyme- some words will not be used
A story told with the word I is written in the .
8Chapter 2 ends with Junie B. feeling calm and safe.Ch.2
9Keeping the story inside Junie B.’s head makes her fear feel ___.Ch.2
10Chapter 2 mostly works to ___.Ch.2
Part 4
Think Deeper
Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.
🤝Knowledge Bank · Why Taking Turns Is a Rule
Ethics & Civics · Fairness in a GroupTaking turns feels like a punishment when you are the one waiting. It exists because a school has one gym, one slide, one reading table, and a great many children. Without turns, the biggest and loudest child would simply take whatever he wanted, and everyone smaller would get nothing at all. A turn is really a promise that your wait has an end. Notice how carefully that promise has to be kept: if a teacher forgets whose turn is next, the whole system stops feeling fair and children stop trusting it. Junie B. loses a chair in Chapter 2, and because nobody explains the rule to her, the loss simply feels unfair.
Think back over this chapter. A girl lies awake the night before, tells her mother she will not ride, and is told it will be fun. Morning comes anyway. Her stomach feels squeezed, the cereal is impossible, and half a tuna sandwich is the best she can do. She walks to the corner in a fuzzy pink sweater, and the bus arrives with its brakes screeching, and her legs decide not to move.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1Claim: “Chapter 2 shows that Junie B. is far more frightened than she is willing to say.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2Something that happens to her body, or Something somebody says to her? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ Something that happens to her bodySomething somebody says to her ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
Junie B. lies awake worrying about the bus→
Her stomach feels squeezed at breakfast→
The brakes screech as the bus pulls in→
Her legs will not move at the steps→
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
Schools cut the day into short blocks marked by a bell because , which shows that .
Part 5
Standardized Test
Reading passage · How a School Day Is Planned · Words in Context & Central Ideas · SAT & TOEFL-style practice
🎯 What this section practices
You already have these skills from the sections above — here they appear in the exact question types the SAT and TOEFL use. Read the passage (the highlighted words are tested below), then answer. Tap an answer to select it, then tap it again to confirm — you can change your choice until you confirm.
SATCentral Ideas — the main point of the passage as a whole
TOEFLFactual Information — a fact stated directly in the passage
SATWords in Context — what a word means the way this passage uses it
TOEFLVocabulary — the meaning of a tested word as this passage uses it
TOEFLProse Summary — choosing the three sentences that capture the main ideas
SATInference — a conclusion the passage supports without ever stating it outright
A School Day's Hidden Schedule
A school day looks messy from the inside. In fact every minute of it was planned in advance. A printed schedule tells each class where to be and what to do. The plan starts with attendance, the quick morning count. A teacher marks who is present, so the office knows that every child who left home has arrived. After that the day is cut into blocks: reading, math, lunch, recess. Each block is short on purpose, because young children learn better in small pieces. A bell or a chime marks the edge of each block. Hundreds of people can then change rooms at the same moment. Turn-taking is built into the plan too, because one gym has to be shared by everybody, so waiting is not a punishment but simply the way a crowded building works.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1What is the main idea of the passage?SAT · Central Ideas
2According to the passage, what comes first in the plan?TOEFL · Factual Information
3The passage says blocks are kept short because young children ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
4In the passage, a schedule is ___.SAT · Words in Context
5In the passage, attendance is ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary
6In the passage, a bell is ___.SAT · Words in Context
7According to the passage, turn-taking is needed because ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
8Prose Summary (TOEFL).The passage explains how a school day is planned and why it takes the shape it does. This TOEFL task lists six sentences; choose the THREE that best capture the passage’s main ideas. The other three do not belong — they state minor details or ideas the passage does not present.TOEFL · Prose Summary
9The passage suggests that without a shared plan, a school would most likely ___.SAT · Inference
10The passage suggests that waiting for a turn is best understood as ___.SAT · Inference
Part 6 · Optional
Creative Writing
A bonus challenge to practice your English. Take your time and have fun with it.
About This Section
This writing task is optional and is not part of your auto-graded score. The feedback below checks only the basics — length, spelling, and grammar — not whether your ideas are right or wrong. It is meant for classroom discussion and creative practice, so feel free to use your imagination!
Writing Task — Part 2 “The Long Wait”
Junie B. spends a whole week dreading the bus before she ever rides it. Write about a time you had to wait for something that worried you. What did the waiting feel like, and was the real thing better or worse than you expected? 5–8 sentences. End with one piece of advice for somebody who is dreading a first day.
You can start with: “My advice for somebody who is dreading a first day is...”
0 / 40 words minimum
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
No right or wrong — close the screen and tell someone nearby what happened in this part. Can’t find anyone? Tell yourself out loud. The moment you teach it, you truly understand it.
Part 2 Complete!
You finished Chapter 2 of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus.
Here are your auto-graded results:
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points out of 100
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
Teach it to someone
The best last step is to teach it. In your own words, explain what happened — retell a favorite scene, teach a character’s big choice, or sum up the main idea for a parent, friend, or classmate. When you can teach it clearly, you truly own it.
Independent study guide by Garden Heights. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Barbara Park. Contains original analysis only; no text from the novel is reproduced. Reference text: This workbook follows Barbara Park’s classic text (the standard Puffin edition sold worldwide). Revised 2023 UK editions change some wording and may not match the vocabulary studied here.
