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Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus · Garden Heights
Part 8
for Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus · Part 8 · Chapters 9–10
8 Parts40 min
What Happens in Part 8
The ending. Junie B. races around the empty school and finds every door locked — including both bathrooms, just as she needs one badly. Remembering what Mother taught her, she dials 911, shouts that everything is locked, and hangs up. Outside, a fire truck, a police car and an ambulance are pulling in. The custodian stops her, understands the real emergency, and unlocks the door in time. Then come the adults: Principal explaining why hiding breaks the rules, and Mother, relieved and firm on the drive home. The fix is a friend — Grace will ride tomorrow, and they will sit together.
What We Will Learn
Section
What you will practice
Vocabulary
Help words: emergency, operator, panic, unlock, relief, attendance…
Literary Elements
Climax, resolution, and an ending that answers the first page
Cross-Curricular
How a school keeps track of every child — and who to tell
Chapter Summary
Ch.
What happens
9
Zooming Speedy Fast — She runs through the empty school with her arms out like a plane. The cafeteria door is locked, and so is the next one. Then she needs the bathroom badly, and the girls’ door is locked too; she kicks it and hangs on the handle, and the boys’ door will not open either. Remembering that Mother taught her to call 911, she runs to the nurse’s telephone and dials. She shouts that everything is locked, the operator asks her to calm down, and she hangs up and runs outside — where a fire truck, a police car and an ambulance are turning in. The custodian shouts at her to stop, then understands, and takes out his keys.
10
Me and That Grace — He unlocks the bathroom and she makes it in time. Firefighters, police and a paramedic arrive, and then Mrs., Principal and Mother, who hugs her tightly. Principal explains that school has rules: if everyone hid in the supply closet, nobody would know where anyone was. Driving home, Mother is firm — Junie B. caused real alarm, and she cannot simply decide not to ride the bus. When Junie B. says there are meanies on it, Mother offers a solution: a girl named Grace is riding for the first time tomorrow, and they could sit together. The families telephone, the girls agree, and Junie B. decides she might like yellow a little better tomorrow.
Part 1
Vocabulary
Study 10 key words from Chapters 9–10, then answer each question.
📞Knowledge Bank · Words for Getting Help
Safety · Emergency WordsMost countries keep one short number for the moment something goes badly wrong. In the United States that number is 911. The call is answered by an operator, whose first two questions are always the same: where are you, and what is happening? An emergency is a problem that cannot wait — a fire, a bad injury, a child nobody can find. A locked bathroom door is frightening, but it is not one of those, and learning the difference is part of growing up. The rule children are taught is short. Find a trusted grown-up first: a teacher, a parent, a bus driver, a custodian. Save the emergency number for the moment when no grown-up can be reached.
emergencyn.Ch.10
A sudden problem that needs help right away
“A fire is an emergency; a lost pencil is not.”
operatorn.Ch.10
The person who answers an emergency telephone call
“The operator asked where she was calling from.”
panicn.Ch.10
A scared feeling so big it is hard to think
“Panic makes a locked door feel like a wall.”
unlockv.Ch.10
To open a lock with a key
“You need a key to unlock that door.”
reliefn.Ch.10
The good feeling when something scary is over
“She felt relief the second the door opened.”
attendancen.Ch.10
The daily list that shows who is at school
“The teacher takes attendance each morning.”
sirenn.Ch.10
A loud warning sound made by an emergency vehicle
“A siren means help is on its way, and everyone should look.”
calmadj.Ch.9
Quiet and not upset
“The person on the telephone tries to keep her calm.”
custodiann.Ch.10
The person who cleans and looks after a building
“The custodian has the keys to every locked door.”
alarmn.Ch.10
A sudden feeling of fear or worry
“She caused a great deal of alarm without meaning to.”
ⓘ 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.
1A sudden problem that needs help right away is an ___.Ch.10
2To ‘peek’ is to look quickly through a small opening.Ch.9
3The person who answers an emergency telephone call is the ___.Ch.10
4To ‘panic’ means to think calmly and make a good plan.Ch.10
5Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.9–10
Word choices:calmsirenunlockrelief- some words will not be used
The voice on the telephone tells her to stay .
You need a key to that door.
6To walk quietly on your toes is to ___.Ch.9
7‘Attendance’ is the daily list that shows who is at school.Ch.10
8Fill in each blank with the correct word.Ch.10
Word choices:panicreliefemergencyattendance- some words will not be used
The teacher takes each morning.
She felt when the door opened.
9The loud warning sound an emergency vehicle makes is a ___.Ch.10
10The good feeling when something scary is over is ___.Ch.10
Part 2
Comprehension
Show you understood what happens in Chapters 9–10.
📋Knowledge Bank · How a School Counts Every Child
School Systems · Attendance and Sign-OutSchools are built to notice when a child is missing. Every morning a teacher takes attendance and sends the list to the office, and the office telephones home about anybody who is absent without a note. Buses work the same way: a driver carries a route list, and the school knows which children ride which bus. If a family is waiting at the corner and no child steps off, a phone call reaches the school within minutes. No one may take a child home unless a parent has written that name down first. Every one of those rules answers the same worry, so that no child is ever quietly lost.
1Which doors does Junie B. find locked?Ch.9
2What does Junie B. remember that Mother taught her?Ch.9
3Junie B. tells the person on the telephone that everything is locked.Ch.9
4Which vehicles turn into the school parking lot?Ch.9
5Write the numbers 1–5 in the boxes to show the correct order of events in Chapters 9 and 10. Number 1 = what happens first.Ch.9–10
A fire truck, a police car and an ambulance arrive outside.
The custodian understands and unlocks the bathroom for her.
Junie B. runs through the school and finds the doors locked.
She dials 911 from the telephone in the nurse’s room.
Mother drives her home and suggests she sit with Grace tomorrow.
6Junie B. calls 911 because she cannot get into a bathroom.Ch.10
7Who unlocks a bathroom door for Junie B.?Ch.10
8Who is waiting for Junie B. when she comes back inside?Ch.10
9Mother is so angry that she sends Junie B. home without a word.Ch.10
10Why does Junie B. feel better about the bus at the end?Ch.10
Part 3
Literary Elements
Understanding HOW and WHY Barbara Park tells the story across Chapters 9–10.
📚Knowledge Bank · How a Story Lands Its Ending
Story Structure · Climax and ResolutionMost stories build a problem, let it grow worse, and then crack it open. The worst moment, the one everything has been heading toward, is the climax. In this book it arrives when a five-year-old alone in a locked building needs a bathroom and cannot find one open door. Everything after that is the resolution: help comes, the truth is told, and a hug ends the fear. Notice what the last pages refuse to do. Nobody scolds Junie B., and nobody claims the bus smells lovely. Instead the story hands her one new fact — a classmate will be on that bus tomorrow — so the problem she began with finally has an answer.
Climax
The moment everything has been building toward. Here it is a locked door, a five-year-old alone, and no plan left.
Resolution
The calm after the climax: help arrives, the truth comes out, and a hug ends the fear.
Circular ending
The book opens on a bus Junie B. dreads and closes with a reason to climb on board — the same subject, turned around.
1The climax of the story is the moment when ___.Ch.10
2Fill in each blank with the correct term.Ch.9–10
Word choices:climaxresolutionsettingtitle- some words will not be used
The most exciting moment of a story is the .
The calm part that comes after it is the .
3Why does Barbara Park end with Grace and the bus?Ch.10
4Because Junie B. tells the story herself, we feel her fear before anyone else notices it.Ch.10
5The call for help is funny AND serious because ___.Ch.10
6How does Mother’s hug change the mood of the ending?Ch.10
7A story’s climax always comes on the very first page.Ch.10
8Fill in the blank with the correct term.Ch.10
Word choices:endingbeginningchapterauthor- some words will not be used
The last part of a story is its .
9Junie B.’s funny way of talking is a choice the author made on purpose.Ch.9–10
10What does the last chapter show about telling a grown-up?Ch.10
Part 4
Think Deeper
Four deeper challenges — no single-word recall. Read, weigh the evidence, and reason it out.
👤Knowledge Bank · Who to Tell, and When
Safety Skills · Asking for HelpChildren are taught two different rules, and the trick is knowing which one a moment needs. The first rule covers small trouble: a lost jacket, a scraped knee, a door that will not open. For those, find a trusted adult and say plainly what is wrong. The second rule covers real danger, when no adult is anywhere near and waiting would make things worse. That is when a child calls the emergency number and stays on the line. Both rules share one habit, and it is the hard part: speaking up early, before the problem grows. Hiding feels safer for about ten minutes. Telling somebody is what actually brings help.
Think about how the afternoon ends. A five-year-old pushes on a bathroom door and it does not move, and pushes on the next one, and that one does not move either. The building is dark now in the places where the lights are off. She runs, and she cries, and then a door opens and there is a grown-up with a ring of keys who does not shout at her at all. He just unlocks what she needs. A few minutes later the hallway is full of people who came because of one telephone call, and in the middle of them is her mother, holding on so tight that the whole day finally gets to be over.
Original passage written for Garden Heights — not a quotation from the novel.
1Claim: “The ending shows that telling a grown-up works better than hiding.” — choose the two details that best prove it.Claim & Evidence
2Tell a grown-up nearby, or Call the emergency number? Tap each detail to send it left or right.Sort into two
◄ Tell a grown-up nearbyCall the emergency number ►
3Match each cause to its result. For each cause, pick its result.Cause & Effect
Junie B. hides instead of getting on the bus→
Every bathroom door in the school is locked→
A five-year-old dials the emergency number→
Mother hears what really frightened her about the bus→
4Fill both blanks to complete the reasoning.Build the Argument
Junie B. is hugged instead of punished at the end because , which shows that .
Part 5
Standardized Test
Reading passage · How a School Keeps You Safe · Attendance, Sign-Out & Asking for Help · 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
TOEFLInsert Text — where a given sentence best fits among four marked spots
TOEFLVocabulary — the meaning of a tested word as this passage uses it
SATInference — a conclusion the passage supports without ever stating it outright
How Schools Track Every Child
A school keeps a careful count of the children inside it. Each morning every teacher takes attendance, marking who is present and who is not, and the office telephones the home of any child who is missing without a note. Bus drivers carry a list of stops, and no child may be signed out to an adult whose name a parent has not written down first. These rules can feel slow, but they exist so the school can always answer one question: where is this child right now? Children have a job in the system too. When something goes wrong, the fastest fix is to tell the nearest grown-up, because a teacher, an office worker, or a custodian can usually solve the problem in a minute. In a true emergency, when no adult is near, a child dials 911 and an operator answers and sends help.
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 does the office do about a missing child?TOEFL · Factual Information
3In the passage, attendance means ___.SAT · Words in Context
4According to the passage, who may sign a child out?TOEFL · Factual Information
5Insert Text (TOEFL). Look at the four squares [1]–[4] in the excerpt below. They show where this sentence could be added: “That one telephone call has found children who slept late, missed a bus, or never left the house at all.”
Taking attendance looks like a small piece of morning paperwork. [1] In fact it is the first check in a long chain. [2] The list reaches the office within minutes, and any name without a note starts a call home. [3] By the time the second bell rings, an adult somewhere knows where nearly every child is. [4]
Where would the sentence fit best?TOEFL · Insert Text
6In the passage, emergency means ___.TOEFL · Vocabulary
7According to the passage, the fastest fix for a problem at school is to ___.TOEFL · Factual Information
8In the passage, an operator is the person who ___.SAT · Words in Context
9The passage suggests the rules feel slow because they ___.SAT · Inference
10A child cannot open a locked door at school. What does the passage advise?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 8 “The Person I Would Tell”
At the end of the book, Junie B. spends a whole afternoon hiding, and the trouble only ends once a grown-up knows where she is. Think of one grown-up you would tell if something went wrong at school, and one you would tell if something went wrong at home. Write who they are, why you would pick them, and exactly what you would say first. Then write about a time when telling somebody made a problem smaller. 5–8 sentences. End with the words you would use to start.
You can start with: “If something went wrong at school, the person I would tell is...”
0 / 40 words minimum
🗣 Teach It · Just for Fun (optional)
No right or wrong — 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 8 Complete — You Finished the Book! 🎉
You finished Chapters 9–10 — the final part of Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus.
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.
