She did all her work neatly and quickly, and she followed instructions.īut soon it was clear that Gooney Bird was mysterious and interesting. Pidgeon provided, right smack in the middle of everything, and began doing second grade spelling. They had never met anyone like Gooney Bird Greene. The class stared at the new girl with admiration.

I want a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything. My name is Gooney Bird Greene-that’s Greene with a silent ‘e’ at the end-and I just moved here from China. We’re in the middle of our spelling lesson. She was wearing pajamas and cowboy boots and was holding a dictionary and a lunch box. She opened the second grade classroom door at ten o’clock on a Wednesday morning and appeared there all alone, without even a mother to introduce her. She arrived in October, after the first month of school had already passed. Ages 7-10.There was a new student in the Watertower Elementary School. 'Youngsters will likely hope that Gooney Bird has enough tales to fill another volume,' wrote PW. MaA feisty, friendly heroine tells her classmates 'absolutely true' stories even though they seem anything but. Never mind the dubious likelihood that a second-grader would possess such command of language and pithy delivery youngsters will likely hope that Gooney Bird has enough tales stored in her fertile imagination to fill another volume. Interruptions from curious classmates heighten the fun. Stretching the facts creatively through some wily wordplay, Gooney Bird explains how she spent time in jail (while playing Monopoly), acquired diamond earrings at a palace (they came from a gumball machine in an ice cream shop called The Palace) and directed a symphony orchestra (she directed the lost driver of the bus transporting musicians to the auditorium).

Readers know immediately that red-haired, freckle-face Gooney Bird Greene is as unorthodox as her name: wearing pajamas and cowboy boots, she arrives at the door of her new second-grade classroom all alone, 'without even a mother to introduce her.' She announces she has just moved from China (which turns out to be the name of a town, not the country) and demands 'a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything.' Dressed each day in another eccentric outfit, she relays to the class a series of stories that are 'absolutely true'-even though they initially seem anything but.

AugTwo-time Newbery Medalist Lowry ( The Giver Number the Stars) introduces a feisty, friendly heroine in this light novel.

Gooney bird greene by lois lowry