The Kid in the Red Jacket

Book excerpt: If you thought Junie B. Jones was FUNNY—catch more laughs from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Park with her hilarious middle-grade novels—just right for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I Funny! Can Howard SURVIVE life without friends? Howard Jeeter’s parents have ruined his life. They’ve moved him across the country, and all the kids in his new town act like he’s totally invisible. At least, all of them except for his six-year-old neighbor, Molly Vera Thompson. Howard could use a friend. But a little girl who talks nonstop? Not what he had in mind. Still, when you’re really lonely, you’ll be friends with anyone…right? An IRA-CBC Children’s Choice A Library of Congress Children’s Book of the Year A Parents’ Choice Gold Award Winner * “Park writes in a witty and bittersweet style about the awkward, supersensitive age of early adolescence. Another first-rate addition to the middle-grade popular reading shelf.” —School Library Journal, Starred “[A] witty middle-grade novel.” —Publishers Weekly