In this reading‑aloud segment, the narrator (Isaac) adopts Junie B. Jones’s lively, first‑person voice to recount a slice of Junie’s school day from Chapter 7. Junie feels a tickle in her throat from chalk dust and craves water, but worries about being seen at the water fountain. She devises a plan, peeks through a hole she creates, and uses her dog‑learned sniffing skills to check for nearby people. She then retreats to the media center, which she imagines as a fort made of books, and creates “peeky holes” to spy on the hallway. While there, she discovers an electric pencil sharpener on the librarian’s desk, experiments with sharpening pencils, and notes its failure with crayons. Suddenly, she hears footsteps and spots a man carrying a trash can, singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from her favorite movie “The Wizard of Odds.” The man passes without noticing her, and Junie quickly finds a new hiding spot. The passage blends whimsical imagination, sensory details, and the characteristic humor of the Junie B. Jones series.
Chapters
Storytime with Isaac Letchford. Yay! Chapter 7, Peaky Holes and Spying. After a while, I started to get a little bit thirsty. That's what happens when chalk sprinkles gets in your throat. I would like a drink of water, I think, I said. Then I put my hand on my hips. Yeah, only what if somebody sees you at the water fountain? Then they might call the stupid smelly bus to come get you. And so you better not go! I stamped my foot. Yeah, only I have to go, 'cause there's dumb chalk in my throat. Then all of a sudden, I got a great idea. I pulled a chair over to the door and I peeked out the window at the top. I'm a good peeker. Only one time I peeked right into Grandpa Mel's mouth when he was sleeping, and I saw that dangly thing that hangs down in the back. I didn't touch it though, 'cause I didn't have a little stick or anything. That's why. Anyway, I didn't see anybody in the hole, so I opened up the door crack and I sniffed. 'Cause when you sniff, you can smell if there's people around. I learned sniffing from my dog, Tickle. Dogs can smell everything. People can mostly just smell big smells like stink and flowers and— Nope, don't smell anyone, I said. Then I ran to the water fountain and drank for a long time, and nobody tapped me and said, hurry up, girl. After that, I stood on my tippy toes and I tippy-toed to the media center because I love that place, remember? The media center is kind of like a fort. The shelves are like walls and the books are sort of like bricks. And you can move some of them around and make peeky holes. Peeky holes are what you spy out of. Then if you see somebody coming, you can make your breath very quiet and they won't find you. I spied for a long time, but nobody came. The only people in the media center were just me and some fish. The fish were in a big glass tank. I waved at them in there. Then I stirred them with this pencil. I love fish very much. I eat them for dinner with coleslaw. Just then, I saw my most favorite thing in the whole world. Its name is an electric pencil sharpener, and it was sitting right on top of the librarian's desk. Hey, I said very excited. I think I know how to work that thing. Then I looked in the desk drawer, and guess what? There were lots of brand new pencils in there. And so I sharpened It was funner than anything, 'cause an electric pencil sharpener makes a nice noise, and you can make pencils as teeny as you want and just keep pushing them into the little hole, and they just keep on getting teenier and teenier. It doesn't work on crayons though. I tried a red one, and then the pencil sharpener slowed way down. And then it made a rrrrrrrrr sound, and after that it didn't go anymore. Just then I heard a noise. It was walking feet, and it made me scared inside because I didn't want anyone to find me. That's why I squatted way down and looked through my peeky hole. Then I saw a man with a trash can. He was singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. That's a song I know. It's from my favorite movie, which is called The Wizard of Odds. The man with the can didn't see me. He walked down the hall, then I heard him go outside. I stayed squatted down for a long time, but he never came back. Phew! That was a close one! I said. And so then I ran to find a better place to hide.
