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Gooney Bird Greene #1
Gooney Bird Greene
Two-time Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry introduces a new girl in class who loves being the center of attention and tells the most entertaining “absolutely true” stories.
There’s never been anyone like Gooney Bird Greene at Watertower Elementary School. What other new kid comes to school wearing pajamas and cowboy boots one day and a polka-dot t-shirt and tutu on another? Gooney Bird has to sit right smack in the middle of the class because she likes to be in the middle of everything. She is the star of story time and keeps her teacher and classmates on the edge of their seats with her “absolutely true” stories. But what about her classmates? Do they have stories good enough to share?
There’s never been anyone like Gooney Bird Greene at Watertower Elementary School. What other new kid comes to school wearing pajamas and cowboy boots one day and a polka-dot t-shirt and tutu on another? Gooney Bird has to sit right smack in the middle of the class because she likes to be in the middle of everything. She is the star of story time and keeps her teacher and classmates on the edge of their seats with her “absolutely true” stories. But what about her classmates? Do they have stories good enough to share?
88 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2002
407 people are currently reading
2518 people want to read
About the author
Lois Lowry
167 books22.6k followersTaken from Lowry's website:
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
"I’ve always felt that I was fortunate to have been born the middle child of three. My older sister, Helen, was very much like our mother: gentle, family-oriented, eager to please. Little brother Jon was the only boy and had interests that he shared with Dad; together they were always working on electric trains and erector sets; and later, when Jon was older, they always seemed to have their heads under the raised hood of a car. That left me in-between, and exactly where I wanted most to be: on my own. I was a solitary child who lived in the world of books and my own vivid imagination.
Because my father was a career military officer - an Army dentist - I lived all over the world. I was born in Hawaii, moved from there to New York, spent the years of World War II in my mother’s hometown: Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Tokyo when I was eleven. High school was back in New York City, but by the time I went to college (Brown University in Rhode Island), my family was living in Washington, D.C.
I married young. I had just turned nineteen - just finished my sophomore year in college - when I married a Naval officer and continued the odyssey that military life requires. California. Connecticut (a daughter born there). Florida (a son). South Carolina. Finally Cambridge, Massachusetts, when my husband left the service and entered Harvard Law School (another daughter; another son) and then to Maine - by now with four children under the age of five in tow. My children grew up in Maine. So did I. I returned to college at the University of Southern Maine, got my degree, went to graduate school, and finally began to write professionally, the thing I had dreamed of doing since those childhood years when I had endlessly scribbled stories and poems in notebooks.
After my marriage ended in 1977, when I was forty, I settled into the life I have lived ever since. Today I am back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, living and writing in a house dominated by a very shaggy Tibetan Terrier named Bandit. For a change of scenery Martin and I spend time in Maine, where we have an old (it was built in 1768!) farmhouse on top of a hill. In Maine I garden, feed birds, entertain friends, and read...
My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings.
The Giver - and Gathering Blue, and the newest in the trilogy: Messenger - take place against the background of very different cultures and times. Though all three are broader in scope than my earlier books, they nonetheless speak to the same concern: the vital need of people to be aware of their interdependence, not only with each other, but with the world and its environment.
My older son was a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His death in the cockpit of a warplane tore away a piece of my world. But it left me, too, with a wish to honor him by joining the many others trying to find a way to end conflict on this very fragile earth.
I am a grandmother now. For my own grandchildren - and for all those of their generation - I try, through writing, to convey my passionate awareness that we live intertwined on this planet and that our future depends upon our caring more, and doing more, for one another."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 515 reviews
April 18, 2018
I enjoyed this sweet book. Lois uses Gooney Bird as a way to teach children how to tell good stories because Gooney Bird is a natural story telling. Throughout the book she gives tips for story telling. Plus, Gooney Bird is awesome. She is a great character who I am glad to have meet. I can't believe I didn't know her until now.
I want to know more about the quirky character called Gooney. Fun times for kids reading on their own for the first time.
I want to know more about the quirky character called Gooney. Fun times for kids reading on their own for the first time.
November 6, 2011
This is the little chapter book that I read to my class every single year about writing and telling stories. Gooney Bird Greene is a natural at spinning a tale. The children just eat this book up. I notice that after each reading, the student's own writing improves by leaps and bounds. Their journal stories come alive as they try to be more descriptive...just like Gooney. And, "suddenly" the word "suddenly" starts appearing more frequently in the journals of my first-time writers. Thank you, Lois Lowry, for knocking another one far, far out of the ball park!
June 25, 2018
In a small school of a small town, where everyone knows each-other, a magnificent thing happens. In the middle of the day, Gooney Bird Greene enters into the classroom. Not only her strange outfits and name surprise the students, but also her incredible ability to tell stories. Unlike many others, Gooney Bird tells the absolute truth only, but in such a way that it will keep you glued to the plot. The students and the teacher can not get enough of Gooney Bird's charm. Sadly, Gooney Bird has to move to another town, but not before she shares with everyone the secret of telling great stories.
September 13, 2013
An eccentrically-dressed and apparently over-imaginative second grade girl, Gooney Bird, comes to a new school and entrances the other students (and teacher) with her surprising, “absolutely true” stories. With her deliberate, exact way of speaking and unusual phrasing, she describes her stories before telling them in ways that make it seem as though they’ll be tall tales – but there is always a humorous, prosaic explanation. For example, “I was in jail when this happened” actually refers to Gooney Bird playing Monopoly and having landed on that square on the board; and getting a reward from “the prince” at “the palace” turns out to mean something quite different, though similar-sounding. The same goes for “driving from China” and “arriving on a flying carpet.”
It’s a humorous, very brief book that also serves as instruction to children on how to formulate interesting stories, as well as to encourage them to believe that everyone has a story to tell. I enjoyed the clever twists of language that revealed what Gooney Bird’s stories were really about, as well as the demonstration of how well “write what you know” can go when served by expressive language. I did not at all like Gooney Bird’s personality, which is smug and self-satisfied, her too-adult speech patterns, or how she is portrayed as more clever and authoritative than the teacher of the class. I think that’s a terrible example for kids who already often think they know more than they do.
It’s a humorous, very brief book that also serves as instruction to children on how to formulate interesting stories, as well as to encourage them to believe that everyone has a story to tell. I enjoyed the clever twists of language that revealed what Gooney Bird’s stories were really about, as well as the demonstration of how well “write what you know” can go when served by expressive language. I did not at all like Gooney Bird’s personality, which is smug and self-satisfied, her too-adult speech patterns, or how she is portrayed as more clever and authoritative than the teacher of the class. I think that’s a terrible example for kids who already often think they know more than they do.
January 14, 2019
This book is truly a delight. Gooney Bird enters her second grade class like a bawse and as she tells her stories each day, the class is enthralled and fascinated. Even the teacher falls under her spell. Gooney Bird truly has a storytelling gift complete with the instincts for dressing well without overstating. What is even better is how she shares her knowledge and skill with the entire class. Kids who enjoy Pippi Longstocking and Clementine will also fall in love with Gooney Bird Greene.
July 29, 2021
Gooney Bird is a crack up. My boys loved this read aloud. It also is sneaky as it teaches you how to tell a story as Gooney Bird tells her outlandish stories. Fun to read, short chapters, easy to pick up/put down. All in all a good family read aloud.
December 25, 2024
Heroes don't always wear capes. Sometimes they wear full black evening gloves or a pink tutu, and are tellers of great stories.
This book is going to be perfect to share with one of my Littles, the 8 year old granddaughter as it approaches the time of year at her school when they have a creative writing competition. Precocious Gooney Bird has some good advice about stories and quickly becomes beloved by her classmates for her story-telling abilities. My other little, the 6 year old granddaughter, is going to love another talent of Gooney Bird's: the original outfits that Gooney Bird wears to school each day. That Little is a bit of a fashion rebel herself. She went through a period of many weeks where she wore a Spiderman mask, another period of weeks it was a fox mask. Currently, she wears a full panda suit every chance she gets.
This book is going to be perfect to share with one of my Littles, the 8 year old granddaughter as it approaches the time of year at her school when they have a creative writing competition. Precocious Gooney Bird has some good advice about stories and quickly becomes beloved by her classmates for her story-telling abilities. My other little, the 6 year old granddaughter, is going to love another talent of Gooney Bird's: the original outfits that Gooney Bird wears to school each day. That Little is a bit of a fashion rebel herself. She went through a period of many weeks where she wore a Spiderman mask, another period of weeks it was a fox mask. Currently, she wears a full panda suit every chance she gets.
May 12, 2014
I read this to my second graders every year. It is great for story telling, writing, vocabulary, and visualizing!
October 13, 2016
So lovely.. I loved Gooney Bird Greene, I loved the little kids and the teacher... oh I loved everything about them..
Thank you so much Lois Lowry for this wonderful book :) :)
Thank you so much Lois Lowry for this wonderful book :) :)
December 6, 2020
Adorable book. I love it.
What a great book to give to children for the holidays.
What a great book to give to children for the holidays.
December 15, 2024
This is a book series that I DEVOURED in elementary school that no one ever talks about, so I thought I imagined it!!! I did some deep research trying to find it because all I could remember was that the main character was kinda like Junie B. Jones and researched gnus (apparently in the 3rd book) but I FOUND IT!! And I had no idea it was written by Queen Lois Lowry!
Reading this for the first time since like 2nd grade was soooo nostalgic because I vaguely remembered everything. And this is a book that somehow still holds up and is even funnier as an adult. This book especially teaches such good storytelling techniques. Ugh absolutely loveeee
Reading this for the first time since like 2nd grade was soooo nostalgic because I vaguely remembered everything. And this is a book that somehow still holds up and is even funnier as an adult. This book especially teaches such good storytelling techniques. Ugh absolutely loveeee
July 19, 2025
A good alternative to Junie B. Jones - Gooney isn’t as naughty.
November 26, 2024
So cute! This has been my favorite middle grade character that we've read about so far. Gooney Bird Greene is unapologetically herself. She moves to a new town and becomes the class idol as she tells a new story every day. Even the teacher is fascinated by her. You definitely have to suspend some disbelief for this story, but it was entertaining and charming nonetheless.
Upon reread: This is still a 5 star book. I love Gooney bird and her stories! We are currently working through summarizing and telling stories in school so it was very fitting!
Upon reread: This is still a 5 star book. I love Gooney bird and her stories! We are currently working through summarizing and telling stories in school so it was very fitting!
March 2, 2009
About storytelling, really. Gooney Bird is new and entertains class each day with a new story within context of teacher teaching about writing stories (elements of good stories). So it'd be a good one for teachers to use in writing workshop. She misleads class with funky titles that, when taken literally, turn out to be more about the normal stuff of everyday life.
August 2, 2021
Some of my favorite reading-together moments with my daughter is with this fabulously fun series, Gooney Bird Greene! This 2nd grader is clever, eccentric, confident, self-assured, and has the most amazing storytelling abilities. How can the class (and the reader 😀) not be smitten with this smart girl? She shows us that everyone has a story to tell!
December 27, 2018
A read aloud to my 7 and 9 year old. I would not recommend as the plot was not all that engaging.
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April 30, 2024It's a fun way to teach your young kids how to write stories.
December 16, 2024
This is a goofy and cute story. Definitely for kids. Not anything groundbreaking though.
February 23, 2019
Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry was published in 2004 by Yearling. This 88-page narrative fiction chapter book follows the exquisite tales of the new classmate to Watertower Elementary, Gooney Bird Greene. Gooney Bird enters the new classroom and instantly demands all the attention by sitting right in the middle of everything. Gooney Bird is often dismissed by her teacher that believes she is a major distraction, until Gooney Bird assists her in a lesson about story telling. Gooney Bird begins telling daily tales about her life, adventures and experiences that interest both classmates and the teachers. All of Gooney Bird’s stories are “absolutely true,” with added exaggerated story elements. This book highlights the importance of being different and making stories your own.
Grade Level: 1-5 (read aloud) 3-5 (independent reading)
Lexile Level: 500L
Guided Reading Level: N
Teaching Idea:
You could use this text to instruct a story telling writing unit. This book highlights features needed in a story, figurative language and idea development.
Standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
Grade Level: 1-5 (read aloud) 3-5 (independent reading)
Lexile Level: 500L
Guided Reading Level: N
Teaching Idea:
You could use this text to instruct a story telling writing unit. This book highlights features needed in a story, figurative language and idea development.
Standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
June 3, 2019
Fun and sweet!
I’m previewing books I might like to read with my first grader next school year and this one was suggested on Sonlight. It is very sweet and teaches important parts to writing a story! Definitely going to use it next year and maybe we’ll do a writing project after we read it :)
I’m previewing books I might like to read with my first grader next school year and this one was suggested on Sonlight. It is very sweet and teaches important parts to writing a story! Definitely going to use it next year and maybe we’ll do a writing project after we read it :)
December 26, 2020
I love this book!
Its so wonderfully written that I still laugh at it today!!!!!
I read this when I was younger and this was one of the few books that kept my attention!
Wonderful!
~KingdomReader
http://www.KingdomReader.Wordpress.com
Its so wonderfully written that I still laugh at it today!!!!!
I read this when I was younger and this was one of the few books that kept my attention!
Wonderful!
~KingdomReader
http://www.KingdomReader.Wordpress.com
December 6, 2022
Remembering how much two of my kids talked about this book when it was read to them in about second grade, I've wanted to read it ever since. I can see why the eccentric main character and her use of 'play on words' was appealing to them.
April 21, 2024
The first couple chapters captivated the kids and they were laughing out loud, but then the rest seemed to drag. It was an interesting idea to teach writing tips to children through a silly story, but I do not think it was executed successfully.
June 5, 2024
A cute story about descriptive *non-fiction* storytelling
February 19, 2019
More, please.
June 9, 2020
This book was better than I expected. I really liked it. It is about a second grader who tells "absolutely true" stories about her life to all the class. I recommend it to girls 8-10 years old who like to read about funny stories and school.
June 5, 2024
This was a read-aloud book, and my kids LOVED it. It reminded me a lot of Pippi Longstocking, but with a stronger teaching theme. If your kid is struggling with creativity and writing, then I can highly recommend this story! Lois Lowry is amazing.
April 24, 2020
Reading to my granddaughters via the internet has been one of the unexpected positive outcomes of the pandemic. Gooney Bird is a delightful character, who made all three of us laugh out loud, truly a blessing.
June 14, 2020
My 7-year old does like this book and he's more the target audience than I am, so maybe I should stop there. I also really like the message that everyone has an interesting story to tell.
However, I thought that these books taught exactly how NOT to tell a story. Obfuscating details or taking things WAY out of context just to make the story sound exciting is an example of terrible story-telling. And her advice to just randomly throw in "suddenly" to build suspense is awful advice as well. Her stories end up being quite boring once the truth is revealed OR very interesting and thus in no need of obfuscation.
And incidentally, Gooney Bird acts like she expects everyone to understand her. That is, she's quite shocked people don't understand her little twists and turns. So my impression isn't that she is a master story-teller on purpose. She's just a quirky girl with a lot of personality so her stories end up being a bit crazy. I think the stories or the way they are disguised could have been much more interesting, honestly!
That being said, the end moral is that anyone can tell a story, with Gooney Bird reassuring the classmates that their rather mundane life events would make great stories. Of course this undermines the idea that stories are only good if you give them misleading titles and throw in suddenly every 2 seconds!
I also found it hard to believe that a second grader could so thoroughly take over a classroom that she could dispatch the teacher to take care of interruptions and her condescending attitude to her classmates was irksome. She frequently sighs that the other classmates deign to interrupt her with their boring, repetitive interludes and the class is indeed boring as all they do isall they do is repeat things like "I saw a dog." "My grandma has a dog" . Gooney Bird and the teacher are far above it all and team up to shut it down so Gooney Bird may continue to shine (again undermining the idea that anyone can tell a story). I know in children's stories you need to suspend disbelief and the main character is often larger than life, but I didn't feel Gooney Bird earned it and I really felt terrible for the other kids, who really come off as little babies. And the teacher really seems to be on Gooney Bird's side. There's no sense she's humoring her at all. Gooney Bird runs the classroom!
As I said, my son likes it so maybe let your kids read or listen to it by themselves!
However, I thought that these books taught exactly how NOT to tell a story. Obfuscating details or taking things WAY out of context just to make the story sound exciting is an example of terrible story-telling. And her advice to just randomly throw in "suddenly" to build suspense is awful advice as well. Her stories end up being quite boring once the truth is revealed OR very interesting and thus in no need of obfuscation.
And incidentally, Gooney Bird acts like she expects everyone to understand her. That is, she's quite shocked people don't understand her little twists and turns. So my impression isn't that she is a master story-teller on purpose. She's just a quirky girl with a lot of personality so her stories end up being a bit crazy. I think the stories or the way they are disguised could have been much more interesting, honestly!
That being said, the end moral is that anyone can tell a story, with Gooney Bird reassuring the classmates that their rather mundane life events would make great stories. Of course this undermines the idea that stories are only good if you give them misleading titles and throw in suddenly every 2 seconds!
I also found it hard to believe that a second grader could so thoroughly take over a classroom that she could dispatch the teacher to take care of interruptions and her condescending attitude to her classmates was irksome. She frequently sighs that the other classmates deign to interrupt her with their boring, repetitive interludes and the class is indeed boring as all they do isall they do is repeat things like "I saw a dog." "My grandma has a dog" . Gooney Bird and the teacher are far above it all and team up to shut it down so Gooney Bird may continue to shine (again undermining the idea that anyone can tell a story). I know in children's stories you need to suspend disbelief and the main character is often larger than life, but I didn't feel Gooney Bird earned it and I really felt terrible for the other kids, who really come off as little babies. And the teacher really seems to be on Gooney Bird's side. There's no sense she's humoring her at all. Gooney Bird runs the classroom!
As I said, my son likes it so maybe let your kids read or listen to it by themselves!
November 28, 2011
Gooney Bird Greene is a new student at Watertower Elementary, who comes to school wearing pajamas and cowboy boots, among many other interesting clothes the following days. From her first day of school, she always wants to be the center of attention; whether that is wearing unique clothes or sitting in the middle of the classroom. When her teacher allows students to tell a story, Gooney is able to keep the classroom on their seats with her "absolutely true" stories, even though they seem anything but true. Gooney is able to extend the facts with her wordplay which creates a very intriguing story time. Low and behold, the stories unfold when her audience finally grasps what she is talking about in her stories.
I thought this book was very imaginative and fun to read. I would definitely read this to a variety of ages (first grade all the way to fourth graders). The children can relate to this book because it is set in an elementary school inside a second grade classroom. I also loved the illustrations because of the cartoon style that is drawn throughout the book. It helps give the story a humorous vibe which made me laugh and would definitely give younger students a chuckle.
I thought this book was very imaginative and fun to read. I would definitely read this to a variety of ages (first grade all the way to fourth graders). The children can relate to this book because it is set in an elementary school inside a second grade classroom. I also loved the illustrations because of the cartoon style that is drawn throughout the book. It helps give the story a humorous vibe which made me laugh and would definitely give younger students a chuckle.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 515 reviews