Take two minutes and come up with as many names using the initials G and B that you can.Ħ. How did Gooney get her name? How did you get your name?Ĥ. How would you describe Gooney Bird Greene?ģ. If your children like this series, then they might also enjoy the Clementine series by Sara Pennypacker.Book Discussion of Gooney Bird Greene by Lois LowryĢ. While we can’t vouch for the rest of the series, I will tell you we’re really excited to get our hands on them when the libraries open again! In fact, we actually bought a dictionary for our girls while reading Gooney Bird and the Room Mother because they were so inspired to learn how to use one! So, not only is Gooney Bird incredibly likable and entertaining, but these books just might inspire some amazing storytelling, writing, and research skills.

In both of the first two books, children are inspired to use informational texts such as atlases and dictionaries (looking up new words in the dictionary is a major theme running throughout Gooney Bird and the Room Mother). Pidgeon and Gooney Bird educate the rest of the class on how a good story is made, with teaching points around word choice, moving action with words like “suddenly,” and adding secondary characters.

Throughout the first book, Gooney Bird Greene, both Mrs. The Gooney Bird Greene series takes you through Gooney Bird’s year as a new student in Mrs. I want a desk right smack in the middle of the room, because I like to be right smack in the middle of everything.” Yes, that’s Gooney Bird - an instant, likeable, personable, and educational favorite!

My name is Gooney Bird Greene - that’s Greene with a silent ‘e’ at the end - and I just moved here from China. Her name is unique, her clothes are unique, her stories are unique, and her approach to just about everything in life is… unique! On her first day at a new school (in the middle of October, so not a typical fresh start), Gooney Bird arrived wearing pajamas and cowboy boots and announced, “I’m your new student. Gooney Bird is all that you’d hope for someone named Gooney Bird to be. More recently, as a teacher, I found Gooney Bird Greene. I have incredibly fond memories of reading her Anastasia series, The Giver, and Number the Stars. Lois Lowry is another one of those long-time favorite authors of mine. Last week, I posted about how much I’ve loved Patricia McKissack since I was a child. Earlier this spring, we read the first two books in the Gooney Bird Greene series by Lois Lowry, and they were a HUGE hit! If you’re looking for a family read-aloud book that is bound to make your children laugh, inspire them to tell and write their own stories, teach them a bit about writing craft, AND is part of a 6-book series (so you’ve got lots of material once your kiddos are hooked, which they will be…), then look no further than Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry, illustrated by Middy Thomas!