Gooney Bird Greene is a middle-grade realistic fiction novel written by Lois Lowry and originally published in 2002. Lois Lowry is a renowned children’s author who has written 48 novels and novellas for young readers. Gooney Bird Greene was awarded the 2002 Rhode Island Children’s Book Award and became a series of five books. It was celebrated for its unique approach to the exploration of What Makes a Great Story and What Makes a Great Teacher. Through Gooney’s stories, the class learns How to Transform Real Life Into Something Creative.

Other works by this author include The Willoughbys, The Giver, Gathering Blue, and Number the Stars.

This guide uses the 2015 Clarion Books illustrated edition of the novella.

Plot Summary

Gooney Bird Greene comes into Mrs. Pidgeon’s second grade class for the first time in October of the school year. Her hair and clothes are unusual, and she requests to be seated in the middle of the classroom. Mrs. Pidgeon begins a lesson on stories, asking the class to come up with the components of a great story. They decide that a story must have a beginning, middle, and end, as well as at least one character. A quiet boy who does not usually pay attention, Malcolm, cries when he puts an origami star up his nose, and Mrs. Pidgeon takes him to the nurse. When she comes back, the class decides that they want their next story to be about Gooney Bird. Gooney obliges, on the condition she gets to be the hero and the main character.

Gooney adjusts her hair and goes to the front of the classroom to tell them how she got her name. Gooney tells everyone that her parents named her after the common term for the Laysan albatross and adds that she moved to Watertower on a flying carpet from China. She insists all her stories are true. The next day, Gooney comes with a pearl necklace and stands up to tell another story—one with mystery, rescuing, and a lengthy journey. She and her parents moved to Watertower from a city in the United States called China (which Mrs. Pidgeon is surprised to find exists), and her mother insisted on taking a rug that was far too large for the station wagon. With the rug sticking halfway out the window, Gooney, her parents, and her cat, Catman, set off. Along the way, Catman climbed inside the rolled-up rug, and Gooney tried to climb after him. They both got stuck inside, and when the car hit a pothole, the rug bounced out the window with Gooney and Catman inside. Gooney’s parents found her in a field hours later, but Catman was long gone. The reporter who covered the incident called Gooney’s falling from the car a flying carpet ride. When the story ends, the children cannot wait to hear another one.

On Monday, Gooney tells a story of how she acquired the diamond earrings she currently wears with pride. The story begins with Gooney playing Monopoly by herself when her neighbor “the prince” interrupts to ask for her help in finding Napoleon, their poodle. Gooney looks for clues and finds the poodle inside a nearby garbage can. The neighbors invite Gooney to a palace as a thanks for her help, and while inside, Gooney comes across a gumball machine. Inside the machine were two diamond earrings, and Gooney had to go through 67 gumballs to get them both. After she finishes her story, she explains that her neighbors’ last name is Prinn and that The Palace is the name of an ice cream parlor.

On Tuesday, Gooney arrives late, and everyone is distraught at the thought of her not being there. When she finally gets to school, she has a grand story to tell about why she was late. On her way to school, Gooney was stopped by a bus driver who was lost on his way to the auditorium. The bus was filled with the members of the orchestra and their instruments. Gooney stood at the front of the bus and directed it to the auditorium, and as a thanks for her help, the orchestra made a deal with Gooney. At lunch, Gooney reveals the secret deal when the orchestra appears and performs for them all.

On Wednesday, Gooney tells her last story dressed in a furry jacket and carrying a cowhide purse. The class is regaled with the tale of how Gooney lost her cat to a cow, thinking that the cow must have eaten the cat. Gooney’s story begins in the same field she and Catman landed in when the carpet flew out of the car. There, they came across a cow that Catman found lovely in every way. When Gooney tried to call Catman to come to her, it seemed that Catman was already in love with the cow and refused to go anywhere but where the cow went. When Gooney was found, Catman had already gone to the farm, and Gooney had a chance to describe his appearance on the news. When the farmers saw Gooney’s description of her missing cat, they called Gooney and her parents, but it was clear that Catman was happy on the farm with the cow and in the fields, so they left him there. The class is saddened to hear that Gooney has no more stories to tell, but Gooney encourages them to find their own stories, and she gives several classmates ideas of what stories they might tell about their own lives. Even Mrs. Pidgeon thinks of a story to write about a pet that she lost and then found again. One classmate, Felicia Ann, who hasn’t spoken all year, suddenly speaks up, suggesting the whole class kiss and hug. They do so, and then Gooney teaches them all a brand-new dance.