Karen's Telephone Trouble by Ann M. Martin

Karen loves using the telephone to get funny jokes and to find out her horoscope. Then she has to call all her friends and tell them the jokes. She can't help it if she's popular! But she's spending a lot of time on the phone...and the other people at the Big House are getting really mad at her. Then she finds out that her telephone calls cost money and she has no way of paying the bill. What is she going to do?

Readers of The Baby-Sitters Club and the Little Sisters series who are easily annoyed by the character of Karen Brewer should probably steer clear of this one. The cover shows her looking pretty pleased with herself as she flouts the rules and inconveniences her family members. A lot has changed in the fifteen years or so since this book was published, particularly around telephones, so that adds a particular element that kids today might not have personally experienced. Also, it made me smile that at the end of the book Karen decides to fix her trouble by emailing her friends instead...as if mid-late 90s computers wouldn't use telephone lines! But if you're looking for jokes that a second grade class finds funny, there are lots of them in here.

Find it at Amazon. 

Read it with:
Karen's Witch by Ann M. Martin
Karen's New Year by Ann M. Martin
Karen's Pony Camp by Ann M. Martin