Judy Moody Was in a Mood (Judy Moody Series #1)

by Megan McDonald, Peter H. Reynolds (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The misadventures of one feisty character illustrate a necessary point: sometimes it’s okay to be moody. Judy Moody is here to prove it, and be more than a little hilarious in the process.

"Judy Moody was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood. A mad-faced mood."

To start, Judy Moody doesn't have high hopes for third grade. Her new desk won't have an armadillo sticker with her name on it. Her new classroom will not have a porcupine named Roger. And with her luck, she'll get stuck sitting in the first row, where Mr. Todd will notice every time she tries to pass a note to her best friend, Rocky. An aspiring doctor, Judy does have a little brother who comes in handy for practicing medicine, a cool new pet, and a huge Band-Aid collection.

Judy also has an abundance of individuality and attitude, and when Mr. Todd assigns a very special class project, she really gets a chance to express herself! Megan McDonald's spirited text and Peter Reynolds's wry illustrations combine in a feisty, funny first chapter book for every kid who has ever felt a little out of sorts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763651992
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	08/24/2010
Series:	Judy Moody Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	209,638
Lexile:	530L (what's this?)
File size:	10 MB
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

Megan McDonald is the creator of the popular and award-winning Judy Moody and Stink series. She is also the author of three Sisters Club stories, two books about Ant and Honey Bee, and many other books for children. Megan McDonald lives in California.
Peter H. Reynolds is a New York Times best-selling illustrator who has created many acclaimed books for children. In addition to his Creatrilogy — The Dot, Ish, and Sky Color — he is the author-illustrator of Rose’s Garden, The North Star, and So Few of Me and the illustrator of Megan McDonald’s Judy Moody and Stink series. Born in Canada, Peter H. Reynolds now lives in Dedham, Massachusetts.

“I often visit classrooms and ask who loves to draw,” says Peter H. Reynolds, illustrator of the acclaimed Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald and author-illustrator of The Dot, Ish, Sky Color, So Few Of Me, and other enchanting picture books that celebrate the creative process. “In kindergarten and first grade, all the hands go up. In second grade, most of the hands go up. In third grade, half the hands are up. By fourth and fifth grade, most of the hands are down, or perhaps pointing to ‘the class artist.’ It’s sad to see the artistic, creative energy slowing down, being packed away. I am convinced it’s because children learn early that there are ‘rules’ to follow. But when it comes to expressing yourself, you can invent your own rules. You can change them, you can stretch them, or you can ignore them all and dive headfirst into the unknown.

“Nothing irks me more than seeing a person’s creativity get shut down,” he continues. “Through my books, I want to help give kids—and grown-up kids—the vocabulary to protect their exploration, in art, writing, and thinking.” It certainly appears his approach is working: not only has The Dot garnered high critical acclaim, it also received the 2004 Christopher Medal, awarded to works that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”

Peter H. Reynolds recalls that when he was approached about illustrating Megan McDonald’s Judy Moody—the first in what would become an extremely popular chapter-book series for middle-graders—he jumped at the chance. For one thing, the feisty, independent Judy reminded him of his own daughter, who was eleven years old at the time. “Judy seemed very real to me, compared to fantasy versions of what little girls are like,” he says. What’s more, the story itself—in which a moody Judy struggles to create a Me collage for school—clicked with his own beliefs as an educator about the role a child’s temperament can play in the learning process.

But it was Judy’s younger “bother,” Stink, who would strike the greatest chord within Peter H. Reynolds. “I’ve fallen in love with the whole cast of characters in the world of Judy Moody, but Stink has always been a favorite of mine. He reminds me of myself growing up: dealing with a sister prone to teasing and bossing around—and having to get creative in order to stand tall beside her.” And now Stink is getting the chance to be heard in his own series also by Megan McDonald— which features the artwork of Peter H. Reynolds that Judy’s fans have grown to love, including comic strips drawn by Stink himself.

Peter H. Reynolds and his twin brother, Paul (now his business partner), were born in Canada but moved to a Massachusetts suburb when they were three years old. They made their first foray into publishing at the age of seven, when they began producing their own newspapers and comic books on their father’s photocopier. An incessant doodler since childhood, Peter H. Reynolds credits his unique brand of humor and his love for the absurd to growing up with “very eccentric British parents” who were fond of watching Monty Python. “It was not a normal house,” he recalls. From his parents he also inherited an appreciation for tea, which he uses both as a beverage and an art medium. In addition, the illustrator brings to the Judy Moody series his sensibility as a “very visual person.”

Founder of the award-winning educational media developer and publisher FableVision, where he produces award-winning children’s broadcast programming, educational videos, and multimedia applications, Peter H. Reynolds was recently honored by Verizon as Literacy Leader of the Year. The author-illustrator lives with his family in Dedham, Massachusetts.

“Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody,” says Megan McDonald, author of the wildly popular Judy Moody series, the Stink books, and the Sisters Club trilogy. “I’m certainly moody, like she is. Judy has a strong voice and always speaks up for herself. I like that.”

For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn’t always easy. She grew up in a house full of books, as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as “Little Johnny the Storyteller.” Every evening, the McDonalds gathered around the large, round dinner table to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. “I’m told I began to stutter,” she says, leading her mother to give her a copy of Harriet the Spy and a small spiral notebook, so she could begin writing things down á la the young reporter Harriet.

To date, Megan McDonald has penned more than sixty books for children and young readers, including the critically acclaimed Judy Moody series. These hilarious books have won numerous awards, ranging from a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year and an International Reading Association Children’s Choice to the first-ever Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award. “Judy has taken on a life of her own,” the author notes, with millions of Judy Moody books in print worldwide. The feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for an enthusiastic base of fans who are among Megan McDonald’s strongest incentives to keep writing the adventures of Judy Moody and her little brother, Stink, along with a bottomless well of ideas inspired by growing up with four older sisters.

And—by popular demand—Judy Moody’s little brother, Stink, gets his chance to shine in his own adventures! Megan McDonald says, “Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy’s little brother, chanted, ‘Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!’ as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own.” Now, giant jawbreakers, smelly sneakers, stinky corpse flowers, and 101 runaway guinea pigs join Mouse, Jaws, Toady, mood rings, an ABC gum collection, and operating on a zucchini in the everyday antics of Judy Moody’s world.
Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood by writing about the warmth, humor—and squabbles—of three spunky sisters in the Sisters Club trilogy, wrapping up with Cloudy With a Chance of Boys. Megan McDonald lives and writes in northern California with her husband, a frequent collaborator.

Read an Excerpt

Judy Moody

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By Megan McDonald

Candlewick

Copyright © 2002

Megan McDonald

All right reserved.

ISBN: 0763612316

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When Judy Moody arrived in third grade, her teacher, Mr. Todd, stood by the door, welcoming everyone. "Hello there, Judy."

"Hello, Mr. Toad," said Judy. She cracked herself up.

"Class, please hang your backpacks on the hooks and put your lunches in the cubbies," said Mr. Todd.

Judy Moody looked around the classroom. "Do you have a porcupine named Roger?" Judy asked Mr. Todd.

"No, but we have a turtle named Tucson. Do you like turtles?"

She liked turtles! But she caught herself just in time. "No. I like toads." Judy cracked up again.

"Rocky, your seat is over by the window, and Judy, yours is right up front," said Mr. Todd.

"I knew it," said Judy. She surveyed her new front-row desk. It didn't have an armadillo sticker with her name on it.

Guess Who sat across the aisle from her. Frank Eats-Paste Pearl. He glanced at Judy sideways, then bent his thumb all the way back, touching his wrist. Judy rolled her tongue like a hot dog back at him.

"You like sharks too?" he asked, passing her a small white envelope with her name on it.

Ever since they had danced the Maypole together in kindergarten, this boy would not leave her alone. In first grade, Frank Pearl sent her five valentines. In second grade, he gave her a cupcake on Halloween, on Thanksgiving, and on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Now, on the first day of third grade, he gave her a birthday party invitation. Judychecked the date inside-his birthday was not for three weeks! Even a real shark would not scare him off.

"Can I look inside your desk?" asked Judy. He moved to one side. No sign of paste.

Mr. Todd stood in front of the class. GINO'S EXTRA-CHEESE PIZZA was printed in large letters on the board.

"Are we having extra-cheese pizza for lunch?" Judy asked.

"For Spelling." Mr. Todd held his finger to his lips like it was a secret. "You'll see."

Then he said, "Okay! Third grade! Listen up! We're going to try something
different to kick off the year, as a way of getting to know one another. This year, each of you will make your own Me collage. All about YOU. You can draw or cut out pictures and paste things to your collage that tell the class what makes you YOU."

A Me collage! It sounded fun to Judy, but she didn't say so.

"We don't have to draw a map of our family, then?" asked Jessica Finch.
"I'm passing out a list of ideas for things you might include, like your family. I'm also giving everyone a folder for collecting the things you want to put on your collage. We'll work on these as we have time over the next month. At the end of September, you'll each get a chance to tell the class about YOU."

All through Language Arts and Social Studies, Judy thought about one thing-herself. Judy Moody, star of her own Me collage. Maybe third grade wasn't so bad after all.

"Okay, everybody. Time for Spelling."

"Yuck. Spelling," Judy said under her breath, remembering her bad mood.

"Yuck. Spelling," Frank Pearl agreed. Judy squinched her eyebrows at him.

"Take out a piece of paper and write down five spelling words you can find hidden in the words on the board, GINO'S EXTRA-CHEESE PIZZA."

"Cool Spelling, huh?" said a note passed to Judy by Frank.

"No," she wrote back on her hand, flashing it at him.

Judy took out her brand-new package of Grouchy pencils with mad faces on them. GROUCHY pencils-for completely impossible moods, said the package. Ever see a pencil that looks like it got up on the wrong side of the bed?

Perfect. The new Grouchy pencil helped her think. She found the words TREE, TEXAS, and TAXI hidden in Mr. Todd's spelling on the board. But instead she wrote down 1)NO 2)NO 3)NO 4)NO 5)NO.

"Who would like to tell the class five words they came up with?" asked Mr. Todd.

Judy's hand shot up.

"Judy?"

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" said Judy.

"That's one word. I need four more. Come up and write them on the board."

Judy Moody did not write TREE, TEXAS, and TAXI. Instead she wrote RAT and GNAT.

"How about BRAT?" called Rocky.

"There's no B," said Frank Pearl.

TIGER, wrote Judy.

"One more word," said Mr. Todd.

SPIT, wrote Judy.

"Can you use any of those words in a sentence, Judy?" asked Mr. Todd.

"The tiger spit on the rat and the gnat."

The whole class cracked up. Frank laughed so hard he snorted.

"Are you in a bad mood today?" asked Mr. Todd.

"ROAR," said Judy Moody.

"That's too bad," said Mr. Todd. "I was just about to ask who wants to go
down to the office and pick up the pizza. It's a welcome-back surprise."
"Pizza? Pizza! For real?" The room buzzed with excitement.

Judy Moody wanted to be the one to pick up the pizza. She wanted to be the one to open the box. She wanted to be the one who got to keep the little three-legged plastic table that kept the box top from sticking to the pizza.

"So. Who would like to pick up the pizza today?" asked Mr. Todd.

"Me!" yelled Judy. "Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!" everyone shouted at once, waving their hands like windmills in the air.

Rocky raised his hand without saying a word.

"Rocky, would you like to pick up the pizza?"

"Sure!" said Rocky.

"Luck-y!" Judy said.

JUDY MOODY by Megan McDonald. Copyright (c) 2000 by Megan McDonald. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.

Continues...

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Excerpted from Judy Moody
by Megan McDonald
Copyright © 2002 by Megan McDonald.
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

McDonald's (the Beezy books) comical novel introduces the entertainingly mercurial Judy Moody. The book itself has a look as fresh as its heroine (a compact trim size and an inventive jacket design die-cut that reveals the bright green and orange of the cover below). From the start, Judy devises intriguing solutions to her dilemmas. The book opens on the first day of third grade, with a hilarious spread in pen-and-ink wash showing only Judy's feet sticking up from her bed as her mother attempts to rouse her from the doorway. What to wear? Judy has no T-shirt to rival her classmates' shirts touting their exotic summer destinations, so the heroine decorates a plain white T with a drawing of a shark and the words "I Ate a Shark." For a "Me collage" at school, she insists that her cat, Mouse, is too old to qualify for the "My Favorite Pet" slot; unable to find a two-toed sloth, she purchases a Venus flytrap and proceeds to overfeed it raw hamburger. Her relationship to her best friend, Rocky, and her second-grade brother, Stink, also propel the plot in diverting directions, and the dialogue is spot-on (e.g., when aspiring doctor Judy gets her kit in the mail, Stink asks, "Why can't I ever be Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman Doctor?" and she responds, "For one thing, you're a boy"). It's hard to imagine a mood Judy couldn't improve. Ages 6-9. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 2-4-Judy Moody is grumpy. She hates the thought of summer ending and dreads starting third grade, until her new teacher asks each student to create a "Me" collage to share with the class. Then she can't wait to tell about her new pet-a Venus flytrap that eats bugs and hamburger, the T.P. (Toad Pee) Club initiation, and how she ate a shark over the summer. Judy's second-grade brother Stink and her friend Rock are major figures in the story as is her nemesis, Frank Pearl. Judy is independent, feisty, and full of energy, a delightful new character for beginning chapter-book readers. Reynolds has captured her personality in his humorous illustrations done in watercolor, tea, and pen and ink.-Janie Schomberg, Leal Elementary School, Urbana, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

School Library Journal

Changeable skies arch over a third-grader's moodscape in this easy-reading chapter book from the versatile McDonald (The Night Iguana Left Home, 1999, etc). Whether it's having to sit next to Frank "Eats Paste" Pearl on the first day of school, having a toad relieve itself in her hand, or playing the role of a cavity at the Brush Your Teeth Week assembly while her little brother Stink gets to tour the White House, something is always putting Judy into a grouchy mood, at least for a while. The author casts her appealing protagonist with equally appealing friends, plus a brother who not only holds his own, but also has a redeeming ability to take a practical joke. She brings the episodic story to a satisfying climax in which Judy, instead of throwing a tantrum, resourcefully rescues her homework, a painstakingly constructed collage, after Stink accidentally splashes it with purple juice. Reynolds's black and white washes are perfectly placed to track Judy's ups and downs, though parts of the full spread scenes do vanish into the gutter. Surefire fare for Cleary, Kline, and Hurwitz fans. (Fiction. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews

The book itself has a look as fresh as its heroine . . .The book opens . . . with a hilarious spread in pen-and-ink wash . . . the dialogue is spot-on . . . It's hard to imagine a mood Judy couldn't improve.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

...[T]his beginning chapter book features large type; simple, expressive prose and dialogue; and plenty of child-appealing humor. Children will enjoy lively Judy and her diverse hobbies and adventures with best-friend Rocky. They'll also like the witty, detailed drawings (especially the picture of Judy's unique collage, a nice activity idea) . . . An entertaining story that portrays challenges and pleasures from a kid's perspective, and shows how making the best of things can have surprising rewards.
—Booklist

Changeable skies arch over a third-grader's moodscape in this easy-reading chapter book . . . Reynolds's black-and-white washes are perfectly placed to track Judy's ups and downs . . . Surefire fare for Cleary, Kline, and Hurwitz fans.
—Kirkus Reviews

McDonald's offbeat humor coupled with expressive black-and-white cartoonlike illustrations make Judy, her family, and her friends both appealing and realistic.
—The Horn Book Guide

Fans of Beverly Cleary and the Amber Brown books should appreciate this fresh, energetic series about an irresistibly willful third grader.
—FamilyFun

Judy is just, well, intense, in that at-odds-with-the-whole-world way typical of third graders . . . this large-type chapter book is immensely funny . . . Fuming all the way, Judy Moody rules.
—FamilyFun

From the Publisher