Judy Moody Saves the World!

by Megan McDonald

  Who’s Who

  Crazy Strips Contest

  Batty for Banana Peels

  A Mr. Rubbish Mood

  Pigtoes, Pumas, and Pimplebacks

  Beetle Emergency

  Pond Scum

  Luna Two

  Batty for Band-Aids

  Project P.E.N.C.I.L.

  Batty for Bottles

  The Winking Disease

  10 Things You May Not Know About Megan McDonald

  10 Things You May Not Know About Peter H. Reynolds

  Judy Moody did not set out to save the world. She set out to win a contest. A Band-Aid contest.

  Judy snapped open her doctor kit. Where was that box of Crazy Strips? She lifted out the tiny hammer for testing reflexes.

  “Hey, can I try that?” asked Stink, coming into Judy’s room.

  “Stink, didn’t you ever hear of going knock, knock?”

  “Sure,” said Stink. “Who’s there?”

  “Not the joke,” said Judy. “The thing a little brother is supposed to do before entering a big sister’s room.”

  “You mean I have to tell a joke just to come in your room?” asked Stink.

  “Never mind,” said Judy.

  “Never mind who?” asked Stink.

  “Stink! Just sit on the chair and cross your legs,” said Judy. “I’m going to test your reflexes.”

  “Please don’t do doctor stuff to me!” Stink said.

  “C’mon, Stink.” Judy tapped Stink’s knee with the hammer. Stink’s foot shot out and kicked her in the leg.

  “Hey, Stink,” said Judy. “You kicked me! Who do you think you are, a cassowary?”

  “A what-o-wary?”

  “Cass-o-wary. I learned it in Science. It’s a rain forest bird that can’t fly, so it kicks its enemies.”

  “I’m not a casso-whatever,” said Stink. “I just have really good reflexes.”

  Judy flashed her best anaconda eyes at Stink. “Forget it,” she said, putting the hammer away.

  Stink reached into Judy’s doctor kit and pulled out some Crazy Strips.

  “Stink! I told you not to steal my Crazy Strips. Now this box is empty, as in ALL GONE. I told you I’d put your arm in a sling if you didn’t stop stealing my stuff.”

  Stink did not want his arm in a sling again. Especially when it wasn’t broken. “Give it,” said Judy, taking the box from Stink. “I want to read about the contest.”

  “Contest?” asked Stink. “What do we have to do?”

  Judy read the box.

  Crazy Strips 5th Annual

  Design Your Own Bandage Contest.

  Create your own Crazy Strip.

  Draw with pencils, crayons,

  or markers.

  Think of a theme!

  Go wild with a style!

  Be outrageous! Be you!

  “You mean we draw something to go on a Crazy Strip?” asked Stink. “What do we win?”

  Judy read on.

  Thirteen top designs will be chosen to be printed on Crazy Strips. Just think — kids all across the country could be wearing YOUR creative, colorful Crazy Strip.

  “Is that all?” asked Stink.

  “Rare!” Judy said. “I, Judy Moody, could have my own Crazy Strip.”

  “They have to let you win something,” Stink said, grabbing the box from Judy.

  “Just think. Knees, ankles, and elbows everywhere will be wearing a Judy Moody original. Even Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman Doctor, didn’t have her own Crazy Strip.”

  “Oh, brother,” said Stink. “Before you get too famous, can I use some of your skinny markers?”

  “What for?” Judy asked.

  “I want to draw a Crazy Strip, too. It says here the Grand Prize is a pair of Rollerblades.”

  “Rollerblades! Let me see that.”

  Top Winner: Crazy Strip of the Year Rollerblades plus your design printed on a Crazy Strip for one year

  Runners-up: Crazy Strip of the Month Crazy Strips sunglasses plus your design printed on a Crazy Strip for one month

  All participants receive Honorable Mention certificates.

  “Dream on, Stink. Only one kid in the whole entire United States of America gets Rollerblades.”

  “So?”

  “So look at some of the kids who won last year. They’re ten years old. Eleven. One is even thirteen. That’s a teenager. You’re only seven.”

  “And a quarter,” said Stink.

  “You’d have to be Picasso for them to pick your design,” she said.

  “Who?”

  “You know. The guy who painted all those blue people.”

  “Then let me borrow your blue marker,” said Stink.

  Judy dumped all the markers, crayons, colored pencils, and pastels she had on the floor. Stink grabbed the first blue marker he saw and started to draw.

  “What are you drawing?”

  “Bats,” said Stink. “Blue bats.”

  “You’re bats,” said Judy. “People don’t like bats.”

  “But bats eat millions of insects,” said Stink. “People should like bats.”

  “I know that,” said Judy. “I’m just saying, bats are not going to beat a teenager.” Stink kept right on coloring bats.

  “Your bats sure have big ears,” said Judy.

  “They’re Virginia big-eared bats.”

  “Oh,” said Judy.

  Stink was a good artist, but Judy didn’t want him thinking he was a genius or anything. She had to dream up a good-as-Picasso idea. Better than ucky old bats. Better than a teenager. She wanted her Judy Moody Crazy Strip to be seen all across the U.S.A. The world. The universe.

  “Stink, stop squeaking,” said Judy.

  “It’s the magic markers.”

  “I can’t think with all that squeaking,” Judy said.

  Judy studied some of the other winners on the box from last year. There were ladybugs, flowers, soccer balls, rainbows, and peace signs. Happy, happy, happy. Judy tried to think of something happy to draw on her Crazy Strip.

  She drew smiley faces. Yellow, red, blue, green, and purple smiley faces. Underneath she wrote CRAZY STRIPS CURE BAD MOODS.

  “Everybody draws smiley faces,” said Stink.

  “Who?” asked Judy.

  “Heather Strong, in my class. And teenagers.”

  Stink was right. Smiley faces were not good enough to decorate the ankles of millions. Smiley faces were not good enough to win Rollerblades. Smiley faces were not Picasso.

  Judy turned her Crazy Strip upside down. The smiley faces turned into bad-mood faces.

  “Nobody wants a cranky Crazy Strip,” Stink said.

  “ROAR!” said Judy.

  “They like it if you have a message,” said Stink, “but I can’t think of a message about bats.”

  “How about BATTY FOR BAND-AIDS?”

  “That’s good!” said Stink. “Thanks!”

  Stink was already done with his Crazy Strip and Judy still did not have a single idea. Not one inspiration.

  “Okay, let’s go mail this,” said Stink.

  Fresh air! That was it! Maybe Judy’s brain just needed some good old-fashioned oxygen.

  On the way to the mailbox, Stink asked, “Do you think I’ll win?”

  “What am I? A crystal ball?” asked Judy.

  “How long do you think it takes?” asked Stink, dropping the envelope into the big blue box.

  “Longer than one second,” said Judy.

  On the way home, Judy gulped in fresh air.

  “You look like a goldfish in a toilet,” Stink said.

  It was no use. Fresh air was not helping. Fresh air just made her look like a toilet fish.

  Stink’s Crazy Strip was already in the m
ail. What if Stink won the contest? What if she could never ever even come up with an idea?

  She, Judy Moody, was in a mood.

  All day Saturday and all day Sunday, Judy could not think up one single creative, award-winning Crazy Strips idea. On Monday morning, as soon as she got to the bus stop, Judy told her best friend, Rocky, about the contest. “Help me think of an idea!”

  “I know,” said Rocky. “How about a disappearing one? You put it on your arm, only it’s clear, so it’s invisible.”

  “Rare!” said Judy. “A disappearing Crazy Strip! That’s good!”

  “How are you going to win the contest if they can’t even see it?” Stink asked.

  “Good point,” said Judy, thinking it over. “I want the world to be able to see my Grand Prize–winning Judy Moody Crazy Strip.”

  At school, Judy was dying to ask Frank Pearl if he had any ideas, but the bell had already rung and she could not risk getting another white card for talking. She already had to stay after school once and clean the fish tank with Mr. Todd for getting three white cards. A person could only clean so many stinky fish tanks.

  So she wrote a note about the contest to pass to Frank instead. At the bottom she wrote: P. S. DON’T let Jessica Finch see this.

  “Science, everybody,” said Mr. Todd. “Let’s continue our discussion of the environment. Rain forests everywhere are being cut down. When you take medicine or bounce a ball or pop a balloon, you’re using something that came from the rain forest. And right here at home, malls are replacing trees, animals are disappearing, and we’re running out of places to put all of our trash.

  “Today, let’s come up with ways we can help save the earth. Sometimes it’s good to start small. Think of ways we can help at home. In our own families. And at school. Any ideas?”

  “Don’t leave lights on,” said Hailey.

  “Recycle your homework,” said Frank.

  “And cans and bottles and stuff,” said Leo.

  “Turn garbage into dirt,” said Rocky.

  “Yes,” said Mr. Todd. “That’s called composting.”

  Judy raised her hand, knocking her note to the floor. “Plant trees!”

  “Don’t be litterbugs,” said Jessica Finch.

  “I wasn’t littering,” said Judy, picking up the note. She crossed out the Finch in Jessica’s name and changed it to Jessica Fink. Sheesh. Sometimes Jessica Fink Finch gave her the jitterbugs.

  “Great!” said Mr. Todd. “These are all good ideas. Look around you — at home, in school, on the playground — not just in Science class. How can we help the planet? How can we make the world around us a better place? We can each do our part. All it takes is one person to make a difference.”

  One person! If all it took was one person, then she, Judy Moody, could save the world!

  She knew just where to start. With a banana peel.

  On the way home from school that afternoon, Judy asked Rocky, “Hey, can you come over and eat some bananas?”

  “Sure,” said Rocky. “What for?”

  “Compost,” said Judy.

  “I’ll eat two!” said Rocky.

  In Judy’s kitchen, Judy and Rocky each ate one and a half bananas. They fed the fourth and last one to Mouse, Judy’s cat. Then Judy tossed all four banana peels into a bucket.

  “Why don’t we make a sign for the bucket that says TURN GARBAGE INTO DIRT,” said Rocky.

  “Rare!” said Judy. “Tomorrow we can tell Mr. Todd how we started to heal the world.”

  “Double cool,” said Rocky.

  “Wait just a minute,” said Judy. “Why didn’t I think of it before? HEAL THE WORLD! That’s it!”

  “What’s it?”

  “My Band-Aid. For the Crazy Strips contest! You’ll see.” Judy ran upstairs and came back with markers and some paper. At the kitchen table, Rocky made a sign for the compost bucket while Judy drew a picture of Earth with a Band-Aid on it. She wrote HEAL THE WORLD under the globe in her best not-in-cursive letters. Then she drew banana peels all around the world.

  Stink came into the kitchen. “What are you drawing?” he asked Judy.

  “Banana peels,” said Judy.

  “For the Crazy Strip Contest,” Rocky said.

  “And you thought bats were weird?” said Stink. “Bats aren’t half as crazy as banana peels.”

  He looked at the empty bowl on the table. “Hey! Who ate the last banana?”

  “Mouse!” said Judy. Judy and Rocky fell on the floor laughing.

  “No way,” said Stink.

  “Just look at her whiskers,” said Judy.

  Stink got down on the floor, face to face with the cat. “Gross! Mouse has banana smoosh on her whiskers.”

  “Told you,” said Judy.

  “I’m telling Mom you ate all the bananas,” said Stink. “And you fed one to Mouse.”

  “Tell her it’s all in the name of science,” said Judy. “You’ll see. From now on there are going to be a few changes around here.”

  “We’re making compost,” said Rocky. “See?” He held up his sign.

  “It takes like a hundred years to turn garbage into dirt,” said Stink.

  “Stink, you’re going to be dirt. Unless you make like a tree and leaf us alone.”

  It was still dark out when Judy woke up early the next morning. She found her flashlight and notebook. Then she tiptoed downstairs to the kitchen and started to save the world.

  She hoped she could save the world before breakfast. Judy wondered if other people making the world a better place had to do it quietly, and in the dark, so their parents would not wake up.

  She, Judy Moody, was in a Mr. Rubbish mood. Mr. Rubbish was the Good Garbage Gremlin in Stink’s comic book, who built his house out of French-fry cartons and pop bottles. He recycled everything, even lollipop sticks. And he never used anything from the rain forest.

  Hmm . . . things that came from the rain forest. That would be a good place to start. Rubber came from the rain forest. And chocolate and spices and things like perfume. Even chewing gum.

  Judy collected stuff from around the house and piled it on the kitchen table. Chocolate bars, brownie mix, vanilla ice cream. Her dad’s coffee beans. The rubber toilet plunger. Gum from Stink’s gumball machine. Her mom’s lipstick from the bottom of her purse. She was so busy saving the rain forest that she didn’t hear her family come into the kitchen.

  “What in the world . . . ?” Mom said.

  “Judy, why are you in the dark?” Dad asked, turning on the lights.

  “Hey, my gumball machine!” Stink said.

  Judy held out her arms to block the way. “We’re not going to use this stuff anymore. It’s all from the rain forest,” she told them.

  “Says who?” asked Stink.

  “Says Mr. Rubbish. And Mr. Todd. They cut down way too many trees to grow coffee and give us makeup and chewing gum. Mr. Todd says the earth is our home. We have to take action to save it. We don’t need all this stuff.”

  “I need gum!” yelled Stink. “Give me back my gum!”

  “Stink! Don’t yell. Haven’t you ever heard of noise pollution?”

  “Is my coffee in there?” Dad asked, rubbing his hair.

  “Judy? Is that ice cream? It’s dripping all over the table!” Mom carried the leaky carton over to the sink.

  “ZZZZ-ZZZZZ!” Judy made the sound of a chain saw cutting down trees.

  “She’s batty,” Stink said.

  Dad put the brownie mix back in the cupboard. Mom took the toilet plunger off the kitchen table and headed for the bathroom.

  Time for Plan B. Project R. E. C. Y. C. L. E. She, Judy Moody, would show her family just how much they hurt the planet. Every time someone threw something away, she would write it down. She got her notebook and looked in the trash can. She wrote down:

  “Stink! You shouldn’t throw gooey old oatmeal in the trash!” Judy said.

  “Dad! Tell her to quit spying on me.”

  “I’m a Garbage Detective!” sa
id Judy. “Garbologist to you. Mr. Todd says if you want to learn what to recycle, you have to get to know your garbage.”

  “Here,” said Stink, sticking something wet and mushy under Judy’s nose. “Get to know my apple core.”

  “Hardee-har-har,” said Judy. “Hasn’t anybody in this family ever heard of the Three R’s?”

  “The Three R’s?” asked Dad.

  “Re-use. Re-cycle.”

  “What’s the third one?” asked Stink.

  “Re-fuse to talk to little brothers until they quit throwing stuff away.”

  “Mom! I’m not going to stop throwing stuff away just because Judy’s having a trash attack.”

  “Look at all this stuff we throw away!” Judy said. “Did you know that one person throws away more than eight pounds of garbage a day?”

  “We recycle all our glass and cans,” said Mom.

  “And newspapers,” Dad said.

  “But what about this?” said Judy, picking a plastic bag out of the trash.” This bread bag could be a purse! Or carry a library book.”

  “What’s so great about eggshells?” asked Stink. “And smelly old ground-up coffee?”

  “You can use them to feed plants. Or make compost.” Just then, something in the trash caught her eye. A pile of Popsicle sticks? Judy pulled it out. “Hey! My Laura Ingalls Wilder log cabin I made in second grade!”

  “It looks like a glue museum to me,” said Stink.

  “I’m sorry, Judy,” Mom said. “I should have asked first, but we can’t save everything, honey.”

  “Recycle it!” said Stink. “You could use it for kindling, to start a fire! Or break it down into toothpicks.”

  “Not funny, Stink.”

  “Judy, you’re not even ready for school yet. Let’s talk about this later,” said Dad. “It’s time to get dressed.”

  It was no use. Nobody listened to her. Judy trudged upstairs, feeling like a sloth without a tree.

  “I won’t wear lipstick today if it’ll make you feel better,” Mom called up the stairs.

  “And I’ll only drink half a cup of coffee,” Dad said, but Judy could hardly hear him over the grinding of the rain forest coffee beans.