Judy Moody's Mini-Mysteries

by Megan McDonald

  Before long, they were back to the ranger station. “I didn’t even see one animal track on our nature walk,” said Judy.

  “Well, I saw a newt,” said Stink. “And an endangered Virginia round-leaf birch tree.”

  Back at the campsite, Dad cut up some watermelon and Mom poured lemonade. “Judy, could you bring me the hamburger meat, please?” Mom said. “I left it on a tree stump near the fire pit.”

  “It’s not there!” said Judy. “Unless we’re having invisible burgers.”

  “Well, that’s a mystery,” said Mom. “I could have sworn I left the meat right there.”

  “Cool, burgers that evaporate!” said Stink. “Poof!”

  “I must have just misplaced it,” said Mom. She and Dad began searching through the cooler and grocery bags.

  Judy went to the stump where Mom had left the meat and crouched down. There were faint markings in the dirt around the stump. “Fauna footprints!” Judy said. “As in for-real animal tracks. No lie.” She took her nature notebook out of her pocket and drew a sketch of what she saw.

  “Mom, you didn’t misplace the meat. And it didn’t evaporate. A hungry critter from nature took it!”

  Turn the page to solve the mystery!

  Based on the animal tracks, Judy thinks that a fox stole the food. The bird tracks do not go close enough to the food for the bird to have eaten it. The deer tracks do go near the food, but deer do not eat meat, so the fox is the likely culprit.

  • Frank Pearl (aka Dills Pickle) had a pickle of a puzzle for Judy. What eight-letter word contains only ONE letter?

  It took Judy two Grouchy pencils and three erasers to figure this one out. Can you solve it?

  • Presto Whammo! Rocky (aka Spuds Houdini) produced a pickle puzzle of his own. What’s another eight-letter word that contains only one letter?

  • Judy and Stink stepped on the same piece of paper at the same time.

  “Mine!” said Judy.

  “Mine!” said Stink. Though Judy and Stink stood face-to-face on the same piece of paper, it was impossible for them to touch each other. How could this be?

  Click here for the answers

  One of the most important skills of a detective is noticing what’s going on around her. Look at the picture on the next page for ten seconds, and then try answering the questions without looking back.

  1. What animal is licking Judy?

  2. How many people are in the picture?

  3. Who is walking into the tent?

  4. Who is lying on the ground?

  5. What is on Frank’s face?

  6. How many cookies are on the ground?

  Click here to see how much you remembered!

  1. How many people are in the picture?

  2. What is in Judy’s bag?

  3. What is behind Judy’s ear?

  4. What is on Stink’s T-shirt?

  5. How many watches is Judy wearing?

  6. What is around Dad’s neck?

  7. What is on Judy’s thumb?

  Click here to see how much you remembered!

  Calling all super-sleuths! When Judy made her list of Nancy Drew books, Stink was bugging her and she made thirteen mistakes. Can you find all thirteen of the Moody mix-ups in the list? Go to the library or search online if you need help. Click here for the answers.

  #1: The Secret of the Old Clock (1930)

  #2: The Hidden Staircase (1930)

  #3: The Bungalow Mystery (1930)

  #4: The Mystery at Lilac Inn (1930)

  #5: The Secret at Shadow Ranch (1931)

  #6: The Secret of Pink Gate Farm (1931)

  #7: The Clue in the Diary (1932)

  #8: Nancy’s Mysterious Letter (1932)

  #9: The Sign of the Twisted Candles (1933)

  #10: The Password to Larkspur Lane (1933)

  #11: The Clue of the Broken Locket (1934)

  #12: The Message in the Hollow Oak (1935)

  #13: The Mystery of the Ivory Bad Luck Charm (1936)

  #14: The Screaming Mimi Statue (1937)

  #15: The Haunted Bridge (1937)

  #16: The Clue of the Tapping Heels (1939)

  #17: The Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk (1940)

  #18: The Mystery at the Moss-Covered Mansion (1941)

  #19: The Quest of the Missing Map (1942)

  #20: The Clue in the Grouchy Pencil Box (1943)

  #21: The Secret in the Old Attic (1944)

  #22: The Clue in the Crumbling Wall (1945)

  #23: The Mystery of the Liberty Bell (1946)

  #24: The Clue in the Old Album (1947)

  #25: The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (1948)

  #26: The Clue of the Leaning Chimney 1949)

  #27: The Secret of the Wooden Leg (1950)

  #28: The Clue of the Black Keys (1951)

  #29: The Mystery at the Ski Jump (1952)

  #30: The Clue of the Velvet Mask (1953)

  #31: The Ringmaster’s Secret (1953)

  #32: The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (1954)

  #33: The Witch Tree Symbol (1955)

  #34: The Hidden Window Mystery (1956)

  #35: The Haunted Root-Beer Float (1957)

  #36: The Secret of the Golden Palamino (1959)

  #37: The Clue in the Old Stagecoach (1960)

  #38: The Mystery of the Fire Dragon (1961)

  #39: The Clue of the Roaring Puppet (1962)

  #40: The Moonstone Castle Mystery (1963)

  #41: The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes (1964)

  #42: The Phantom of Pine Hill (1965)

  #43: The Mystery of the 99 Steps (1966)

  #44: The Clue in the Crossword Cipher (1967)

  #45: The Eight-and-a-Half-Legged Spider Sapphire Mystery (1968)

  #46: The Invisible Intruder (1969)

  #47: The Mysterious Mouse (1970)

  #48: The Crooked Banister (1971)

  #49: The Secret of Mirror Bay (1972)

  #50: The Double-Rare Jinx Mystery (1973)

  #51: Mystery of the Glowing Eye (1974)

  #52: The Secret of the Forgotten City (1975)

  #53: The Sky Phantom (1976)

  #54: The Strange Message in the Parchment (1977)

  #55: Mystery of Artichoke Island (1978)

  #56: The Thirteenth Pearl (1979)

  Judy Moody can’t wait to read and collect all the classic Nancy Drew Mysteries. How many of these titles can you find in Judy Moody, Girl Detective? You be the Judy Drewdy! Click here for the answer.

  Judy Moody was walking with her nose in Nancy Drew #32, The Scarlet Slipper Mystery, when — BAM! — she ran smack-dab into a fourth-grader. A fourth-grader carrying a giant stack of library books. The books went flying. OOPS!

  “Sorry!” Judy and the girl said at the same time.

  Judy helped pick up the books. “Secret in the Old Attic?” she said. “The Hidden Staircase?”

  “I’m freaky for Nancy Drew,” said the girl.

  “I’m freaky for Nancy Drew! I’m reading all fifty-six classic Nancy Drews. I’m on number thirty-two.”

  “Hey, don’t I know you? We played soccer together last summer. I go to Jerabek Elementary School, but my mom knows your mom. My name’s Alyssa.”

  “Oh, yeah!” said Judy.

  Before you could say “Scarlet Slipper,” Judy had a playdate with Alyssa.

  Judy’s mom pulled up outside Alyssa’s house. It had purple front steps, a porch covered in vines, and a round tower.

  “This looks like a haunted house!” said Stink. “No way would I go in there.”

  The house did look way old and spooky. Judy glanced at her mood ring. Amber. Amber was for Nervous. Amber was for Not-So-Sure. Amber seemed to whisper, Never-Go-Inside-Haunted-Houses.

  Judy reached into the pocket where she kept her SOS lipstick. It helped her pluck up her courage. She climbed the purple steps and knocked on the front door.

  Alyssa opened the door, and Judy stepped inside. The first thing Judy noticed was a chandelier in the entryway
— it was swinging back and forth. Then, from out of nowhere, spooky music drifted into the room.

  Judy got goose bumps, goose eggs. Alyssa didn’t seem to notice a thing.

  “Is this house haunted?” Judy whispered.

  “Of course not.” Alyssa laughed. “Don’t be cuckoo.” Judy started to relax. Alyssa lowered her voice. “Sometimes I do hear spooky sounds coming from the attic. You want to go up?”

  “Up? As in stairs? To the spooky attic?” Judy checked her mood ring. Blue-green? Blue-green was for Relaxed, Calm. She, Judy Moody, did not feel Relaxed, Calm at all!

  Upstairs, Alyssa yanked a rope in the ceiling. Down came a secret staircase that led into the attic. Jeepers! The cobwebby attic was full of junk covered in million-year-old dust: chairs, rolls of carpet, old-timey paintings, a cracked mirror.

  Just then, out of the corner of Judy’s eye, something caught her attention. Something in the mirror. Something hairy and scary.

  “AGHHHHHH!” Judy screamed and fell back on the floor. She scrambled back up to her feet and made a beeline for the stairs. “I think . . . saw . . . gorilla . . . ghost!”

  “Judy! Stop! Wait!”

  But Judy didn’t stop. She didn’t wait. Judy flew down the attic stairs, through the front door, and out into the sunshine as fast as she could, all the way home.

  Judy tried not to think about haunted houses. She tried not to think about swinging chandeliers and spooky music. She tried not to think about gorillas or ghosts.

  She, Judy Moody, was in a mood. A tingle-up-your-spine mood. What color is my mood ring? She looked down at her hand.

  Hello! Her mood ring! It was G-O-N-E, gone! This was a for-real mystery for Judy Moody, Girl Detective: Mystery of the Missing Mood Ring.

  When had she last seen it? At breakfast. At soccer. In the car with Stink . . .

  Stink!

  Judy Drewdy went to find her number-one suspect. She shone a flashlight in Stink’s eyes. “Where’s my mood ring?” she asked a million and one times. Judy held up an apple but wouldn’t let him eat it. Yet.

  “Honest to pizza! I did NOT steal it! You had it on in the car. I saw you checking it. Maybe that gorilla ATE your mood ring.”

  The gorilla! Of course! She’d had her mood ring on in the attic just before . . . .

  Wait just a Nancy Drew minute! This was exactly like . . . Nancy Drew Book #2, The Hidden Staircase . Nancy goes to a creepy mansion, sees the creepy chandelier swinging, hears creepy music, finds a creepy hidden staircase, and sees a creepy gorilla at the window.

  Maybe Alyssa’s house was haunted after all! And, she, Judy Moody, had to go back there to get her ring. Brrr. Judy shivered at the thought.

  Alyssa opened the front door. She looked surprised to see Judy.

  “Hey, have you seen my mood ring?” Judy asked Alyssa.

  “Mood ring?” Alyssa said. “You had it on when we went upstairs.”

  “Then I think your house is haunted for real,” Judy said.

  Alyssa howled like a hyena. “I got you! I got you so good!”

  “You mean — all that spooky stuff was just a big fat fake-out?”

  “I got the idea to spook you from reading The Hidden Staircase . So I asked my brother to jump on his bed to make the chandelier swing, play creepy music, and hide up in the attic with his gorilla mask. Judy Moody, you cracked the case!”

  “RARE!” said Judy. “But — there’s still the Mystery of the Missing Mood Ring.”

  Judy and Alyssa crawled on hands and knees across the attic floor, searching for her mood ring. “I’m sure you just dropped it,” said Alyssa. But where was it?

  “I guess my mood ring is not in the mood to be found,” said Judy. All of a sudden, her hand pressed down on a loose floorboard. The board popped up. Under the loose board was . . . a way-cool secret compartment!

  “My ring!” shouted Judy, sliding it onto her finger. “I guess it flew off yesterday when I saw your brother the gorilla, and it fell though a crack.”

  Alyssa peered into the dark hole. “Hey, what’s this?” She picked something up and blew on it. A cloud of dust cleared. A note! The note was in a secret code.

  “Alice in Wonderland left us a secret code from 1930?” Judy screeched.

  “No, silly. Alice Sutherland. She must have lived in this house a way long time ago! She read Nancy Drew, too. How cool is that? Just think: she left this note for us to find someday. It’s like an eighty-year-old mystery.”

  “That’s older than my grandma Lou!”

  Judy stared at the secret code. “It’s a classic reverse alphabet code. You know, where the letter A equals Z?” The girls got a pencil and worked out the code.

  Judy and Alyssa searched the attic up and down. “I think I see something blue back here!” Alyssa shouted, reaching up into the rafters. She pulled down a musty, dusty old book. “Nancy Drew book number two. The Hidden Staircase! It’s like the one I got from the library, only way old.”

  Holy macaroni! Judy barely dared to breathe.

  “I bet this is one of the first Nancy Drew books ever. It must be worth a bazillion dollars!” Alyssa cracked open the book. “Look! She wrote something in fancy handwriting.”

  Judy peered over Alyssa’s shoulder, reading the inscription.

  “Same-same!” said Judy, grinning at Alyssa.

  WHO IS CAROLYN KEENE?

  Nancy Drew books are written by author Carolyn Keene, right? Wrong!

  Carolyn Keene is a made-up name for several writers who penned Nancy Drew books. Two of the original writers of Nancy Drew books were Mildred Wirt Benson and Harriet Stratemeyer Adams.

  Author Megan McDonald was very tricky when she wrote Judy Moody, Girl Detective, and she used those names for two of her characters. Can you find characters in Judy Moody, Girl Detective with the names Mildred Benson and Mrs. Stratemeyer?

  Click here for the answers

  WHO SAID IT?

  Nancy Drew sure had some funny sayings and expressions. Look at the list of stuff Judy Moody says in Judy Moody, Girl Detective and try to figure out which ones came from Nancy Drew.

  Hint: Nancy Drew’s sayings might sound old-fashioned.

  • Jeepers!

  • Cool beans!

  • RARE!

  • Crumbs!

  • Scoo-bee-doo!

  • Hankie

  • Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy

  • Holy jeepers!

  • Chums

  • Hypers!

  • Crumbs to that

  • Chips ahoy!

  • Penny loafers

  • Vexed

  • Flushie

  Click here for the answers

  FIND THE BAD GUYS

  Nancy Drew has met some real bad guys in her time. Which of the following are real bad guys from a classic Nancy Drew book? And which are names that Stink made up?

  • Stumpy

  • Stingy

  • Scurvy

  • Grumper

  • Snarky

  • Snuffy

  • Snorky

  • Grumpy

  • Sniggs

  Click here for the answers

  NANCY DREW WISDOM

  Judy Moody is a girl detective. You can be, too. Can you detect what this means? It’s one of Judy’s favorite sayings.

  Why does Judy say this? Because Nancy Drew always carried a bobby pin and used it to pick locks and get out of other tricky situations!

  FINGERPRINT PATTERNS

  Collecting fingerprints is a snap! Use a paintbrush to lightly dust powder onto a surface where fingerprints are likely to be. The powder will stick to the oils left behind by a person’s skin. Lay a piece of clear tape over the print, then slowly lift it back up and stick it to a piece of black paper to “collect” the print for your records. Use the pictures below to categorize any fingerprints you find. Then, when you’re interviewing a suspect, compare the person’s fingerprints to the ones at the scene of the crime.

  COMMUNICATING WITH
MORSE CODE

  Morse code is a way of communicating using lights or sounds of different lengths. Girl detective Nancy Drew knew how to send messages in Morse code using the heels of her shoes to make clicking noises!

  Try deciphering these messages in Morse code:

  Click here for the answers.

  HANDWRITING ANALYSIS

  A good detective can learn a lot about a person from her handwriting. Use these helpful tips if you find handwritten evidence at a crime scene.

  Slant:

  Writer is open and likes to socialize.

  Writer is shy and likes to be left alone.

  Writer is logical and shows little emotion.

  Size:

  Writer has a big personality and likes attention.

  Writer is focused and can concentrate easily.

  Writer is calm.

  Loops:

  Writer is stressed or tense.

  Writer is carefree and spontaneous.

  • Never leave home without a bobby pin.

  • Never solve a mystery on an empty stomach.

  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

  • Always keep a sense of humor and an open mind.

  • Do not get in a bad mood. It can cloud your judgment and cause you to overlook important details.

  • Everyone’s a suspect. (But don’t forget, everyone is innocent until proven guilty!)

  • Never give up.

  • A detective’s work is never done.

  USE YOUR NOGGIN: WAY-PUZZLING, HEAD-SCRATCHING LOGIC PUZZLES