Judy Moody (No. 1) [Paperback]

Megan McDonald (Author), Peter H. Reynolds (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up | Series: Judy Moody

The mercurial Judy Moody will delight any kid who's known a bad mood or a bad day—and managed to laugh anyway.

And, the winners of the Judy Moody All-About-Me Contest are announced! See the amazing winning and runner-up entries at http://www.fablevision.com/judymoody/winners_test.html — and find out how you can make your own All-About-Me collage.

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

Judy Moody doesn’t have high hopes for third grade. But she does have an abundance of individuality and attitude, and when Mr. Todd assigns the class a special Me Project, she really gets a chance to express herself! Megan McDonald’s spirited text and Peter Reynolds’s wry illustrations will delight any kid who’s known a bad mood or a bad day - and managed to laugh anyway.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The first day of third grade puts Judy Moody in a mad-face mood. She just knows everyone will come back from summer vacation with word T-shirts, like "Disney World" or "Jamestown: Home of Pocahontas." All Judy has is a plain old no-words T-shirt. She'll have to go to a new classroom, with a new desk, and she won't have an armadillo sticker with her name on it like she did last year. And knowing her luck, she'll end up sitting next to Frank, the boy who eats paste. For breakfast her dad makes eggs with the yellow middle broken, and her younger "bother," Stink, thinks he knows everything now that he's starting second grade. But bad moods never last long with the irrepressible Judy Moody, and before long, her day--and year--look brighter. Mr. Todd assigns the class a "Me" collage, which sets Judy on a lively and hilarious self-exploration over the next few action-packed weeks.

Prolific author Megan McDonald (Beezy and Insects Are My Life) introduces readers to a thoroughly charming, independent, willful heroine, who is far more upbeat than she likes to let on to her reading audience. Remarkably understanding adults populate Judy's world, allowing her to express her witty, resourceful self freely. Peter Reynolds's personable line drawings complement McDonald's text in a light, pleasing style. (Ages 6 to 10) --Emilie Coulter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

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 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick; 1st Ppbk Edition, 2002 edition (July 22, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0763612316
• ISBN-13: 978-0763612313
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.5 x 7.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)

More About the Author

10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

10. The first book I ever wrote was about a hermit crab, inspired by a pet I once owned.

9. My favorite color is purple.

8. I love to read mysteries. When I was Judy's age, I read all 56 classic Nancy Drew books . . . in order! Jeepers!

7. I used to collect scabs so I could examine them under the microscope that I got for my 8th birthday.

6. My four sisters and I often made up our own language, which included the words "Hoidi Boidi", "oogey", "retzel crummypuss" and "poony-poony".

5. My favorite TV show is JEOPARDY!

4. To research my Sisters Club book, THE RULE OF THREE, I toured San Francisco in search of the ultimate cupcake. The winner: Sleepless in San Francisco. Think chocolate + coffee.

3. When I was a kid, I fell down a hill from chasing the ice-cream truck and had to get stitches.

2. When I was a librarian, I used to tell stories in sign language. That's how I got the expression "same-same" for Judy.

1. I share a birthday (February 28) with a famous princess, race car driver and gangster, a Rolling Stone, a French tightrope walker, and a winning racehorse named Smarty Jones.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read All-About-Judy Moody!, May 12, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Judy Moody was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood. (Hardcover)

Judy Moody is a wonderful book - thought provoking, adventurous... and funny! Not only will readers have fun learning about Judy and her moods, but they'll also learn how Judy deals with her moods. Luckily Judy is quite a creative thinker, which helps her turn some of the "worst things ever" into some of the best things ever. The illustrations are absolutely fabulous - very whimsical and playful... a perfect fit for the story!

As a guidance counselor, I can already see many ways to use Judy Moody with kids in my work - from discussing "moods", problem solving, and friendships, to self-awareness through the "All-About-Me" project. This book will appeal to both boys and girls alike - a must for every library, classroom, and family bookshelf!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rarified, September 22, 2005

By 

E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Judy Moody (No. 1) (Paperback)

After your young child has devoured his or her fill of "Junie B. Jones" books and has gobbled up the entire "Amber Brown" series without so much as breathing, it can be hard to know where to go next. The answer is a series that I like to consider child-driven. You'll never hear adult praising the magnificence of "Judy Moody" books. Parents don't think to recommend her and educators have entirely missed out on her appearance in their students' hands. Kids, however, request her by name. They ask frantically where the "Judy Moody" books can be found and heaven help you if you're a children's librarian caught not knowing who she is. I, for the longest time, sort of lumped her together with the "Molly Moon" books (which I had also not read). A quick perusal of both was enough to cure me of THAT little quirk. Now when a kid asks me for "Judy Moody" stories, I know they're just looking for books about an average little girl who has some normal adventures and some extraordinary spunk.

Judy wakes up the first day of school in a mood. "Not a good mood. A bad mood. A mad-face mood". Fortunately, there's more to the story than that. Meeting your heroine right off the bat when she's woken up on the wrong side of the bed doesn't show you the good side of Judy initially. At first, she's a cranky crochety gal who's little brother bugs her, who makes fun of her teacher's name, and who can't stand her eternal crushee, Frank Pearl. "Ever since they had danced the Maypole together in kindergarten, this boy would not leave her alone". Fortunately, teacher Mr. Todd has a wonderful assignment for the class. They are to make a Me collage. On it, they will show items that explain who they are as a person. Judy is intrigued and the book follows her as she sets off to figure out what her favorite pet is (*hint* it's green, has teeth, and finds spiders delicious), what the worst thing to happen to her was, what she finds funny, etc. Along the way, Judy learns that there's more to Frank Pearl than meets the eye and that even her brother's mistakes can be turned into something good.

There is nothing about Megan McDonald's creation to necessarily set her apart from the pack. She doesn't have divorced parents like "Amber Brown" or deal with issues in any way. Judy isn't as young as "Junie B. Jones" either, so her problems are a little more mature. The thing about Judy is that she's got personality. Judy likes to use the word, "rare" rather than "cool", which actually kinda works. She collects things obsessively and when she is not feeling particularly perky she shows it by proclaiming, "ROAR". I enjoyed the sections in which Judy interacted with her brother and Frank Pearl. Her brother does typical annoying-little-brother stuff, but McDonald sometimes (and unexpectedly) takes his side when Judy acts just a bit too mean. Likewise, Frank Pearl turns out to be a pretty cool guy, if you ignore the fact that he once ate paste on a dare.

For those kids who haven't quite graduated onto the "Anastasia Krupnik" books of Lois Lowry or the "Alice" series by Phyllis Naylor, "Judy Moody" fills a gap. Judy will never be as well remembered as "Ramona", but she has a style entirely of her own. I can see why both boys and girls alike are enjoying her tales.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will put you in a good mood, December 13, 2003

By 

SLP books "uppolishak" (Escanaba, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Judy Moody (No. 1) (Paperback)

I recently read this book with my 8 year old son for the bookclub we are in through his school library, and we loved it. He was intent on not reading it at first because he thought it was a "girls book", but when we finished it the other day he was actually disappointed. I found it to be heartwarming and funny. Especially her turnaround in feelings about the "eats paste" kid and the TP club. He seemed to enjoy it a lot, you will too.