For my mom, Felicitas Madrid
E. M.
For Janet Varney
M. M.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places,
and incidents are either products
of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2016 by Megan McDonald
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Peter H. Reynolds
Judy Moody font copyright © 2003 by Peter H. Reynolds
Judy Moody®. Judy Moody is a registered trademark of Candlewick Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted,
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,
graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2017
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2015933256
ISBN 978-0-7636-8198-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7636-8199-9 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-5362-0212-0 (electronic)
The illustrations were created digitally.
Candlewick Press
99 Dover Street
Somerville, Massachusetts 02144
visit us at www.candlewick.com
CONTENTS
CHApTER 1
CHApTER 2
CHApTER 3
The Boss of Birthday 7
The Mitten State 29
Mummy Time 49
CHApTER 1
7
The Boss of Birthday
Every year on Mom’s birthday,
something went wrong-not-right.
Judy called it the Birthday Jinx.
But this year was going to be
different. This year, Judy would be
the boss of birthday. And this year,
Stink was not going to get carsick.
And this year, Dad would finally
bake Mom’s favorite — carrot cake.
8
She, Judy Moody, would break the
Birthday Jinx once and for all.
“Hey, Stinkerbell,” Judy said to her
brother, “tomorrow is Mom’s birthday.
No getting sick this year. And you
have to make her a really good
present.”
Stink looked up from building the
United Nations Headquarters out of
Snappos. “I have to make a present?”
he asked.
10
“You can’t buy her a pack of gum
like last year.”
“What’s wrong with gum? Mom
likes gum.”
“A handmade present says, I love
you and I care . Gum does not say, I
love you. Gum does not say, I care.”
“What does gum say?”
“Gum says, I only had a dollar.”
“I say talking gum is a pretty good
present!” said Stink.
He looked at his Snappos. “Wait! I
have an idea!”
“And Mom’s present can’t be made
of Snappos,” Judy said.
“Rats!” said Stink.
Next Judy went to her dad. “I’m the
boss of Mom’s birthday this year,” she
told him. “This year, Mom’s cake has
to be carrot cake.”
“Do I have to make it myself?”
“From scratch,” said Judy. “Cake
made from scratch says, I love you and
I care.”
“Hmm,” said Dad. “I say a talking
cake is a pretty good present!”
14
Finally, Judy got started on her own
gift for Mom. She tried
making earrings out
of seashells, but she
ended up with a pair
of glue globs.
She tried making a
Popsicle-stick picture
frame, but couldn’t
eat enough Popsicles.
Judy even tried
to draw a picture
of a hug, but it
came out looking
like a monkey.
15
Judy eyed her jar of
Make-a-Word beads.
All she had left were
X’s, Z’s, and numbers.
Mom liked bracelets.
Mom liked numbers;
she was always talking
up math. Eureka! The perfect idea.
A phone-number bracelet!
A phone-number bracelet was
better than glue-glob earrings. Better
than a Popsicle-stick picture frame.
Better than a drawing of a hug. A
phone-number bracelet would help
break the Birthday Jinx for sure.
That night, Judy could hardly sleep.
At last it was Mom’s birthday.
Judy and Stink ran into Mom and
Dad’s room and bounced on the bed.
“Happy birthday, Mom!”
Mom pulled the covers up over her
head.
“Kids,” said Dad. “We should let
Mom sleep in on her birthday.”
“Who can sleep when there are
presents to open?” Judy said.
Mom sat up and rubbed her eyes.
“I’m awake now.”
18
“Open my present first,” said Judy.
She handed Mom a small box tied
with rainbow yarn.
Judy could not wait to see Mom’s
face light up like a birthday candle!
Mom tore off the wrapping. Mom
lifted the lid.
Mom’s face didn’t light up like a
birthday candle.
19
“A bracelet,” said Mom, “with
numbers.”
“Not just any numbers,” said Judy.
“Our phone number.”
20
“Sorry, wrong number!” said Stink.
“That’s not even our phone number.”
“I ran out of sevens,” Judy
explained. “Just pretend the fives are
sevens, Mom, and you’ll never forget
our phone number.”
“Except she will forget, because
that’s not —”
“Stink,” Dad warned.
21
Stink was right. The fives-not-
sevens phone-number bracelet was a
bad idea. It was the Birthday Jinx all
over again.
Judy ran to her room and came
back with her Six-Year Pen. “You can
have this instead,” she told Mom.
“It still has four years left in it. I
promise.”
“Open mine next,” Stink urged.
Mom untied the shoelace ribbon. She
tore off the Sunday comics.
22
Inside was a rock. A painted rock
with googly eyes.
“You got Mom a rock?” Judy asked.
“It’s a pet rock and a paperweight,”
said Stink.
“Oh, look,” said Mom. “It even says
MOM on the bottom.”
23
“I made it by hand,” Stink told her.
“That says, I care.”
“A rock does not say I care,” Ju
dy
muttered. “Here, Mom. Open Dad’s
gift.”
Whatever Dad got, it had to break
the Birthday Jinx.
Mom tore off the wrapping paper.
25
“Oh!” Mom looked surprised. “A . . .
glue gun. Or is it a cake decorator?”
“It’s a label maker,” said Dad.
“Not just any label maker,” said
Judy, reading the box. “The Dynamo
Office Buddy 2000 Embosser.”
26
“Now you can label the kids’
backpacks and lunch boxes and all
sorts of things,” said Dad.
“You can label my present so
everybody knows it’s not just a rock,”
said Stink.
“And you can make a label that
says SHELF OF HONOR where you can
keep all your presents,” Judy said,
beaming at her father.
SHELF OF HONOR
27
“Can you tell we care?” asked Stink.
“You’re not supposed to say it,
Stink,” said Judy. “The present is
supposed to say it for you.”
hear what the presents are saying.”
“I can hear,” said Mom with a wide
smile. “Loud and clear.”
29
The Mitten State
CHApTER 2
“Let’s go do something way-not-
boring for Mom’s birthday,” Judy said
after breakfast.
“I call Reptile Mania,” said Stink.
“I call glow-in-the-dark bowling,”
said Judy.
“I call we let Mom choose,” said
Dad. “It is her day.”
“I choose . . . a nature walk,” said
Mom. “I hear that snowy owls have
been spotted at Smugglers’ Bay.”
By the time the Moodys piled into
the car, it was almost lunchtime.
“Let’s stop to eat first,” said Dad.
“I call Mac and Cheesy!” said Stink.
“I call the Bowling Alley Diner,”
said Judy.
“I call we let Mom choose,” said
Dad.
“I love sushi,” said Mom.
Judy tried not to make a face.
“Dead fish?”
Stink pinched his nose shut. “Sushi
is P.U.”
32
The Moodys ended up at the Grilled
Cheese Kitchen.
After lunch at the no-sushi Grilled
Cheese Kitchen, they piled back into
the car and headed to Smugglers’ Bay.
Suddenly, Stink got an uh-oh look
on his face.
“Not again! Are you sick or
something?” Judy asked.
“Or something.”
“Oh, no. The Birthday Jinx is back!”
Mom felt Stink’s forehead. “You
don’t feel warm,” said Mom.
“I, um, forgot to tell you about
some homework. I have to dress up
as a United State.”
Mom blinked super fast.
“And I need my costume by
tomorrow.”
“Stink!” Dad said. “It’s Mom’s
birthday.”
34
“Dressing up as a state is a big
second-grade deal,” Judy told Stink.
“Do you know how long it took me to
become South Dakota?”
“How long?” Stink asked.
“Long,” said Judy.
Mom took a deep breath. “We can
grab some supplies at a crafts store,
then head home and work on the
costume.”
“What about your nature walk?”
Judy asked.
“I can walk around the backyard
later,” said Mom.
“The backyard doesn’t have snowy
owls,” said Judy.
“It has sparrows,” said Stink
hopefully.
35
Judy gave Stink the hairy eyeball.
Mom turned to Stink. “So, what
state do you have to be?”
“Michigan. The Mitten State.
Michigan is shaped like a giant
mitten.”
“Then a giant mitten you shall be!”
Mom said.
36
As soon as they got home, Mom
helped Stink cut two Stink-size mitten
shapes out of blue foam. She cut a
round hole in one mitten for Stink’s
face.
37
While Dad was busy baking not-
from-a-box carrot cake in the kitchen,
Mom set up her sewing machine. She
zipped up one side of Michigan and
zoomed down the other. She snipped
and sewed all afternoon.
At last, Mom slipped the state of
Michigan over Stink’s head. Stink
spun around the room. “Look at me!
I’m the Lower Peninsula!”
“You look like a giant left-handed
mitten,” said Judy.
“I’m smitten with this mitten,” said
Mom, tugging the costume here and
there.
“Thanks, Mom!” said Stink. “Um,
I was thinking . . . can you make a
robin, too? That’s the state bird. And
maybe a flag? Apple blossom is the
state flower —”
39
Mom slumped in her chair, a tape
measure draped around her neck.
“I’m pooped.”
“Hel-lo?” said Judy. “It’s Mom’s
birthday, Stink. She needs Mom time.”
41
So Stink drew pictures of robins and
apple blossoms and brook trout and
even a mastodon, the state fossil. Judy
helped cut out the shapes and glue
them to the mitten.
43
44
“Is that everything?” Mom asked
after Stink glued on a sequin for
Lansing, the state capital.
Stink checked his homework sheet
to make double-sure he hadn’t
forgotten anything. In less than a
Detroit minute, his face went as white
as a marshmallow.
The Michigan mitten crumpled at
the knees and sank to the floor like
the wreck of that ship, the Edmund
Fitzgerald. Kal-a-ma-zoo!
“Hey, Michigan,” said Judy, poking
Stink in the state capital. “What’s
wrong?”
45
46
“I messed up,” he moaned. “It’s a
major, mastodon-size mess up.”
“What do you mean?” asked Mom.
“I’m not even supposed to be
Michigan,” Stink moaned.
“What are you supposed to be?”
asked Judy.
47
“Min-min-min,” Stink stammered.
He could hardly get the word out.
“Minnesota!” he wailed.
49
Mummy Time
CHApTER 3
“It’s that Birthday Jinx again!” said
Judy. “Mom, I’ll help Stink change
Michigan to Minnesota. We’ll just add
a bunch of lakes or something.”
“Ten thousand lakes,” said Stink.
“Minnesota is the Land of Ten
Thousand Lakes.”
50
“That’s a lot of lakes,” said Judy.
“Officially there are eleven thousand
eight hundred and forty-two lakes,
but I think we can get away with only
making ten thousand.”
“Yikes. We better hurry up and start.
Mom, do you want to take your nature
walk in the backyard now?”
“Right now I want to take a nap.
I’m going to close my eyes for fifteen
minutes.”
Mom curled up on the couch. Judy
brought her a fluffy pillow. Stink
covered her up with his cozy
sleeping bag. Soon Mom was
snoozing peacefully.
52
Judy cut out a picture of a muffin
from a cooking magazine. “Here, take
off the Michigan stuff and glue this
on,” she told Stink. “Blueberry is the
Minnesota state muffin.”
“I bet the state weather is snow,”
said Stink. “I know how to make a
paper snowflake.”
“There’s no such thing as state —”
53
Chirr-up! Chirr-up! Mom rolled onto
her side. Chirr-up! Chirr-up! Mom
rolled onto her back. Chirr-up! Chirr-
up! Mom woke up. “Sounds like
there’s a cricket in the house,” she
said, and rolled onto her other side.
Ribbet! Ribbet! “Now I hear frogs!”
Mom said, sitting up. “Does anybody
else hear frogs?”
54
“It’s my musical sleeping bag,”
Stink told her. “It makes nature
sounds to help you get sleepy.”
“How do I turn the sounds off?”
Mom asked.
“It only makes noise when you
move,” said Stink, “so make like a
mummy and you’ll be fine.”