Amy Namey in Ace Reporter (Judy Moody and Friends) Read online

  .

  .

  .

  For Laura

  M. M.

  For my mom and dad,

  Felicitas and Silvano Madrid

  E. 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 © 2014 by Megan McDonald

  Illustrations copyright © 2014 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 2014

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2013953452

  ISBN 978-0-7636-5715-4 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-7216-4 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-7215-7 (electronic)

  This book was typeset in ITC Stone Informal.

  The illustrations were created digitally.

  Candlewick Press

  99 Dover Street

  Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

  visit us at www.candlewick.com

  CONTENTS

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  1

  CHA

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  Did King Tut Chew Gum? 7

  Taboo 31

  Above the Fold 53

  .

  Amy Namey was looking for a story.

  A big news story. A jump-off-the-page,

  super-exciting story. She walked up

  and down the street.

  “This is Amy Namey, Ace Reporter,

  on the beat.”

  She took notes in her notebook:

  Did King Tut Chew Gum?

  7

  CHA

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  1

  .

  11:17 Mrs. Donovan’s dog barked

  11:22 Mrs. Donovan’s cat chased Mrs.

  Donovan’s dog

  8

  11:37 Rocky waved from upstairs window

  11:39 Mrs. Moody got her mail

  9

  .

  “Nothing ever happens in Frog

  Neck Lake,” Amy muttered.

  “Are you talking to yourself?” asked

  Judy Moody, kicking a soccer ball

  down the street.

  “Hi, Judy. I’m being a reporter, and

  I need a big scoop.”

  “A big scoop?” Judy asked. “Let’s

  go to Screamin’ Mimi’s! They have

  tons of scoops.”

  “Not the ice-cream kind of scoop.

  The story kind of scoop. A big scoop

  is an exciting story that nobody else

  knows about. It’s for the newspaper

  I’m making. C’mon over to my

  house.”

  Judy and Amy kicked the ball back

  and forth all the way to Amy’s house.

  10

  .

  When they got there, Judy followed

  Amy upstairs to her room. Amy held

  up her newspaper for Judy to see.

  “The Big Scoop,” Judy read aloud.

  “Cool name.”

  Then Amy read the headlines to

  Judy. “There’s a New Pig in Town. Frank

  Pearl Wins Blue Ribbon. Rocky Zang

  Learns New Card Trick. Judy Moody

  Does . . . something,” Amy finished.

  “Hey!” said Judy. “I do things! I

  went to college. And to Boston.”

  .

  14

  “I’m saving the best story for last.

  Who knows? Maybe you’ll be in it.”

  Amy’s mom tapped on the door.

  “Hi there, Judy. Here are the papers

  you wanted, Ames,” she said.

  “I know! I’m not done yet,” said

  Amy. She pointed to a big fat empty

  space on the front page.

  15

  Amy spread the newspapers out all

  over her bed. “I asked my mom if I

  could read some of her news stories,”

  Amy told Judy.

  .

  “By E. Namey,” read Judy. “Wow.

  Is that you?” she asked Mrs. Namey.

  “That’s me,” said Amy’s mom. “A

  few of my biggest stories. See?” She

  pointed to the top of one paper. “If

  your story is on page one at the top,

  it’s a big deal. That’s called above

  the fold.”

  17

  “Neat-o,” said Judy.

  “I need something mega-exciting to

  put above the fold on my paper,” said

  Amy. “Like this.” Amy read a headline:

  “Girl Finds 5,000-Year-Old Gum.”

  “Rare!” said Judy.

  Amy chewed the end of her pencil.

  “Wait a second. Maybe we could

  find a way-old piece of gum, too, or

  something.”

  “Or something,” said Judy.

  “Then I could write about it.”

  “Double rare,” said Judy.

  “There’s a story out there,” said Amy.

  “And I’m going to sniff it out.”

  “I know just the place,” said Judy.

  “Let’s go!”

  “Happy sniffing,” said Mrs. Namey.

  .

  In no time, Amy and Judy were

  digging up the Moodys’ backyard.

  Judy had a spoon. Amy had a bigger

  spoon.

  Shoop! Shoop! Shoop!

  Amy sifted through the dirt, looking

  for something way-super-old. “Just

  think,” she said in a dreamy voice,

  “maybe we’ll find a dinosaur bone.”

  .

  “Or a shark tooth from a million

  years ago,” said Judy.

  “Or an arrowhead.”

  “Or an old-timey key. Or a super-

  duper-old coin from a way-long time

  ago.”

  “Yeah,” said Amy, “like a penny

&nb
sp; that belonged to Abe Lincoln.”

  Amy looked at the pile of stuff

  they had dug up. “So far we found

  one marble, ten hundred rocks, one

  Donna Danger action figure, a rusty

  nail, an eraser, broken glass, a cherry

  pit, and three peanut shells.”

  .

  “Maybe we found something old

  and don’t even know it,” said Judy,

  sifting through the pile. “Maybe your

  big scoop is right here under our

  noses.”

  Amy held up the marble. She

  rubbed off the dirt. “In ancient Egypt,

  King Tut, the Boy King, was buried

  with board games, right? This could

  be King Tut’s marble.”

  “Cavemen did NOT have erasers,”

  said Amy, cracking up. “But maybe

  it’s really a mammoth tooth. Or a

  dinosaur toenail?”

  Judy held up the eraser. “And this

  could be a caveman eraser. In case

  you make a mistake drawing your

  cave painting.”

  23

  .

  “Rare,” said Judy. “What about this

  peanut shell?”

  “I’m guessing . . . it could be . . . Abe

  Lincoln’s,” said Amy. “Just think —

  what if Abe Lincoln ate peanuts right

  here in your backyard?”

  “That’s a way-big-giant scoop,” said

  Judy.

  “Wait. What’s this?”

  Amy held up a dirt-covered lump.

  She blew on it.

  It wasn’t a nut. It wasn’t a rock. It

  wasn’t a ten-thousand-year-old cherry

  pit. It had teeth marks!

  Amy’s eyes grew wide.

  Judy’s eyes bugged out of her

  head. “Are you thinking what I’m

  thinking?” Judy asked.

  24

  .

  “It’s ABC gum!” said Amy. “Way-

  super-old, Already-Been-Chewed,

  Honest-to-Abe gum.”

  “It looks old,” said Judy. “Did King

  Tut chew gum? Maybe it’s three-

  thousand-year-old gum!”

  Amy and Judy stared in awe at the

  way-old ABC gum.

  “This is big,” said Amy. “Really big.”

  Just then, Stink came running out

  the back door. He peered at the dirt-

  covered lump in Amy’s hand. “Hey!

  My gum!” He snatched it and popped

  it into his mouth.

  .

  28

  “What? It’s not that gross,” said

  Stink. “Just a little dirt. I was playing

  out here this morning and I lost my

  gum. I thought I swallowed it.”

  “Nooooooo!” Amy cried.

  “Stink!” Judy shouted.

  29

  “There goes our three-thousand-

  year-old gum,” said Judy.

  “Hey!” said Stink, picking up the

  action figure. “Donna Danger! And

  my cat’s-eye marble. And my eraser.

  Thanks, you guys. I thought I lost all

  this stuff.”

  “So all this stuff is Stink’s?” said

  Amy. “Not King Tut’s? Not Abe

  Lincoln’s?”

  “Sorry about your big scoop,” Judy

  said.

  “That’s okay,” said Amy. “I can

  always find King Tut’s ABC gum

  tomorrow.”

  .

  Amy Namey, Ace Reporter, was back

  on the beat. She waded ankle-deep in

  Frog Neck Creek behind her house.

  This time, Amy Namey was

  monster hunting! Not the kind of

  monsters that live in books. Not the

  kind of monsters that live under the

  bed. The kind of monsters that live in

  lakes and rivers, creeks and streams.

  Taboo

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  31

  .

  32

  Sea serpents! Like Nessie from Scotland!

  Nabau from Borneo!

  33

  Nyami-Nyami from Africa!

  .

  “This is Amy Namey, Ace Reporter

  and Monster Hunter, hot on the trail

  of the Great Virginia Sea Serpent.

  Will today be the day I capture the

  super-secret creature on film?”

  Just then, something splashed

  behind her.

  “Aaagh!” Amy’s notebook went

  flying. She landed bottom-first in the

  creek.

  .

  “What are we looking for?” said

  a voice. A Judy Moody voice. Amy

  turned and saw Judy take a bite of the

  baloney sandwich she was carrying.

  “Judy! You scared me! Never sneak

  up on a reporter who’s sea-monster

  hunting.”

  “Sea-monster hunting!” said Judy.

  “Can I help?”

  “Yes. If you give me your

  sandwich,” said Amy. “I need bait.”

  “Sea monsters like baloney

  sandwiches?” Judy asked.

  “Of course they do,” said Amy.

  Judy handed over the sandwich.

  “Too bad. It has double mustard and

  one whole dill pickle.”

  36

  .

  “It’s for a good cause,” said Amy.

  “My mom wrote a news story about

  this sea serpent named Nabau, in

  Borneo. So I’m looking for one, too.

  But they’re hard to find. Almost

  nobody gets to see one.”

  Judy peered into the water. “Do they

  look like giant snakes?” she asked.

  “Some do. Like Nessie in Scotland.

  And Cressie in Canada. And Bessie in

  Lake Erie. And Tessie in Lake Tahoe.

  And don’t forget Ogopogo!”

  “O-go-WHO-go?”

  “Ogopogo. It’s a lake monster. It

  lives in Canada, along with Cressie.”

  “Remind me never to move to

  Canada,” said Judy.

  38

  “I’m looking for the Great Virginia

  Sea Serpent. His name is Taboo.”

  “Whoa,” said Judy.

  “Taboo has the long neck of a

  dinosaur, the fins of a shark, and the

  tail of a giant eel. And his eyes glow in

  the dark. See? I drew a picture.”

  “Freaky-deaky,” said Judy.

  .

  Just then, Amy felt something

 
slippery, something slimy, brush

  against the back of her leg.

  “Aaagh!” she yelled. “My leg!

  I felt something! Taboo!”

  “Was it slippery and slimy?” Judy

  asked.

  “Yes!”

  “Did it give you the creeps?”

  “Yes!”

  .

  “Are you sure you want to find this

  thing? Sounds all creepy-crawly and

  swimmy-slimy to me.” Judy shivered.

  “It was just me.” Judy held up a

  stick. “Hardee-har-har.”

  “You scared me so bad!” said Amy.

  42

  “How else am I going to be an Ace

  Reporter? First, I’m going to take a

  picture of Taboo. Then I’ll write a

  story about it for my newspaper.”

  “Above the fold, right?” Judy asked.

  Amy nodded. “Someday, I’ll go

  around the world getting big scoops

  for the real newspaper. Like famous

  Around-the-World Reporter Nellie Bly.

  And my mom.”

  .

  Just then, the two girls heard a

  giant, for-real splash. A NOT-Judy-

  Moody splash. They looked up the

  creek. They squinted into the sunlight.