April Fools', Mr. Todd! (Judy Moody and Friends) Read online

  .

  .

  JUDY MO

  O

  DY

  AND FRIENDS

  April Fools’,

  Mr. Todd!

  Megan McDonald

  illustrated by

  Erwin Madrid

  based on the characters

  created by Peter H. Reynolds

  .

  For Merlin Vaughan

  M. M.

  For 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 © 2017 by Megan McDonald

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 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 2017930916

  ISBN 978-0-7636-8200-2 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-8201-9 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-0-7636-9830-0 (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

  Mystery of the Missing Birthday 43

  Oodles of Moodles 21

  April Fish and Spaghetti Trees 7

  CHA

  p

  TER

  3

  CHA

  p

  TER

  2

  CHA

  p

  TER

  1

  CONTENTS

  .

  CHA

  p

  TER

  1

  7

  April Fish and Spaghetti Trees

  Mr. Todd was the boss of Class 3T.

  As in, WBT: World’s Best Teacher.

  He wore wacky ties (penguins). He

  made up goofy songs on the guitar

  (“Guinea Pigs Are Not Pigs”). He liked

  treasure hunts (for spelling words).

  The inchworm crayon was his favorite

  color (spring green). And he had the

  best sticker collection in all of Virginia

  Dare School (Hot Dog with Awesome

  Sauce!).

  .

  APRIL

  Today Mr. Todd was changing his

  bulletin board. Down with snowflakes.

  Up with spring!

  “Who knows what special days are

  coming up in April?” Mr. Todd asked.

  Hands shot up. “Earth Day!” “Tax

  Day!” “Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly Day!”

  “Blah-Blah-Blah Day,” said Frank

  Pearl. The class got quiet.

  “What?” said Frank. “It’s a real

  thing. April seventeenth. Look it up.”

  Mr. Todd checked his calendar and

  read out, “Blah-Blah-Blah Day is a

  day to get things done that you’ve put

  off.”

  “Blah,” said Judy. Class 3T cracked

  up.

  .

  10

  “I’m thinking of another special

  day,” said Mr. Todd, “that falls on

  the first of the month.”

  “My birthday!” Judy squealed,

  but nobody heard her. They were all

  shouting, “April Fools’ Day!”

  “And what happens on April

  Fools’ Day?” asked Mr. Todd.

  “Funny stuff!” “Pranks!” “Jokes!”

  “That’s right,” said Mr. Todd. “Has

  anybody ever heard of spaghetti

  trees?”

  “Spaghetti doesn’t grow on trees,”

  said Jessica Finch.

  “True, but one April Fools’ Day

  years ago, a news program in

  England reported that it was a

  good year for growing spaghetti.

  11

  “No way!” “Cuckoo!” “For real?”

  “People believed the report. They

  called the TV station to find out where

  they could get spaghetti-tree seeds.

  Everybody wanted one.”

  Class 3T laughed their pants off.

  They even showed pictures of trees

  with spaghetti hanging from the

  branches.”

  .

  “Nobody really knows how April

  Fools’ Day started,” said Mr. Todd,

  “but it’s been around for hundreds of

  years. In France and Italy, they call it

  April Fish Day.”

  “April Fish Day? Is that when you

  skip school to go fishing?” asked

  Rocky.

  “No,” said Mr. Todd. “That’s when

  you tape a picture of a fish onto

  somebody’s back, and see how long it

  takes them to figure it out.”

  “Rare!” said Judy.

  “In India, each spring

  they hold a festival

  called Holi. During

  Holi, people paint

  13

  their faces bright colors

  to welcome spring.

  And in Portugal,

  they throw flour on

  someone for an April

  Fools’ joke. Iran may

  have the oldest joke day

  ever. They go on picnics, then throw

  away all the green vegetables to keep

  away bad luck.”

  “No more spinach,”

  said Frank, pretend-

  tossing it over his

  shoulder.

  “In Scotland,

  they have Hunt-the-

  Cuckoo Day.”

  .

  14

  “That’s cuckoo!” said Judy.

  “On that day, you send somebody

  on a fool’s errand.”

  “What’s a fool’s errand?” asked

  Frank.

  “It’s like a pr
etend trip or a wild-

  goose chase. Say I sent you down to

  fourth grade to deliver a message, but

  there was no real message.”

  Jessica Finch raised her hand.

  “Question?” asked Mr. Todd.

  “Comment,” said Jessica. “My dad

  played an April Fools’ joke on me.

  You know how I like pink? And pigs?

  While I was asleep, he took all the

  pink stuff out of my room. And all the

  pigs, too. When I woke up, my whole

  room was green and full of frogs.”

  15

  “That’s a good one,” said Mr. Todd.

  Frank told about the time his sister

  drew an April Fools’ mustache on

  him while he was sleeping. And Judy

  laughed about putting a fake ice cube

  (with a dead fly in the middle of it) in

  Stink’s glass of water.

  “Did you ever have an April Fools’

  joke played on you, Mr. Todd?” Judy

  asked.

  “Stor-y! Stor-y!” chanted Class 3T.

  .

  16

  Mr. Todd glanced at the clock. “We

  have time for one story before we

  leave for Library class. Let’s see. There

  was one time when I was a student

  teacher . . .”

  “Tell us!”

  “My sixth-graders played a prank

  on me, and got me good.”

  “Did they put gummy worms in

  your apple?”

  “It was something worse than

  gummy worms,” said Mr. Todd.

  “Did they make you toothpaste

  Oreos?” somebody asked.

  “Something worse,” said Mr. Todd.

  “Did they face their desks

  backward?”

  “No, no, and nope. Ready for this?

  17

  During recess, they phoned to have

  a bunch of pizzas delivered to our

  class!”

  Class 3T let out a

  gasp.

  “The pizza guy

  showed up with

  a stack of pizza

  boxes as tall as

  the Leaning Tower

  of Pisa. I told

  him it had to be

  a mistake. That’s

  when the whole

  class yelled, ‘April

  Fools’!’

  ”

  “What did you

  do?”

  .

  “What could I do? I paid for the

  pizzas . . . and we had an April Fools’

  pizza party!”

  “Can we do that?” asked Frank.

  19

  “I think not,” said Mr. Todd.

  But Mr. Todd’s story gave Judy an

  idea. A best-ever brainstorm. She,

  Judy Moody, would play an April

  Fools’ joke on Mr. Todd.

  After all, they were learning about

  April Fools’ Day. Thinking up a

  joke to play on Mr. Todd would be

  like homework. And

  pranking him on

  April Fools’ Day

  would be extra

  credit!

  .

  21

  Oodles of Moodles

  CHA

  p

  TER

  2

  After school, Judy was making a

  WORLD’S BEST TEACHER poster for

  Mr. Todd’s new bulletin board.

  “Stink,” said Judy, “help me think

  up a joke. I want to play an April

  Fools’ joke on Mr. Todd.”

  “No way can you play an April

  Fools’ joke on your teacher,” said

  Stink. “Your teacher makes your report

  card, remember?”

  .

  22

  “Then help me think up a way-

  funny, A-plus joke.”

  “Whoopee cushion?” asked Stink.

  “Too embarrassing,” said Judy.

  “Fake hand?” asked Stink. “You could

  put it in his desk.”

  Judy chewed on her pencil. “What

  else have you got?”

  “Exploding gum?” said Stink.

  “No gum in school.”

  “I got it!” Stink pointed to Judy’s

  poster. “Cross out World’s BEST Teacher

  and change it to World’s WORST

  Teacher.” He cracked himself up.

  “That joke gets a D-minus, Stink,”

  said Judy. “An April Fools’ joke has

  to make you laugh, not hurt your

  feelings.”

  23

  “For real?” said

  Stink.

  “Did it hurt

  your feelings when

  I put blue milk

  in your cereal?

  Or hid a plastic

  cockroach in your

  sandwich? Or got

  you to believe that

  our mailman, Jack

  Frost, was from the

  North Pole?”

  “That was

  funny!” said Stink.

  “I rest my case,”

  said Judy.

  .

  24

  Judy ran downstairs. Sitting on

  the table was a lumpy present from

  Stink. Hel-lo! She, Judy Moody, had a

  birthday today. No fooling.

  The next morning, Judy woke up

  in a good mood, even though she still

  did not have a joke to play on Mr.

  Todd.

  “Happy April Fools’ Day, Mouse!”

  “Happy Birthday, Jelly Bean,” said

  Dad.

  Mom kissed Judy right on top of her

  messy hair. “Happy Birthday!”

  .

  26

  “Wait for me!” said Stink, sliding

  into the room on sock feet. “I want

  to watch you open your present from

  me. It’s something you want really

  bad.”

  “It’s pretty small for a puppy,” said

  Judy.

  “Guess again!” said Stink. “But it is

  from Fur & Fangs.”

  “A two-toed sloth? A sugar glider?”

  “Open it!”

  Judy tore off the paper. It was not

  a two-toed sloth. It was not a sugar

  glider. It was . . . nothing but a stick.

  An ugly, skinny, brown stick inside a

  plastic critter case.

  Wait just a creepy-crawly second!

  .

  28

  “It’s an Indian walking stick.

  Nickname: Franken-stickie,” said

  Stink. “I wanted to get you a Goliath<
br />
  walking stick. A Goliath is almost as

  long as two rulers, but it cost twenty-

  two dollars. This one was on sale

  because it’s missing a leg. But it’ll

  grow back. You’ll see.”

  The stick had legs! Skinny brown

  toothpick legs. And the stick moved!

  “Ooh. A bug that looks exactly like

  a stick!”

  29

  Judy nodded. “Thanks, Stinkbug. I

  think I’m going to name it Twiggy!

  I can’t wait to show Rocky and Frank

  and Mr. Todd

  —”

  Mr. Todd! Wait just a stick-bug-not-

  stink-bug minute! She, Judy Moody,

  Birthday Girl, had just come up with

  the best April Fools’ joke ever!

  At the bus stop, Judy collected sticks

  and put them in the critter case with

  Twiggy. She had pencils that looked

  like twigs and she added those, too.

  .

  As soon as she got to school, Judy

  set the critter case with her new pet on

  Mr. Todd’s desk. Now all she had to do

  was wait.

  Let the April Fooling begin!

  .

  32

  “Good morning, class. Happy April

  Fools’ Day,” said Mr. Todd. He spied

  the critter case. “Ho! What’s this?

  Sticks?”

  “It’s Judy Moody’s,” said Jessica.

  “You know how I collect Band-

  Aids and scabs and junk?” said Judy.

  “Sticks are my new thing.”