.
.
.
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
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2
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3
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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.
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,”
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
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.