April Fools', Mr. Todd! (Judy Moody and Friends), Page 2

  Mr. Todd just shook his head. He

  wrote Rhyme Time on the board. “In

  England, if you get an April Fools’

  joke played on you, they call you a

  noodle. Who can give me a word that

  rhymes with noodle?”

  “Poodle!” called Jessica.

  “That’s using your noodle.” Mr.

  Todd turned to write on the board.

  .

  “Hey!” said Jessica. “One of Judy’s

  sticks moved!”

  Not now, Twiggy. Not yet.

  Mr. Todd peered at the stick

  collection. Nothing. Twiggy did not

  move one toothpick leg.

  Mr. Todd turned back to the board.

  “Oodle!” “Kaboodle!”

  Judy doodled in her notebook.

  “Any more words that rhyme with

  noodle?” Mr. Todd asked.

  “Doodle!” called Judy.

  “Hey, see?” said Jessica, pointing.

  “One of Judy’s sticks moved again . . .

  all by itself.”

  Mr. Todd turned back around.

  But Twiggy was hiding under the lid

  now.

  .

  36

  Phew. When Mr. Todd wasn’t

  looking, Twiggy was on the move. But

  every time the teacher turned around,

  Twiggy was stick-still.

  Mr. Todd wrote moodle on the board.

  “Moodle is not a word,” said Jessica

  Finch.

  “Sure it is,” said Mr. Todd. “A

  moodle is what you call a little mood.”

  “Oh,” said Jessica.

  “April Fools’!” said Mr. Todd.

  Everybody cracked up. Mr. Todd

  turned back to the board.

  Just then, Judy saw two antennae

  poke up through the top of the critter

  case. No, Twiggy, you little sneaker-

  doodle. Then a toothpick leg popped

  up, then another, and before you

  could say “Oodles of poodles,” Twiggy

  had crawled right up out of the critter

  case.

  Uh-oh!

  She, Judy Moody, was in a moodle.

  .

  38

  Twiggy inched across a stack of

  math homework. Twiggy crept up

  the back of Mr. Todd’s chair. Twiggy

  raced up Mr. Todd’s sleeve and

  crawled right up . . .

  Jessica Finch jumped out of her

  seat. “Told you! That stick! It’s

  aliiiive!”

  39

  “Mr. Todd! It’s on your head!”

  yelled Jessica Finch.

  Mr. Todd plucked the stick from his

  hair and held it in his hand.

  “April Fools’!” Judy yelled. “It’s not

  a stick. It’s a stick bug. Meet Twiggy,

  my new pet. She’s an Indian walking

  stick.”

  .

  “Look at that,” said Mr. Todd,

  peering at the bug over his glasses. He

  held it up for the class to see. “It really

  does look just like a stick. Isn’t nature

  amazing?”

  41

  Class 3T oohed and aahed over

  Twiggy.

  “Did I fool you?” Judy asked Mr.

  Todd.

  “A-plus! You got me good,” said

  Mr. Todd. “But you’d better watch

  out, Judy Moody. I might have a trick

  or two up my sleeve. April Fools’ Day

  isn’t over yet.”

  Gulp!

  “Mr. Todd,” asked Judy, “what

  rhymes with uh-oh?”

  .

  43

  Mystery of the Missing Birthday

  CHA

  p

  TER

  3

  At lunch, Judy found a fake tomato

  slice in her peanut-butter-and-jelly

  sandwich. Mom! Hidden under her

  sandwich was a birthday five-dollar

  bill from Dad. NOT! It was fake money.

  Rocky got a meatball cupcake in his

  lunch. When Frank tore open his bag

  of cheese doodles, there were healthy

  snacks inside

  —

  carrots! Frank snorted

  .

  44

  and chocolate milk went up his

  nose.

  Amy Namey’s pudding pack had

  googly eyes. Even Jessica Finch’s bagel

  was made to look like a doughnut

  with sprinkles. But phony tomato

  slices, meatball cupcakes, and the

  Great Doughnut Fake-Out were

  nothing compared to what Mr. Todd

  might do to her.

  Judy was full of itches and fidgets.

  How could she sit still as a stick bug

  when, any minute, Mr. Todd might

  throw flour on her, like in Portugal?

  Or write a big fat F-for-Flunk on her

  homework sheet? Or worse . . . send

  her to Antarctica (the desk in the back

  of the class) for no reason!

  .

  All afternoon, kids kept looking at

  her and giggling. “Hey, Rock,” Judy

  said. “Do I have a fish on my back

  or something?” She twirled left. She

  twirled right. She reached behind her

  back and grabbed the piece of paper

  taped there.

  “Shark!” said Judy. Oh, that Mr.

  Todd.

  “April Fish!” yelled Frank.

  “It’s a Frank prank!” said Rocky.

  Judy cracked up. But the day was

  almost over, and Mr. Todd still had

  not played a trick on her. Weird.

  .

  Wait just a mini-cupcake minute!

  Judy had been so busy thinking about

  April Fools’ Day that she almost forgot

  it was her birthday!

  Judy looked around the room for

  any sign of a birthday. No silly hat in

  the shape of a cake. No giant Happy

  Birthday sunglasses. Judy’s name was

  not even up on the board.

  Even Nancy Drew couldn’t solve

  the Mystery of the Missing Birthday.

  Weird and weirder!

  .

  50

  Then it happened. Mr. Todd asked,

  “Who will go to the office and pick up

  a package for me?”

  Package! Of course! The package

  had to be her very own class birthday

  present

  —

  a box of mini-cupcakes.

  All hands shot up.

  “Judy,” said Mr. Todd.
>
  M

  S

  .

  T

  UXEDO

  Judy rushed down the hall to the

  principal’s office. “Hi, Ms. Tuxedo!”

  she said to the principal. “I’m here to

  pick up a package for my birth

  — for

  Mr. Todd.”

  .

  “Package? There’s no package here,

  honey.”

  “A box? Pink maybe? Smells like

  cupcakes? Not meatball cupcakes.

  Real cupcakes.”

  “Sorry. No box and no cupcakes,

  meatball or otherwise.”

  Judy’s heart sank. Mr. Todd had

  sent her on one of those fool’s errands,

  and she was the noodle.

  No fair! D-minus, Mr. Todd.

  .

  54

  “Anything wrong?” asked Ms.

  Tuxedo, coming up behind Judy.

  “My class is missing!”

  Judy moped back to class. But when

  she got there, her class was missing!

  As in G-O-N-E gone

  .

  “A whole heap of third-graders

  can’t just disappear,” said Ms.

  Tuxedo. “Let’s check the multi.”

  Judy followed Ms. Tuxedo to the

  multipurpose room, but it was dark.

  No Mr. Todd, no Class 3T in there.

  .

  Suddenly, the lights came on. The

  curtain on the stage opened.

  “Surprise!” sang Mr. Todd.

  “April Fools’!” shouted Class 3T.

  .

  Each kid in Judy’s class was holding

  a piece of cardboard with a letter

  drawn on it. One by one they stepped

  forward, until Judy could read:

  .

  Mr. Todd had not forgotten her

  birthday after all.

  “Surprised?” asked Mr. Todd.

  Judy nodded. “This was your idea?”

  “With a little help from the class,”

  said Mr. Todd. He held out a pink box

  full of mini-cupcakes. “And your mom

  and dad.”

  61

  “A-plus, Mr. Todd. You got me so

  good,” said Judy. “I was sure you

  all forgot my birthday and went to

  Antarctica or something.”

  “Or something!” yelled Rocky and

  Frank.

  “Rare!” said Judy. She took a mega-

  bite of her not-meatball mini-cupcake.

  “Best April Fools’ joke ever.”

  .

  “Judy, would you like to be first to

  get your face painted?” a voice said.

  The voice belonged to Ms. Tater.

  Ms. Tater was an artist and Mr. Todd’s

  girlfriend and she had written a book

  about crayons.

  “Ms. Tater-Tot!” said Judy. “Oops, I

  mean Ms. Tater. Did you come to talk

  to our class about crayons?”

  Ms. Tater laughed. “Not this time.

  Mr. Todd invited me. I thought I’d

  brighten up your birthday with a little

  face-painting.”

  April Fish and spaghetti trees!

  “Just like in India,” said Judy.

  .

  64

  Ms. Tater held out her paintbrush.

  “What will it be? A butterfly? A

  balloon? A birthday cake?”

  “A Band-Aid, of course,” said Judy,

  pointing to her cheek.

  After face-painting, it was picture

  time. Class 3T crowded in front of

  a spaghetti tree they had made out

  of cardboard and paper. Oodles

  of wiggly noodles hung from the

  branches.

  .

  66

  Judy put on the birthday-cake

  hat and the giant Happy Birthday

  sunglasses.

  “Say cheese!” said Mr. Todd.

  “April Fish and spaghetti trees!”

  said Judy, grinning like an April

  fool.

  .