They’re funny!” That’s how a student of mine described the Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald. After reading a few samples, I can offer other reasons too. Judy is typically upbeat. Even when in a mood, she’s isn’t mean. Judy mostly likes her family. Even if she can count on her brother for a bad mood, she still voluntarily hangs out with him. She mostly likes school. Even when she isn’t top student, she tries to be. Judy is your average, cheerful but sometimes confused or selfish, pleasant third-grader. As such, the series is a delight to read.My student’s favorite book in the series? Judy Moody Predicts the Future. My student describes it as, “Judy Moody gets a mood ring.” Anyone remember those? I do. And I wanted one as much as Judy, who ate seven bowls of cereal for one. MacDonald reveals that her inspiration arose from her having one herself in the sixties. When mood rings started making a comeback (the book was published in 2003), she knew Judy had to have one.Problem is, Judy’s mood ring doesn’t work. It stays black. She throws it away in disgust. Her brother retrieves it–yes, from the trash. Ew! Suddenly, the mood ring works. Now Judy wants it back. Of course, Stink wants to keep it. Judy cons him into returning it, by convincing him that she can predict the future. By all means, someone with her powers should own a magical ring. Here, her adventures have only just begun. She explores all kinds of other superstitions such as the Magic 8 ball. Remember those? And she tries to predict love.Sometimes the habit of the characters to say cutesy educational statements such as “S is for Saturday,” “R is for Romantic,” and “M is for Moody” felt a little forced. As did some of the alliterate phrases such as “Tasty Tuna Treat”. At times, I felt as if reading a picture book instead of a funny chapter book. Other times, I appreciated how the descriptive phrases so perfectly fit that of the third-grade world. For example, when in a good mood, Judy liked to wear a “not itchy fuzzy green sweater with a green star”. In her room, she had “troll doll trading cards, an eyeball piggy bank, and some cat erasers”. Two of my favorite descriptions are of Judy’s emotions: “only cookie left was a broken heart” and “joyful on top of the world purple”.As for the humor, it can be found in character expressions such as “eeny, meany, green zucchini,” in the pranks Judy plays such as when she put a fake hand in the toilet to play a trick on Stink, or in the jokes she makes up. When Judy and a friend went to the library, they read about how Jeane Dixon could see stuff in whipped cream. The article meant she could see the future, but Judy joked that she sees lots of stuff in whipped cream too: “like chocolate sprinkles”. The humor is also found in the situations MacDonald creates. For example, after Judy reads about a guy who could spell by sleeping with a dictionary, she tries to pass her spelling test in the same manner. And after she decides her teacher is in love, she reads a bunch of books about how to predict love and to tell a person’s lover. Some of her experiments fail; others have more positive results; all are funny.Having read Judy Moody Predicts the Future, I want to thank my student for introducing the series to me. The books are light and pleasurable reads for adults. Ironically, I felt at times as if reading about my childhood. As for my elementary-aged students, I will definitely be recommending they check out the whole series.
The plot:Judy Moody has a mood for every occasion, and now she has a mood ring to prove it! Judy's mood ring has extra special powers which have put her in a predicting mood, and her outrageous predictions have everyone wondering if she really is psychic.My views:This book is too childish and stupid. Judy Moody is a silly girl who spends her time in doing nothing (in my opinion). I read it a few years back and felt it was a OK but when I thought I can read it again I opened it and was like-"what the hell is this???"I felt there is nothing going on except Judy's obsession with wierd objects.So if anyone is looking for some kiddy stuff this is just what you are looking for.
Do You like book Judy Moody Predicts The Future (2006)?
My mom read this book aloud to the 6-year-old twin boys over the course of three sittings in an afternoon, evening and morning. I read it myself after it became apparent it was going to be a topic of conversation and I needed to get myself up to speed, LOL. Anyway, the grandmother thought it a well-written book that was maybe a little ahead of the boys' (advanced) understanding level, but not by too much. The boys liked the story. All seemed to be in agreement it was too long a book to read aloud in one sitting, and I would concur. I can see us getting more Judy Moody books from the library down the road.
—Kristi Lamont
Judy Moody by Megan McDonald is about a girl named Judy who one day found a mood ring from a cereal box. Judy made a lot of prediction using the mood ring and they came true. But one time her prediction didn't come true and her classmates called her a liar. So she stopped but later on she continued on when she realized her other predictions of her teacher were true. I think this book is okay. This book made me wonder if there is such thing as fortune telling and if we can really predict the future.
—Tiffany
1. Contemporary Realism 2. Judy Moody gets a mood ring from her cereal box. Purple is the best mood for one to be in but Judy's ring only stays on black! Throwing the ring away proves to create quite an ordeal for Judy. However, will she make a prediction correct? It takes time but Judy solves a mystery that fills her classroom. 3. a. One of the greatest strengths of the text is Judy and her strong personality. When things don't go her way she able to state her opinion no matter what the cost may be. She provides the reader with an attitude and a comedic outlook on various instances that happen to Judy and her friends. b. Anyone who reads this text can relate to Judy and the various situations she gets her self into. Her voice is very opinionated causing for her to get into trouble all throughout the book. You can also see what is important to Judy when reading the text. Like how the mood ring has changed her whole outlook on life and creates a very confident girl. "All morning, Judy raised her mood ring hand, even when she didn't know the answer." (page 46) Students will be able to relate to this, how one thing can alter your mood and make you into a confident person or unconfident person. c. The best part of the text is how Judy personality shines through the text. "Judy hated when her dad was too busy to take her to the pet store. She could already feel the bad mood coming on. "Sure," said Dad. "Just let me rinse my hands." "Really?" asked Judy." (pg 6-7) It is here where we can see Judy starting mischief so she can test those around her. Which in this case turned out not to work leaving a very frustrated Judy. 4. For this assignment I would have the students wear a mood ring and chart their mood when they are at recess, lunch, pe, before tests and so on. To see if the mood ring really does work.
—Amy Keltner
