Exclusive interview with Judy Moody
Candlewick Press tracked down the busy third-grader during recess at Virginia Dare Elementary School for an up-close-and-personal look into her life and her many moods.
What’s your favorite color?
Hel-lo! Have you checked your mood ring lately? Purple, of course!
Do you have a favorite food?
Besides paste? And scabs? JKOC! I can tell you one thing – it’s NOT shark. It’s a three-way tie between the world’s biggest pizza (map), Screamin’ Mimi’s mud pie, and toast made by Mouse.
What are your hobbies?
So many! Collecting stuff, from Barbie doll heads to scabs. Reading all fifty six classic Nancy Drew mysteries. Fixing up dolls for sick kids in the hospital. Bugging Stink. Cloning guinea pigs. Making Band-Aid art. Recycling. Saving the world in my free time.
When is your birthday?
April 1st. And that is NOT-no-way-no-how an April Fool’s joke.
What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?
Besides a toad peeing on me or going to an all-boy birthday party and Stink spilling Jungle Juice all over my Me collage? Or the time Rocky was mad and wouldn’t talk to me and I had to dance the tarantella alone? I guess the all-time world’s worst was when I got sent to the Attitude Tent. Boy was I in a bad mad-i-tude.
What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you?
I got to go to college! And Boston! But the best thing ever was when I won the Giraffe Award for sticking my neck out for others.
Who is your BFF?
I have two BFFs, Rocky and Frank “Eats-Paste” Pearl.
There’s a rumor that you’re in love with Frank Pearl. True?
Reply hazy. Try again later.
Why are you so bossy to your brother, Stink?
Because he’s my little brother. Rule Number One of being a big sister is that you’re supposed to be in charge and boss the younger one around.
Do you like being a big sister?
Sometimes it’s a lot of responsibility. Like the time Stink fell asleep on the bus and I had to rescue him! Sometimes he’s annoying, a real Stinkerbell. But it sure is great to have somebody to play fake-hand-in-the toilet jokes on!
When Stink’s really bugging you, where would you send him: (a) to Antarctica (b) to the Attitude Tent (c) by airmail to the moon
All of the above!
If you could travel to any place in the world, where would it be?
Far, far away from the Stink-o-later, Stink McFink! No, seriously, I’d love to go halfway around the world to visit Tori, a girl from England I met when I was in Boston. For starters, we’d have a giant sleepover in her London flat that’s not a tire, wear Bonjour Bunny pajamas, and spend pounds of her allowance.
Did you get in trouble with your parents that time you had the Boston Tub Party in your house?
Even though Stink and I tried to convince Mom and Dad that it was like homework, we still had to mop up water in the bathroom for about a year! But that’s history now.
You have quite a scab collection. Why do you collect scabs?
I want to be a doctor when I grow up. Scabs are interesting to look at under a microscope – way better than belly-button lint!
Name one famous person you’d like to meet if you could.
Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman Doctor, natch.
Lots of your fans want to know why your hair is always so messy?
Who likes to brush their hair? Not me! I’d rather be predicting the future, collecting ABC gum, or operating on a zucchini.
You got to go to college for a little while to get some extra help. Do you think it made you smarter?
College is so money! It’s way rad and uber crucial. I’m smarter than Stink now, for sure. And way better at math. Not to mention my vocab is sick-awesome!
If you could have any animal whatsoever as a pet, what would it be?
A two-toed sloth. They’re so sleepy and soft and cuddly. But I wouldn’t want to give up my famous toast-making cat named Mouse, or my hamburger-eating Venus flytrap named Jaws.
Is your mood ring one color most of the time, or is it always changing?
Most of the time my mood ring is dark blue, which means I’m in a happy-glad mood. But sometimes it turns black, and when it does – look out – I’m in a bad-mad mood. ROAR!
What puts you in a joyful, on-top-of-spaghetti-and-the-world mood?
Lots of stuff: going to college, solving a mystery, saving the world. But also collecting Band-Aids, doing great on my spelling test, making a ME collage, getting my picture (even if it was only my elbow) in the newspaper. The thing that made me MOST joyful on-top-of-the-world was when I cut out tons of paper snowflakes so that Stink could have snow for Christmas.
Do you ever get a sore throat from saying ROAR?
NO WAY!
One final thing, Judy. We’d love for you to share with fans some of your thoughts and feelings about Megan McDonald.
Megan McDonald? Who’s Megan McDonald?