Free Judy Mood And The NOT Bummer Summer by Megan McDonald Page B

ever going to talk to Rocky again, she walked across the street with her bike to say good-bye. Rocky’s mom and dad, aunts, uncles, and tons of cousins were giving him a send-off party with a big good-bye cake and lots of singing “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”
    Judy helped Rocky lug a big suitcase to the backseat of the car. Rocky gave it one final push with his butt.
    “So you’re not NOT gonna go to circus camp, huh? Sure you don’t want to change your mind?”
    “Are you nuts?”
    “But what if you hate circus camp?” Judy asked.
    “What’s to hate? Tightrope walking, juggling, sword swallowing, lion taming —”
    “Elephant-poop scooping all day? Elephant poop weighs like two hundred tons. Plus, it smells worse than a corpse flower.”
    Rocky’s mom tooted the horn. “Time to go, Rock.”
    “Bye! Don’t forget to write! We’ll miss you! Break a leg!
Buon viaggio!
” called his family.
    Judy stepped back. Her smile started to quiver. “Bye.”
    “Bye,” said Rocky.
    She trotted alongside the car. “Remember, if camp is super-boring, you can always come home!”
    Judy hopped on her bike and raced after the car. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you about the poooooop!”
    Rocky waved from the backseat until the car disappeared.
    Judy biked straight to Amy Namey’s house. When she got upstairs, Amy was jamming the last Nancy Drew book into her zebra-striped backpack. Judy flopped on Amy’s bed, blowing a huge bubblegum bubble.
    “So tell me again why you’re going to Bored-e-o?”
    “Born-e-o. My mom’s going to write an article on this lost tribe called the Penan. They’ve lived in the rain forest since forever, but all their land is getting wrecked because loggers are cutting down all the trees.”
    “That sounds so way un-boring. I wish I could help save a lost tribe.”
    “Go ask your mom. Maybe she’ll let you come, too!”
    “I will! See ya,” Judy called, zooming out the door. Two seconds later, she popped back into Amy’s room. “But in case she says no, here’s something to remember me by.” Judy dug around in her pocket and came up with a red rubber band, a lucky stone, and half a Grouchy pencil.
    “Here,” she said, handing over the pencil. “Write me.”
    “Sweet,” said Amy. “Write me back.”

    Judy pedaled home as fast as she could, singing, “Oh, Borneo, I long-e-o to visit you-e-o…” She jumped off her bike, letting it crash to the ground.
    “Mom!” she called, bursting through the door. “I have a great idea! Mommmmm! Guess what? I figured out how to save summer.”
    “Save summer?” Mom said, distracted. “I didn’t know it was in trouble.”
    “Listen to this. Instead of going to Grandma Lou’s — bor-ing! — let’s go to UN-boring… Borneo!”
    “Borneo? Judy, that’s halfway around the world.”
    “So? It’s got a rain forest. And lost tribes that need to get found!”
    Stink came into the kitchen and headed for the fridge.
    “Stink! Guess what-e-o! We’re going to Borneo! But we need money-o. Let’s have a yard sale! I’ll sell my pizza-table collection. You can sell your World’s Biggest Jawbreaker!”
    Standing on his tiptoes, Stink pulled a bag of red berries from the freezer.
    “No way. I’m busy. Are these cranberries?” Mom nodded. Stink zoomed out of the room with the bag of cranberries.
    Judy looked down at her mood ring. Wait! It was N-O-T NOT on her finger. Great. Now she’d lost her mood ring, too.
    She, Judy Moody, was in a mood. And she did not need a ring to prove it was a bad mood. The baddest.

    The next week was bor-ing without her friends. And the week after that. Even Frank got to go to Ultimate Adventures Day Camp. All Judy got to do was camp out on her bottom bunk and read the ultimate adventures of Nancy Drew.
    Then one day, on the Fourth of July to be exact, Mom had some news. Maybe it was super-duper GOOD news. Maybe she, Judy Moody, could declare independence from a BOR-ing summer! Judy ran down the