Judy Moody Saves the World!

In Megan McDonald's Judy Moody Saves the World!, Judy Moody, a spirited third-grader known for her strong and shifting moods, discovers a bandage-design contest that sets off a chain of events turning her into an aspiring environmentalist.

Judy finds a "Design Your Own Bandage" contest printed on a box of Crazy Strips, the colorful adhesive bandages in her toy doctor kit. The grand prize is a pair of Rollerblades, and runners-up will have their designs printed on Crazy Strips sold across the country. Her younger brother, Stink, quickly sketches blue Virginia big-eared bats and writes the slogan "Batty for Band-Aids," a phrase Judy herself suggests offhandedly. He mails his entry the same day. Judy, meanwhile, cannot settle on an idea. She tries drawing smiley faces, but Stink points out they are unoriginal. Frustrated and idea-less, she falls into a sour mood.

On Monday at the bus stop, Judy tells her best friend, Rocky, about the contest. He suggests an invisible bandage, but Stink points out that no one would be able to see it. At school, Judy's teacher, Mr. Todd, leads a Science discussion about threats to the environment, including deforestation, habitat loss, and mounting trash. He challenges the students to find ways to help the planet, telling them that one person can make a difference. Inspired, Judy decides she will be that person. She starts with composting: She and Rocky eat bananas at her house and toss the peels into a bucket. While Rocky makes a sign reading "Turn Garbage Into Dirt," Judy lands on her contest idea. She draws a picture of Earth with a bandage on it, writes the slogan "Heal the World," and surrounds the globe with banana peels.

Judy's enthusiasm quickly expands beyond the contest. She wakes before dawn, inspired by Mr. Rubbish, a recycling gremlin character from one of Stink's comic books, and piles rain-forest-derived products on the kitchen table: chocolate, coffee beans, gum, lipstick, and the rubber toilet plunger. She declares the family can no longer use any of them. Her family dismisses the effort. Dad retrieves his coffee beans, Mom rescues a leaking carton of ice cream, and Stink demands his gumball machine back. Judy shifts to what she calls Project R.E.C.Y.C.L.E., appointing herself a "Garbologist" who records every item the family throws away and lectures them about reusing and recycling. She discovers her second-grade log cabin craft in the trash and is upset, but Mom apologizes and explains they cannot save everything. Undeterred, Judy carries her old Sleeping Beauty lunch box instead of a paper bag and rides her bike to school to conserve energy, but her family remains largely unmoved.

Back in class, Mr. Todd assigns each student a Virginia endangered species to research. Students draw slips of paper from a coffee can. Rocky gets the Shenandoah salamander, Judy's friend Frank Pearl gets the monkeyface mussel, and classmate Jessica Finch, a self-proclaimed pig enthusiast, happily draws the shiny pigtoe. Judy picks last and gets the northeast beach tiger beetle, which she considers an unimpressive bug rather than a real animal. Mr. Todd refuses to allow trades. On a class field trip to the local science museum, the guide has no northeast beach tiger beetles on display, leaving Judy without a visual reference for her report.

Judy searches her backyard and school library for information on the beetle but comes up empty. Then Frank, who collects stamps, calls to say he found a picture of the beetle on a postage stamp. He brings his album over and shows Judy the stamp, which identifies the insect by its Latin name and describes it as a sandy-beach dweller endangered by habitat loss. Using the stamp as a reference, Judy draws beetles on the cover of her report, and Frank helps color them in. In Science class, students present their reports, and Judy tells the class that tiger beetles recycle dead trees and eat harmful insects. Mr. Todd wraps up by reminding everyone that wild creatures should be returned to their natural habitats.

This remark gives Judy an idea. She calls an emergency meeting of the Toad Pee Club, a secret club made up of Judy, Rocky, Frank, and Stink. Their mascot is a toad named Toady, whom Stink cares for in an aquarium. After annoying Stink with talk of global warming and overcrowding until he leaves the tent where they meet, Judy, Rocky, and Frank carry Toady down to the stream behind Judy's house and release him. When Stink discovers Toady is gone, he is furious. Judy argues that keeping Toady in an aquarium was like putting him in jail, but Stink insists she stole his pet and threatens to tell their parents.

Judy's parents punish her by sending her to her room, but she climbs a backyard tree instead. She declares she will live in it like Julia Butterfly Hill, the environmental activist who spent 738 days in a California redwood to prevent logging companies from cutting it down. Judy names her tree "Luna Two." Stink and Rocky try to coax her down by blasting loud music and threatening to sue her, mimicking tactics used against Hill, but Judy refuses. Stink then tricks her by waving an envelope and claiming it is from the Crazy Strips contest. Judy drops down eagerly, only to discover the letter is a routine appointment reminder from her dentist.

The next day, real mail arrives. Stink spots an envelope marked "Contest Winner" in red letters. Judy, skeptical after the previous trick, opens it to find she has won only an Honorable Mention certificate for her "Heal the World" design. Then a second letter reveals that Stink has won Crazy Strip of the Month for October with his bat design. A large box on the porch contains his prizes: a lifetime supply of Crazy Strips featuring his artwork, plus Band-Aid-shaped sunglasses. Judy is stung with jealousy and cannot understand why the judges chose bats over her message about healing the world.

Several gloomy mornings follow. In Science, Mr. Todd tells the class that 100 acres of rain forest are destroyed every minute and that 98 percent of the cedar wood used for pencils comes from rain forest trees. Judy vows never to use a pencil again. During recess, she sneaks back into the classroom and confiscates every student's pencil, hiding them in a flower vase. When Math begins, classmate Brad notices Judy is the only one writing with a pen and accuses her of being the thief. Judy confesses and explains her reasoning. The class debates the issue. Jessica Finch contributes the fact that one tree can produce 172,000 pencils and that kids can donate money to plant trees in the Children's Rain Forest in Costa Rica for just one dollar each. Mr. Todd channels the energy into a practical plan: Class 3T will hold a bottle drive, collecting recyclable plastic bottles and turning them in for five cents apiece to raise money for planting rain forest trees.

The class throws itself into the project. Judy and Rocky hunt for bottles after school, raiding Rocky's garage and Judy's house. Judy's dad gives each of them a dollar to plant a tree, and her mom donates milk jugs. All week, Class 3T collects bottles from classrooms, the cafeteria, and the teachers' lunchroom, piling them into a towering "Bottle Mountain" in the multipurpose room. Judy feels energized. She recognizes she no longer has to save the world by herself; Class 3T is working together like an ecosystem.

On Friday morning, the principal, Ms. Tuxedo, announces over the PA system that Class 3T collected 1,961 bottles, raising enough money to plant 98 trees in the Children's Rain Forest. With the two extra dollars from Judy's dad, the total reaches 100 trees. At a special assembly, a ranger from the County Parks Department donates a cedar tree to be planted in front of the school, and every member of 3T receives a T-shirt reading "Turn Plastic Into Trees" and a gift certificate for a free ice-cream cone. Ms. Tuxedo then calls Judy onstage to represent the class and presents them with the Giraffe Award, an honor normally reserved for fifth graders, given to someone who takes a risk for a good cause. Judy receives a gold giraffe trophy. Her dad is in the audience, snapping photos and telling Judy he is proud of the whole class. Judy holds the trophy high, feeling genuinely happy. She reflects that Class 3T joined together to make a difference and that she played a small part in saving the world.