The Wishbone Wish

August 24, 2015
Back to share top billing in the fourth Judy Moody and Stink story, the Moody siblings gear up for the local Gobblers-a-Go-Go festival: Judy plans to dress up as Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who persuaded President Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. And Judy is so certain she’ll win a footrace that boasts a turkey as top prize, she tells her grandmother not to bother buying one (which worries Stink mightily). As in the siblings’ previous outings, their spot-on dialogue and banter is a major source of this book’s fun (“I’m sorry I called you a turkey,” Stink apologizes after a long stint in time-out. “And a snood. And a wattle”), and Reynolds’s full-color illustrations easily tap into the upbeat, offbeat holiday mood. Ages 6–9. Illustrator’s agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties.

July 1, 2015
Grades 2-4 Not many kids look forward to going to school on a holiday, but the Gobblers-a-Go-Go Festival takes place at Judy and Stink's school on Thanksgiving Day, making this an exception. Judy is so confident that she will win a turkey, the grand prize in the final race, that she makes her grandmother promise not to buy one for their holiday dinner. She and Stink train for their races, but the quest for glory is temporarily sidelined by sibling bickering, culminating in an amusing chapter that details what happens in each child's room when their mother separates them for an hour-long time-out. The latest installment in the Judy Moody and Stink series has the trademark humor and grade-school sensibility that its fans enjoy, as well as a surprise at the end when Grandma Lou saves the day. Reynolds' lively and colorful digital illustrations appear throughout. This beginning chapter book, studded with historical facts, trivia, and wordplay related to Thanksgiving will amuse, and maybe even inform, young readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)