Judy Moody: In a Monday Mood

Megan McDonald's Judy Moody: In a Monday Mood is a funny family story for 7 year olds about a girl who can't stand Mondays and decides to do something about it.

What happens

Judy wakes up with the Monday blahs. Same bus, same desk, same Grouchy pencils. Even breakfast is wrong, because Dad's pancakes are green (they're zucchini, which is courgette to us).

Then Mr Todd surprises the class with a day nobody's heard of. It's Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day! He's wearing a Bubble Wrap tie, there's an egg drop, and the whole class pops at once so loudly that the head teacher comes running in.

That gives Judy a brainwave. If one boring Monday can turn out special, why stop there? She'll make every day this week a holiday.

What follows is a week of gloriously daft holidays. She and Stink creep round the neighbours' houses after dark, leaving bundles of zucchini with jokey notes and running off (with Dad's say-so).

A party for decorating vegetables goes wrong when her friends turn up dressed AS vegetables. A day for feeding the birds gets taken over by a squirrel doing somersaults.

Not every idea goes to plan. Mum soon puts a stop to ice cream at breakfast. Then Judy and Stink can't agree on a holiday at all and end up name-calling, so Mum and Dad pick one for them. Can you guess what it's called?

It's very much Judy. Grumpy one minute and fizzing with ideas the next. Stink gets plenty of the best lines too, like warning everyone that Dad's made "rat stew" (it's ratatouille).

Each day brings something new, so it's an easy one to read a day at a time. Who knew there was a real day for Bubble Wrap? Your reader might well start asking what tomorrow's holiday is.

If you've got a child who drags their feet every Monday morning, they'll probably recognise Judy's grumps straight away. It's a light, happy read with no worries in it beyond who gets to choose.

This is one of the later Judy Moody books. It's a week that stands on its own though, so it doesn't much matter where your reader joins in.

What to read next

If they'd like to go right back to the beginning, Judy Moody Was in a Mood has Judy grumping her way into her first day in Mr Todd's class, Grouchy pencils and all.