STINK

Stink, Judy Moody’s little brother, is back in the second installment in his own series. With the five dollars he earned by participating in a study for short people, Stink buys the World’s Biggest Jawbreaker. And, if longevity is any indication, Stink gets his money’s worth. He sucks on it at home, in school and everywhere in between. But, when the jawbreaker does not break his jaw or even stretch his mouth, he decides to write a letter to the manufacturer. His letter is a big success—a ten-pound box of jawbreakers arrives at the Moody house! That success spurs a letter-writing campaign that keeps the mailbox popping until the grown-ups put a stop to the letter writing. This story would be plenty for new readers, but McDonald adds a grammar lesson that runs thinner than pond ice in April—Mrs. D is teaching about idioms and Stink can’t stop speaking in them, 37 idiomatic phrases altogether. Reynolds’s familiar illustrations keep the mood light, even when Judy and Stink argue, which they do. Constantly. (Fiction. 5-9)