“Is that the visitor?” asked Bradley, pointing to Amy Namey. “She’s just a kid. From Ms. Valentine’s class.”
“Class, I’d like you to meet Amy Namey,” said Mr. Todd. Some kids giggled when he said her name.
Judy practically jumped out of her seat. “I already know her!” said Judy. “And we have three connections. One, her name rhymes, just like Judy Moody. Two, she likes Nellie Bly, Daredevil Reporter, the way I like Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman Doctor. Three, she collects ABC gum.”
“Thank you, Judy. I was about to say that some of you may know Amy from the other third-grade class, 3V, Ms. Valentine’s room.”
“She lives on my street,” Alison S. told Mr. Todd.
“I noticed your colorful glasses before,” said Jessica Finch.
“Were you on our field trip to the emergency room?” asked Samantha.
“Why are you always wearing that blue checked skirt?” asked Rocky.
“Why do you have that plastic bread bag full of stuff?” asked Frank.
“Let’s give Amy a chance,” said Mr. Todd. “She’s here to tell us about Nellie Bly, the daredevil reporter who went all the way around the world in seventy-two days.”
“Did anybody ever see the movie Around the World in Eighty Days?” Amy asked. Only a few hands went up.
“Nellie Bly was a woman reporter,” Amy continued. “She wrote stuff for newspapers. She read this book about Mr. Fogg. He was a made-up person who went around the world in eighty days. Nellie thought it would be cool for a real person to try to beat his record. So her newspaper sent her around the world. Another reporter found out and tried to beat her. But Nellie won the race. She went around the world in seventy-two days, six hours, eleven minutes, and fourteen seconds.”
Amy Namey looked over at Mr. Todd.
“You’re doing great!” said Mr. Todd.
“Someday I want to be a reporter and travel around the world like Nellie Bly,” said Amy.
“Why don’t you tell us how Nellie Bly got ready for her trip?” said Mr. Todd.
“She only had three days to get ready to go around the whole entire world. And she could only take one small bag, the size of a loaf of bread.” Amy held up her loaf-of-bread bag.
“Just think, class,” said Mr. Todd. “What if you had to go all the way around the world and you could only take what fits in this bag? What are some of the things you would take? Jessica?”
“A camera.”
“Judy?”
“A Grouchy pencil.”
“Bradley?”
“Clean underwear.” Everybody cracked up.
“Jessica again?”
“My stuffed pig named Snuffles.”
“Frank?”
“A hamburger. And my pillow.”
“Your pillow’s bigger than a loaf of bread,” said Bradley.
“Rocky?”
“I’d fill that whole bag with money!”
“Amy, would you like to show us what’s in your bag?”
“These are some things Nellie Bly had in her bag. Soap. Needle and thread. Pajamas. Slippers.”
“No pillow?” asked Frank.
“Underwear,” said Amy.
“Told ya!” said Bradley.
“Ink and pens and pencils.”
“I called it!” said Judy.
“Three hats, a cup, a raincoat —”
“No way!” everybody exclaimed. Amy unfolded a tiny pouch, and it turned into a raincoat.
“Whoa!” Everybody oohed and aahed.
“And . . . her lucky thumb ring.”
Holy macaroni! thought Judy. Lucky thumb ring! A lucky thumb ring was almost as good as a mood ring.
“What about money?” asked Rocky.
“She tied it in a little bag around her neck.”
“What about clothes and stuff?” asked Jessica Finch.
“She only wore one dress. It was blue plaid, like this skirt.” Amy Namey pointed to the skirt she was wearing.
“What’s the stick for?” somebody asked. “Why’d she take a stick?”
“When she got to a country called Yemen, she had to brush her teeth with a stick.”
“I can’t believe there’s a country called Yeah Man!” said Frank.
“And she saw camels and people riding elephants, and when she was halfway around the world, she got a pet monkey named McGinty!”
“Amy, why don’t you show us Nellie Bly’s around-the-world route on your globe?” said Mr. Todd.
“Okay. I made a globe this morning. It’s still kind of wet.” She held up a big gloppy papier-mâché ball. “Here’s where she started, in Hoboken.”
“She started in Hobo Land?”
“Hoboken is in New Jersey,” said Amy. “And she went to England, France, Italy. Then Egypt, in Africa.” The route was marked in black marker. Amy traced it with her finger.
“Can somebody help me hold this?” asked Amy.
“I will!” said Frank.
“Me too,” said Rocky.
Judy could not believe her ears. Ten minutes ago, Rocky and Frank were calling Amy a robber. A big fat friend-stealer. Now they were helping her!
Frank held the papier-mâché globe. “Where’s that Yeah Man place?” he asked.
“I see it,” said Rocky. He went over to the bulletin board and pulled out a thumbtack. “It’s right down here, on the Red Sea.” As he said it, he stuck the pin into the globe to mark the spot.
POW! A loud pop made everybody jump. Frank leaped backward. It was the balloon inside the papier-mâché globe! All the air went out of the globe with a whoosh, and it collapsed in on itself.
Frank looked at Rocky. Rocky looked at Frank. “Globe explode!” Rocky said, cracking up.
Amy Namey stood in front of the whole entire Class 3T, holding a mushy, gushy mess of wet newspaper. A slobby-blobby, ooey-gluey globe of gloop.
“Nellie Bly says goodbye!” said Amy, and she rushed out of the room.
Judy passed a note to Frank, who passed it to Rocky.
Rocky passed a note to Frank, who passed it to Judy.
Judy was about to pass another note when Mr. Todd told the class it was time for the big scoop. She sat up straight as a pencil.
Mr. Todd was drawing a map on the board. Judy hoped a map was not the big surprise.
“Class, we’re about to start a whole new way to learn geography,” Mr. Todd announced. “Class 3T is going to go around the world in eight days!”
“What? Huh?” everybody asked.
“We’re going to work with Ms. Valentine’s class —”
“Yippee!” said Judy. “That’s Amy Namey’s class.” Rocky and Frank frowned at her.
“We’ll make a big map like the one on the board and put it up in the hallway between our classrooms. Then we’ll trace the journey of First Around-the-World Woman Reporter Nellie Bly. We’ll learn about all the countries she visited.”
“Did she go to Italy?” asked Rocky. “My grandma’s from there.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Todd.
“Did she go to Disneyland?” asked Bradley.
Mr. Todd chuckled. “I’m afraid not.” He wrote the names of eleven countries on the board.
“We’ll get into small groups, and each group will take a country. Here are some things you might try to find out about for each country.”
Mr. Todd pointed to the board:
“We have only eight days to get all the way around the world, so we’re going to have to work fast. There’s a lot to learn, a lot to do.”
“Can we bring in something real from that country?” asked Jessica Finch. “I have a nesting doll from Russia.”
“I’m sorry. That’s not one of the countries we’re studying,” said Mr. Todd.
“I have money from Italy,” said Rocky. “And some carbone dolce. It’s black rock candy that looks like coal.”
“Ooh, I have tea from London,” said Judy. “That’s in England. And I have a cuckoo clock in my bedroom that my grandma L
ou brought me all the way from Germany.”
“Tell you what,” said Mr. Todd. “These are all good ideas, but let’s wait until you know what country you’ll be working on.”
“Is this the big scoop?” asked Frank. “Geography?”
“Yes,” said Mr. Todd. “I’m afraid it is. But I haven’t told you the best part. We are going to kick off our Around-the-World tour with . . . a movie.”
“Movie! What movie?” somebody asked.
“You mean we get to watch a movie in school?” asked Frank.
“Do we get to turn out the lights and have popcorn?” asked Jessica Finch.
“We’ll see,” said Mr. Todd. “The movie is Around the World in Eighty Days!”
“Yippee!” everybody yelled.
That afternoon, the whole class got to go to Ms. Valentine’s room and watch the movie. Judy sat on the floor next to Amy Namey. They ate blue popcorn (made from blue corn!) and laughed at this inventor guy named Mr. Fogg, who was trying to fly and flew right through a painting! And he was trying to race around the world in eighty days and some old guys kept calling him a nincompoop!
After the movie, Judy went back to class and got into her small group with Rocky and Frank and Jessica Finch. They chose Italy for their project. They went to the library to look up some books on Italy.
“What’s red, white, and green all over?” asked Rocky.
“A Christmas elf?” asked Jessica.
“A pizza with green peppers?” asked Frank.
“No! The flag of Italy,” said Rocky.
“Hey, that’s funny!” said Judy. “We could start off with a joke like that.”
“We could dress up in red, white, and green,” said Jessica.
“Yeah!” said Judy. “I love dressing up crazy!”
“Okay,” said Rocky and Frank.
“Let’s definitely have pizza,” said Rocky.
“Yeah, pizza!” said Frank.
“Let’s think of something different,” said Judy. “Everybody already knows about pizza.”
“So? Pizza’s the best!” said Rocky. “Italy without the pizza is like Judy without the Moody!”
“How about a pizza spelling test?” asked Jessica Finch. “We could spell words that are on pizza, like P-E-P-P-E-R-O-N-I.”
“Not you, too,” said Judy.
“We could spell other stuff besides just pizza words,” said Jessica. “Like spaghetti, parmesan, and P-I-N-O-C-C-H-I-O.”
“Not even grownups can spell the word Pinocchio,” said Rocky. “Everybody would flunk.”
“We could make a Leaning Tower of Pizza!” said Frank.
“Out of what?” asked Judy.
“Pizza tables! You collect them,” said Frank.
“Yeah, we could glue them all together into a tower,” said Rocky.
“No way!” said Judy. “I’m not letting you go all glue-crazy on my whole collection. Stick to eating paste.”
“Nobody’s eating paste,” said Rocky. “Just pizza.”
“You guys have pizza on the brain,” said Judy.
“Then let’s hear your un-pizza brainy ideas,” said Rocky.
Judy pointed to a picture in the book of people dancing in a circle. “We could do this. Dance the tar-an-tell-a.”
“I don’t know how to dance,” said Rocky.
“Especially the tarantula,” said Frank.
Mr. Todd passed by their table and saw the picture. “A dance from Italy is a very good idea,” said Mr. Todd. “Bella Tarantella.”
“See?” Judy grinned. “It’s a very good idea.”
“It’ll take some practice,” said Mr. Todd. “But you’ll get the hang of it.”
“My grandma has an old record of that dance,” said Rocky.
“Let’s all go to Rocky’s to practice,” said Judy. “How about Saturday?”
“Can’t!” said Rocky. “Frank and I will be at Fur & Fangs. Not like some people.” He gave Judy the hairy eyeball.
“I meant Saturday afternoon,” said Judy. “I’ll be back from Amy Namey’s by then.”
“I’d love to go to Rocky’s on Saturday,” said Jessica. “Sounds fun.”
“I don’t know,” said Frank. “The only time I tried to dance was around the Maypole in first grade. I tripped and got all tangled up in streamers and ended up looking like a human candy cane.”
“No human candy canes. We promise,” said Judy.
“Okay, then, everybody. How about we meet at my house on Saturday at two o’clock?” Rocky said.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Judy elbowed Frank.
“Yeah, maybe if you’re an eight-legged spider,” said Frank.
On Saturday morning, Dad agreed to take Judy to Amy Namey’s house. Judy checked to make sure she had on BOTH of her watches. Her purple watch was set to regular time in Virginia. Her red striped watch was set to Italy time. And she wore her mood ring on her thumb so she could have a lucky thumb ring just like Nellie Bly, Daredevil Reporter. “Ciao, Mamma! Ciao, Stink!”
“Why do you keep saying chow?” asked Stink. “Like it’s time to eat or something.”
“Or something! Don’t have a cow, Stink. It’s Italian,” said Judy. “I’m learning words from Italy for our Around-the-World-in-Eight-Days project at school.”
“You mean your Drive-Your-Family-Crazy-in-Eight-Days project, don’t you?” asked Stink. Mom and Dad laughed.
“N-O!” said Judy.
“Does chow mean ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’?” asked Stink.
“BOTH!” said Judy.
“Weird,” said Stink. “‘Hello’ means ‘goodbye’ in Italy? What a country!”
“Ciao, bambino,” Judy said to Stink.
“Bambino? Isn’t that a baby?” asked Stink. “I am not a baby!”
“Okay, then, ciao, fratellino.”
“What’s that?”
“‘Little brother.’ Wait, no. I’m wrong. Oh, yeah, I remember now. It’s BRATellino!”
“Is not.”
“Ya-huh! I mean, sì,” said Judy.
“How come you have on two watches?” asked Stink.
“You know how two heads are better than one?”
“Yeah. And two cuckoo clocks make you twice as cuckoo?”
“No,” said Judy. “Two watches are better than one, too.”
“Oh,” said Stink. “Where are you going, anyway?”
“To Amy Namey’s house.”
“But what about the Toad Pee Club? This morning we race Toady at Fur & Fangs. I might win a tarantula.”
“Buona fortuna,” Judy said.
“What’s tuna fish got to do with anything?” asked Stink.
“Nothing. It means ‘good luck,’” said Judy. “I don’t know how to say ‘bug off’ in Italian.”
“But you’re the one who always says Toady belongs to the whole Toad Pee Club, not just me. So we should all go. Together. That’s what makes it a club.”
“Stink, don’t you get it? I’m in a new club now. And today I’m going to get my own way-official, real-and-true membership card. For sure and absolute positive.”
“What club? Can I be in it? I want a way-official membership card.”
“It’s the My-Name-Is-a-Poem Club, Stink. Sorry. It’s only for people who have a name that rhymes. So unless you changed your name to Stink McFink —”
“I don’t care. I’ll be Stink McFink,” said Stink.
“No way, Stink McNay. No dice, Stink McLice. No go, bratellino.” Judy cracked herself up all the way to the car.
“Ciao!” Judy said to Amy.
“Bonjour!” Amy said to Judy. Amy’s group was doing France for their Around-the-World-in-Eight-Days project. “I like your lucky thumb ring! I have one too.” She held out her hand.
“Same-same!” said Judy.
“Want to see my ABC gum collection?” Amy asked.
“Check!” said Judy.
“C’mon upstairs.” Amy opened a funny-shaped door at the back of her room. It went to a small
room under the stairs. “You have to duck or you’ll bump your head,” said Amy.
“Who lives here? Elves?” asked Judy.
“It’s my secret place,” said Amy. She pointed to the wall. Chewed-up gum was stuck all over the wall behind the staircase, where nobody could see.
“WHOA!” said Judy. “You started your own Wall of Gum! Just like the one in California.”
“Shh!” said Amy. “I don’t want my mom to find out.”
Judy pretended to zip her lips. “Zipper Lips!” said Amy, and they cracked up.
“Lipper Zipper!” said Judy, and they cracked up some more.
“Want your membership card?” asked Amy. “I sent away for it.”
Amy handed the card to Judy. It looked way official. And it was signed by Hugh Blue, just like Amy’s.
“Rare!” said Judy. “How did you get yours covered in plastic like that?”
“Tape!” said Amy. They taped up Judy’s card to make it look even more official.
“It also comes with this stuff,” said Amy.
Judy took the stuff out of the bag. There was a HI, MY NAME IS nametag, a My-Name-Is-a-Poem Club bike decal, a list of members with rhyming names from all over the world, and a game called the Name Game.
Judy and Amy played the Name Game. Judy made up rhyming names for Rocky, Frank, and Jessica Finch. She made up eight names for Stink.
“Stink McFink is still the best,” said Judy, laughing.
“Hey, I know,” said Amy. “Let’s write to some real people who rhyme.”
“RARE!” said Judy. She took out her list. “Just think,” she said. “Now my name will be on the list someday. Judy Moody.”
Amy got out a big plastic tub with all kinds of writing paper and smelly markers, colored pencils, stickers, rubber stamps, and glitter-glue pens.
“Blue glue!” said Judy.
“We can make our own postcards,” said Amy. “I can print some out on the computer, even. Then we can send them to other people in the club.”
“Okay,” said Judy. “I’ll send one to Larry Derry Berry, Viola Gazola, Yankee Pankee, and Herman Sherman Berman. Can you believe there’s a person in the club named T. Hee? No lie.”