Judy Moody, Mood Martian by Megan McDonald

Ill. by Peter H. Reynolds. Judy Moody bk 12. Walker Books, 2015. ISBN 9781406357837
(Age: 7-9) Recommended. Themes: School stories, Family Life, Emotions, Friends. Judy Moody returns in Judy Moody, Mood Martian, and the young girl we know and love, the emotional, messy, quite contrary has disappeared! Just for a short while luckily! It's Backwards Day at school and she double-dares herself to change into the Queen of the Good Mood for just one week.
"Star-spangle bananas," her mother exclaims when a radically transformed Judy appears the next morning. Judy is transformed, red hair slicked back, all her clothes match and she even laughs at little brother Stink's jokes. Her mood ring is painted with purple nail polish to signal she'll be in a good mood all day. Mr. DDOT (Todd backwards) even introduces the class to palindromes. With her success of staying in a positive frame of mind all day, she decides to continue the positive top-secret experiment for a week. She even decides to ask Jessica-A plus-Finch for advice.
With the help of lots of finger-knitting and making the right choices Judy Moody finds the week challenging. Her family thinks she been invaded by an alien! Once again, Peter R. Harvey's cartoons add to the drama and humour of the story, Martian Judy and the rescue of the finger knitting from the toilet bowl are memorable!
This is a wonderful addition to the Judy Moody series, it will delight the fans.
Recommended for 7-9 year olds
Rhyllis Bignell