[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Candlewick Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Judy, Stink, and some of their friends make up the Virginia Dare School’s book quiz team, the Bookworms.
The Bookworms have been competing at school, and now they’ve made it all the way to the Book Quiz finals. Judy, Stink, Sophie, Frank and Jessica have been reading like crazy to prepare. Judy has even tried speed reading, although it didn’t go very well.
The Bookworms are feeling pretty confident, aside from some tummy butterflies – until they hear about their competition. The Bloodsucking Fake-Mustache Defenders have a 4th grader on their team! “Mighty Fantasky” is supposed to be a for-real speed reader. And she’s already read the 5th Harry Potter book. That’s almost 900 pages long! How can the Bookworms – three 3rd graders and two 2nd graders – compete against that?
Review
This was a delight! It felt like a Mr. Lemoncello book with all the book references, but for a younger audience. There’s supposed to be a book list in the back of the final copy, but it was not in the reviewer’s version.
Kids who read a lot will have a great time answering the book quiz practice questions along with the characters. And the book list is pretty vast. Readers will probably find some new titles to try as well. The only potential negative here is that the emphasis is on reading fast and accumulating knowledge to answer questions rather than on enjoying reading for the stories and the characters, being transformed by what we read, etc.
It’s fun to watch Judy and Stink working together in this story. They encourage each other in their reading, and Judy helps Stink with his nervous feelings. Fans of both characters will find something to love here. This is the 15th book in the Judy Moody series.