Judy Moody Saves the World! Read Free Page B

endangered. Mr. Todd says saving endangered species begins in your own backyard,” said Judy.
    “Not before breakfast in your pajamas,” said Dad. “All the beetles are still sleeping.”
    At school that day, Judy searched for a picture of her beetle. And a few facts. She looked in the dictionary. She looked in the encyclopedia. She looked in bug books. She even looked on the computer. No luck. Most of the beetles in the computer were the John Lennon and Paul McCartney kind of Beatles.
    The next day was Saturday. Frank Pearl called Judy. “Can I come over?”
    “Not unless you bring a northeast beach tiger beetle with you.”
    “Okay,” said Frank.
    “You found one?” Judy asked. “For real?”
    “Not a live one. But I found a picture of one. Do you have any stamps at your house?” asked Frank.
    “What’s stamps got to do with anything?”
    “Just go see if you have any stamps. Stamps with bugs.”
    Judy put down the phone and ran to find some stamps in her parents’ desk.
    “Just boring old flags,” she told Frank.
    “Well, I have gazillions of stamps and —”
    “How come you have so many stamps?”
    “I collect them. I was pasting some in my album when I saw your beetle on one of the stamps.”
    “Bring it over right away,” said Judy. “Tell your mom it’s an emergency.”
    Half an hour later, Frank rang the doorbell. “Finally!” said Judy, pulling him into the living room.
    Frank put his stamp album on the coffee table and opened it up. He turned to the Insects and Spiders page. “Look at all the beetles,” said Frank. “That’s a lady beetle — those are good luck. And there’s a dung beetle, a Hercules beetle, and a spotted water beetle. Even an elderberry longhorn beetle.”

    “Which one is it?” Judy shrieked. Frank pointed to a beetle with a shiny green head and eyes like an alien. Printed below the beetle it said
Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis.
    “That’s not a northeast beach tiger beetle,” said Judy. “It’s some kind of a Cinderella beetle.”
    “It’s Latin,” said Frank.
    “Latin? Don’t they have any beetles that speak English?”
    “Read what it says underneath.”
    Northeast beach tiger beetle.
    Found along sandy beaches in the
    Chesapeake Bay areas of Virginia.
    Endangered by changes in habitat,
    human population, shoreline
    development, and erosion.

    “My beetle’s a beach bum! Thanks a million gazillion, Frank. Now I can work on my report. First I’ll draw a picture for the cover.”
    “Want some help?” asked Frank.
    “Sure,” said Judy. “You can put the caps back on the markers.”
    Judy drew many-legged northeast beach tiger beetles all over the cover of her report. “Make sure they have biting mouth parts,” said Frank. “And wings.”
    “Oh, yeah,” said Judy.
    “Can I help color them in?” asked Frank.
    “Okay. Thanks,” Judy said. “Did you already draw your cover for the monkeyface mussel?”
    “Yeah,” said Frank. “It’s a seashell with bumps on it that look like a monkey’s face. No lie. You can see eyes and ears and everything.”
    “I got to see that,” said Judy. She printed the title of her report in all capitals. SAVE THE NORTHEAST BEACH TIGER BEETLE.
    “Rare!” said Judy.
    “Double cool,” said Frank.
    Just as she finished her cover, Stink came into the room and looked at Judy’s drawing. “Why did you draw fat, flying footballs all over your report?”

Judy worked on her report all weekend. In Science on Monday, the class presented its endangered species. Frank told the class how a monkeyface mussel got its name. Jessica Finch showed a shiny pigtoe shell that looked like a striped Hershey’s Kiss. Judy bragged about the importance of the northeast beach tiger beetle.

    “Tiger beetles recycle dead trees and eat tons of harmful insects, so don’t step on them. They are really fast and tricky, like tigers. Their rain forest cousin, the Hercules beetle, is six inches long! Tiger beetles make a loud buzzing