04 Goldfish Thinking

Goldfish Thinking "ROAR!" said Judy. Jessica Finch crawled inside the Toad Pee Club tent. She opened her pink Peppa Pig lap desk and pulled out a pink Peppa Pig pencil. She tapped the pencil three times on her lap desk. "Meeting of the Bookworms is now called to order." Judy shook Jessica's smiley-face Magic 8 Ball while reading Anna Hibiscus. Stink was wearing his Cape of Good Answers, covered in sticky notes. Jessica peered outside the T. P. Club tent. "We're missing two Worms." "Sophie is at her Future Astronomers' meeting," Stink said. "Frank went to get his glasses checked," said Judy. "Well, meeting of three-fifths of the Worms is called to order then." Stink pointed to Jessica's lap desk. "Isn't Peppa Pig

kind of... preschool?" "It's for ages three to seven," said Jessica. "But you're eight, right?" Stink asked. "Stink," said Judy, "it's a fact that Jessica Finch likes all things pig. Besides, you still play with Mr. Potato Head."

"Mr. Potato Head is for ages two and up. I'm the up." "Why are we having a meeting again?" Judy asked Jessica. "Because we have to eat, sleep, and breathe books for the next three days until the big Book Quiz Blowout. I want to be super ready." "Good thing I made notes," said Stink, pointing to the sticky notes all over his cape. "We can study them. These are the names of the penguins in Mr. Popper's Penguins. On my back are the names of dogs from books, like Ribsy and Winn-Dixie." Jessica read Stink's back. She giggled. "But this one says I WON THE SMELLING BEE." Stink's face looked like a question mark. "Hey! How did that get there?"

"Smelling bee," said Jessica. "That's a good one." "Because you smell, Stink. Get it?" Judy asked. "Fine. I'll call this my Cape of Good Smells." "C'mon, you guys. Get serious," said Jessica. "Hey, did you hear?" Judy asked Jessica. "I'm learning to speed-read. Now I can read way more books in the three days we have left." "Only problem is," said Stink, "she can't remember anything she reads. Sticky notes help me remember." "But what will Super Sticky-Note Man do without his cape? You can't wear that to the real Book Quiz." "Judy's right," said Jessica. "No notes or cheat sheets or visual aids allowed. That's the rules. Anyhoo, I made up a new game to help us get ready for Saturday. You have to guess really fast without using sticky notes." She took out a tray that was covered with a towel. "Under the towel, there are different objects—" "I love the Tray Game!" said Judy. "Ooh, I'm good at this," said Stink. "But it's not the Tray Game," said Jessica. "It's the Jessica Finch Future Teacher Reading Game. I invented it."

"Huh?" said Stink. "Everything on the tray has a connection to one of the books we had to read for the Book Quiz Blowout. Each one is a clue. I'll hold up an object. You be the detectives and tell me what book it's connected to." "Cool beans!" said Judy. "I'm a good detective." Jessica reached under the towel and pulled out the first object. "A flying-cat eraser? That has to be—" Judy started. "Catwings!" Judy and Stink called out at the exact same time. "Too easy. I have to find a harder clue," said Jessica. She reached under the towel. "Ta-da!" In her hand was a ball of squishy red wax. The kind of squishy red wax that used to have cheese inside. "Cheese wax!" screeched Judy. "From the Ivy and Bean books. Ivy and Bean save up money so they can buy fancy wax-covered cheese for their school lunches. Then they can make mustaches and unicorn horns out of the wax, like the other kids." "That's loony," said Stink. "Judy's right," said Jessica. "It's from the Ivy and Bean book No News Is Good News."

Next, Jessica pulled out a toy shark. "There's a garbage-eating shark in one of the Toys Go Out books," said Stink. "That's right!" said Jessica. "But which one?" "It's in... Toy Dance Party," said Stink. "Good answer!" said Jessica. Jessica reached under the towel again. Judy and Stink couldn't wait to see what would be next. "Is that... a cherry pit!" said Stink. "Is it a book about George Washington or something?" "Or something," said Judy. "Give us a hint." "Okay. It's something that a character likes to collect." Judy twirled the stray piece of hair that always fell over her eye. Stink chewed his thumbnail. "It's P.K.!" said Judy midtwirl. "She's the middle of three sisters in Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe, and she has three and a half shoeboxes full of cherry pits." "Correct!" said Jessica. "Wow. You guys are good at this." Stink bounced on his heels. "What else is under there?" Jessica pulled out a clock.