Megan McDonald, the creator of bestselling chapter books featuring Judy Moody and her little brother Stink (and the youngest of five sisters herself), knows sibling dynamics well. And whether Judy likes it or not, this spring Stink is celebrating his 10th year of being the star of his very own book series.
Shortest in his second-grade class, and a fan of reading the encyclopedia, measuring things, and thumb wrestling, Stink is the hero of nine chapter books that, combined, boast nearly six million copies in print worldwide, and are available in 10 languages. In addition to his own books, Stink appears in the 14 Judy Moody titles, as well as three Judy Moody & Stink adventures, all illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, and is spotlighted in Stink Moody in Master of Disaster (March), the latest volume of the new Judy Moody and Friends beginning-chapter book line illustrated by Erwin Madrid.
Just how did this favorite second fiddle come in to his own? “Backing up to Judy, she was going to be a little sister when I first started writing her,” said McDonald. “But, then I thought it would be really cool to not be me and to create a bossy big sister, because I know about those.” In that context, Judy and her “pesty” little brother Stink were born, debuting in Judy Moody in 2000.
“Readers really warmed to Stink from the very beginning,” McDonald said. So much so that Stink was the subject of a memorable rally of support. During a school visit in Vancouver, McDonald recalled, “All the boys in the second and third grades filed into the room and they were dressed like Stink. They did a ‘Stink! Stink! Stink!’ chant and were pounding the floor. They said, ‘We came to tell you that we want Stink to be in his own book,’ ” she said. “It was hilarious.”
Shortly thereafter, McDonald expressed to her editor, Mary Lee Donovan, that Stink flying solo was an idea they should consider. “From the start, Stink was just a wonderful character who clearly had a huge personality all his own,” Donovan noted. “We didn’t know Judy Moody would turn into a series until we saw how people responded.” “When we knew that people wanted more Judy, we picked up the pace.”
According to both McDonald and Donovan, one of the greatest developments in those early days of Judy Moody is that the books were “equally loved by boys and girls,” according to Donovan. “Megan writes very real stories about being a kid, not about being a boy or being a girl. And at age eight, there are a whole lot fewer gender divisions taking place among kids than there are once they hit fifth grade. ”
In the early 2000s, Donovan said that sales for the Judy Moody series were increasing with each book and Candlewick raised the first printing numbers for each successive title. “We thought, let’s ride the crest of this wave, and make a bigger wave,” she added. Once the decision was made to go forward with introducing a new vehicle for Stink, McDonald said, “I felt like I was home when I could bring Stink to the fore. Being the youngest, I feel closer to Stink; I know what that feels like.”
Initially, though, the writing proved a bit tricky. “Even though Stink was near and dear to my heart,” McDonald said, “Judy would kind of come into the book and take over when I was writing.” Donovan has a similar recollection. “At first it was hard to make sure the books were in the right voice; the writing sounded like Judy. But once the point of view came through, Megan found the voice and she has had no lack of story material.” In March 2005, Candlewick released the series starter Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid.
A Distinctive Package
With both Judy and Stink anchoring their own series, the increasing number of books about the Moody kids began to order themselves into a family. “[The] Stink [series] has roughly the same age range as [the] Judy [series] but we wanted to get it right,” said Donovan. “Stink is younger, so we said, ‘Let’s have his books be the precursor to Judy.’ ”
In addition to McDonald’s appealing “real kid” stories, one of the important elements to making the books distinctive as a line is their look. Donovan remembers that when the first Judy book was in the works, she had many design discussions about how to make the books stand out. “I felt middle-grade fiction was all looking the same at that time,” she said. “We thought Megan’s writing is so strong and so funny, let’s make a splash and make it look different. We wanted to find someone new to do the illustrations.”
By chance, illustrator Scott Nash recommended Peter H. Reynolds, a friend he knew from their work together in animation. “His line work was irresistible,” says Donovan of Reynolds. “He came in with stacks and stacks of drawings and doodles. And when we hired him, he did so many character sketches until we got someone with appeal and edge.” Other aspects of making a design “splash,” Donovan said, meant not worrying about book length or trim size, using a generous typeface and leading, incorporating lots of illustrations, and “livening up the pages to make sure that kids who may be having a harder time would still want to pick up this package.”
As the Stink series grew, McDonald notes that since “Stink is all about the encyclopedia and facts, and we use comics to give real information.” The author enjoys finding ways to insert real science and even bits of science fiction into the text via Stink’s passions. In Stink and the World’s Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers (2007), McDonald has Stink meeting his hero, a professional smeller from NASA (a real job) who has to sniff and approve everything that goes into outer space through the agency. McDonald gave the character a fictional name and later received letters from the actual person who holds the position of super sniffer, George Aldrich. “He wrote, ‘I’m the premier sniffer. Who is this Steve Morgan guy and why is he in the book?’ ” McDonald said. “Who would have thought that would ever happen?”
Donovan observed that the rhythm of publishing a new Judy book in the fall and a new Stink book in the spring each year seemed “a good balance to have,” and, for the most part, that schedule continues. “I now get as many letters about Stink as I do about Judy,” McDonald said. But she also noticed something else about the books’ growing fan base: younger kids were watching their siblings devour Judy and Stink books and those little brothers and sisters wanted to do the same. “It’s kind of like a Harry Potter thing,” says Donovan. “Everyone wanted to read a Harry Potter book even if they couldn’t read yet.” As a result of this phenomenon, last year Candlewick launched the Judy Moody and Friends series of beginning chapter books. “It’s aspirational publishing, if you will,” says Donovan, influenced in part by the release of the feature film Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer in 2011. “When the movie came out younger kids wanted in on it. And these books introduce color. For kids just getting out of picture books, it’s a nice bridge, an introduction to a series you can graduate to. And it affords Megan the opportunity to explore other characters.” McDonald eagerly embraced the expansion of the Moodys’ world. “I have so many ideas that are not sustainable for a whole chapter book, but I can use a vignette in this new format. It’s really fun.”
Candlewick has begun the birthday celebration on a number of fronts, including the relaunch of a dedicated website in late February. The site contains exclusive content for fans, more interactive games and activities, and “a whole section for teachers and parents,” said Donovan. “One of the most loyal audiences for the Stink books is teachers; they love using the books in the classroom.” Updated teacher guides on the site are now more thematic as opposed to being based on individual book titles. Toward the end of the year, Candlewick will use the site to start teasing the next Stink book, Stink and the Attack of the Slime Mold, which will publish in February 2016.
McDonald is set to appear at several major book festivals and events making stops in Tucson, Charlottesville, and Los Angeles. The author and her editor are particularly excited about a planned visit to South Dakota in September for the 2015 Young Readers Festival of Books. The South Dakota Humanities Council has announced the first two Stink titles, Stink the Incredible Shrinking Kid and Stink and the Super-Gigantic Jawbreaker as its 2015 Young Readers One Book South Dakota statewide reading selection. Candlewick is publishing a special paperback bind-up edition of the two volumes to be provided to thousands of second-graders this spring who will read the book and then attend McDonald’s event at the Festival next fall. Birthday celebrations are planned for BEA and ALA and Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! program is running a Stink sweepstakes. A robust trade advertising effort and an online consumer ad campaign via DOGOBooks are also part of the anniversary celebration.
At the moment, there are no signs of McDonald or Stink slowing down. “We check in every now and then, and Megan asks, ‘Do you guys want more?,’ ” says Donovan. “And the answer is still a definite ‘yes!’ ” For her part, McDonald has a steady flow of book material. “When I’m in the middle of a book there’s a feeling of ‘what if there aren’t any more ideas?’ But something always presents itself,” she says. Donovan routinely monitors the business as well as the creative side of the work. “We keep an eye on our release numbers to see if they are plateauing or dropping, and Judy and Stink still rank really high on our list of bestselling books.” She emphasizes that approaching the series one book at a time is the best way to move ahead and avoid overcommitting. “It increases your chances of success rather than a perceived failure.”
Stink’s first decade seems to have flown by for McDonald. “I think of Stink as the new kid, for me anyway. It’s really hard to believe it’s been 10 years, and the 10th book is coming out next year.” And over that time span, McDonald has heard from numerous families that Stink helped their children become readers. “It’s the highest praise I could get,” she says. “As a writer, you never get tired of hearing it.”
As Donovan reflects on Stink’s milestone, she credits McDonald’s talent as a writer as the engine driving the longevity of both Judy and Stink. “When the series ends one day, that excites me, too,” she says. “Because I know Megan can write other kinds of books, and I look forward to working on those.”
