Stink bowed to Sensei Dan. The room got dead quiet. Hee-ya! Ai-ya! Ha! Ha! Ha! Stink went through each stance. The audience clapped. Stink showed his skill with side kicks and roundhouse kicks. More clapping. He finished with a back-fist strike and punch.
Next, Stink sparred with Rooster. Then he handed in his community service paper. Last of all, Stink recited the Yellow Belt Creed. He bowed to Sensei Dan and waited for the panel of judges to call out names.
Ruby Yamamoto . . . Rooster Raymond . . . Stink Moody!
Sensei Dan held out the yellow belt. It was not blucky dirty like his old white belt. It was new and gold and shiny!
“When Stink first came to us, he was tripping over the mat,” said Sensei Dan. “Now look at this young man. No one has worked harder these last few weeks. Stink Moody, on behalf of the Empty Hand Academy, it is with great honor that I bestow upon you this yellow belt. Wear it with respect and confidence.”
“Great job,” said Dad.
“Rare,” said Judy.
Stink wrapped the yellow belt around his waist two times. He knotted and unknotted his new belt, trying to get the ends even. “Sensei Dan says karate will help me with all sorts of stuff. I so don’t stink at sports anymore.”
“But you so do stink at knots,” said Judy.
“Do not. It’s not as easy as you think to tie a reef knot,” said Stink.
“You can play any sport you want, if you just put your mind to it,” said Dad.
“So, you’re a sports freak now, huh?” said Judy. “Too bad you didn’t get a trophy.”
Today, even big-sister Judy couldn’t bug him. He looked down at his now-perfect knot. “But I got this cool uniform, and my yellow belt is kind of like a trophy, and now I get a pizza party! Right?”
“Right,” said Dad.
“Right,” said Mom.
“Can I have a thumb-wrestling pizza party at our house? And invite all my friends? For real? Can I wear my karate uniform, too?”
“Maybe just this once,” said Mom.
“Hi-ya!” Stink gave a spinning reverse punch in the air. “Take that, old me who stinks at sports. There’s a new kid on the block. Karate Stink. Just call me Yellow Belt Yeti.”
At last it was time. Time for the smackdown at Stink Moody’s house. The Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Thmackdown.
Stink could hardly wait to thumb-wrestle. This time, he had a not-so-secret secret weapon. Karate!
Stink put on his karate uniform and headband. Stink tied his yellow belt in a perfect reef knot. Stink wore his lucky shark tooth around his neck. “Shark Hammersmash, you and me are gonna be the ultimate thumb-wrestling champs of the world.”
The backyard was full of kids thumb-wrestling. Webster, Sophie, and Skunk. Ruby and Rooster. Heather Strong. Riley Rottenberger.
“Stink!”
“Finally!”
“Where were you?”
“What took you so long?”
“I already crushed Skunk. And that guy Rooster,” said Webster. “Stink. You gotta play me. If I beat you, T. Rex will be undefeated.”
Stink stood across from Webster. Stink swallowed. Stink checked the knot in his belt. It was about the size of the knot in his stomach. But Stink would stare down that knot. He would become a pool of water.
Skunk stood on an upside-down garbage can. Ding! Ding! Ding! He yelled into a ketchup-bottle microphone. “Hey, sports fans! Get ready for the final match of the Ultimate Thumb-Wrestling Thmackdown. On the left, we have T. Rex Wasabi. He’s strong. He’s sneaky. He’s the Superman of Thumb-Wrestling. He’s already smacked down six wrestlers. Will T. Rex Wasabi go undefeated?”
“No way!”
“Way!”
“T. Rex is dust! The Shark rules!”
“T. Rex rules more!”
“And on the right, we have underdog Shark Hammersmash. He may be shrimpy, but he’s as mighty as a great white. Slippery, too.”
Bend like the willow. Be still like the pond. Stink did not feel like a pond. His belly felt like an ocean full of crashing waves.
“Knuckle up, boys,” called Skunk. “Ready to rumble?”
Webster slipped on his T. Rex Wasabi mask. Stink checked the Shark on his thumb. He rubbed his shark tooth for good luck.
“Let’s bow to each other with our thumbs.” The Shark bowed to T. Rex, just like in karate. T. Rex did the same.
“Lock ’em up and smash ’em down,” called Skunk, punching the air.
Webster dipped and ducked his thumb back and forth, up, down, and sideways, tempting Stink to go for a slam.
“Body slam! T. Rex almost makes sushi out of the Shark,” yelled Skunk. Stink slid his thumb out from under Webster’s. “But the Shark is slippery.”
I am strong like the willow, Stink thought. I am mighty like the oak. I am swift like the tiger. I am slippery like the eel.
“Head-butt!” called Skunk.
“Crush ’em, T. Rex!”
“C’mon, Shark. Don’t be a Thumbelina!”
Focus. Be a blank piece of paper.
“Oh, no! T. Rex came out of nowhere and pinned the Shark! One, two —”
T. Rex had a stranglehold on him. Stink slipped his thumb out in the nick of time. “And he’s back!” yelled Skunk. “He’s a slippery one. The Electric Eel.”
“Hammer him, Shark!”
“Bite back, T. Rex!” the kids yelled.
Stink was huffing. Webster was puffing. Stink was sweating. Webster’s glasses slid down his nose.
“Give up?” Webster asked Stink.
Never give up, Stink heard Sensei Dan say. So far, the Shark had survived two standoffs, one face-off, and one almost-smackdown. He had sidestepped a Snake in the Grass, a Santa’s Little Helper, and a Tsunami Smash. And he’d come back from a Banana Split. “No way! Do you give up?”
“Never,” said Webster.
“TIME!” called Sophie. But Stink did not stop. Stink kept on dipping, ducking, and dodging. Webster kept sneaking in for a sideways slam.
Stink was the Electric Eel in a pool of water. He was as strong as a willow. He would not break. He was a crouching tiger, ready to pounce.
Out of nowhere, Stink made a way-tricky lightning-fast move. Shark Hammersmash flew off of his thumb.
“One, two, three!” Stink pinned Webster for three counts. At last, Shark Hammersmash had taken down the mighty T. Rex with his bare thumb. Stink had played his best game ever. Thumbs down.
“Good match, T. Rex,” said Stink.
“Great match! I never even saw you coming. What was that? A double-reverse Snake in the Grass? An upside-down sideways Tsunami Smash?”
“Just a little move I made up called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Thumb.”
“Wow!” said Webster. “You should enter the Thumb-Wrestling Olympics or something. You could get into the Thumb-Wrestling Hall of Fame with that move!”
Skunk held out the ketchup-bottle microphone. “So, Shark Hammersmash, you, and you alone, took down the mighty T. Rex. Tell us sports fans out here. How do you feel?”
“Absolutely, positively, thumb-tastic!” said Stink.
is the author of the popular series starring Judy Moody. She says, “Once, while I was visiting a class, the kids chanted, ‘Stink! Stink! Stink!’ as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a series all his own.” Megan McDonald lives in California.
is the illustrator of all the Judy Moody books. He says, “Stink reminds me of myself growing up: dealing with a sister prone to teasing and bossing around — and having to get creative in order to stand tall beside her.” Peter H. Reynolds lives in Massachusetts.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
Text copyright © 2011 by Megan McDonald
Illustrations copyright © 2011 by Peter H. Reynolds
Interior illustrations created by Matt Smith
All rights reserved. No part of thi
s book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
First electronic edition 2011
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
McDonald, Megan.
Stink and the ultimate thumb-wrestling smackdown / Megan McDonald ; [illustration by Peter H. Reynolds]. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: After second-grader Stink gets an unsatisfactory grade in physical education, his parents tell him he must play a sport and so he masters thumb-wrestling, as seen on a sports channel.
ISBN 978-0-7636-4346-1 (hardcover)
[1. Sports — Fiction. 2. Schools — Fiction. 3. Family life — Fiction.] I. Reynolds, Peter, date. II. Title.
PZ7.M478419Ssx 2011
[Fic] — dc22 2010039176
ISBN 978-0-7636-5457-3 (electronic)
The illustrations were created digitally.
Candlewick Press
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