From School Library Journal
Grade 3-4–Judy Moody returns, and here her medical aspirations go undeterred as she runs the gamut of roles from third-grade med student to nurse, doctor, and patient. She is learning about the human body in Mr. Todd's class, is excited about her project to dress as Elizabeth Blackwell, and will even perform surgery on a live object in front of the class. McDonald once again creates a feisty, individualistic, "RARE!" third grader with a very active imagination, keen wit, and a strong desire to explore the world around her. The author's humor and language are right on target, from describing the ups and downs in Judy's world, sibling rivalry, and conflicts with friends to a hilarious cloning episode. As always, there are facts to be learned and loads of puns and playful language to entertain readers. This is another winner, "for real and absolute positive."–Tracy Karbel, Glenside Public Library District, Glendale Heights, IL Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 2-4. When her third-grade class studies the human body, Judy Moody dives into the topic with characteristic zeal and imagination. For a class project, she dresses as Elizabeth Blackwell, even attaching fake leeches to her head, reads her poem about the first woman doctor, and performs surgery on a zucchini. Dr. Judy prescribes Popsicles and prunes for her brother's tonsillitis but soon finds herself in bed with the same illness. Worse, she becomes the butt of a cleverly orchestrated practical joke. The class field trip and anatomy lessons are liberally laced with jokes and "humerus" word play, but McDonald never resorts to coarse humor. She finds ample comedy in the way children mishear words and mangle information. Reynolds' buoyant sketches depict Judy's ups and downs in this fifth book of a series that proves laughter can be contagious. Linda Perkins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Judy Moody has a mood for every occasion, and now, she, Judy Moody, is in a medical mood! It's no secret that Judy wants to be like Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman doctor, when she grows up. So when Class 3T starts to study the Amazing Human Body, Judy can hardly wait to begin her better-than-best-ever third-grade projects: show-and-tell with something way rarer than a scab, a real-live ooey-gooey operation, and a cloning experiment that may create double trouble for Judy and her friends. RARE!

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Judy Moody, M.D.: The Doctor Is In! by Megan McDonald, illus. by Peter Reynolds, brings back the irrepressible heroine as her class studies the human body. Taking a field trip to the hospital, performing an operation on a zucchini (they first "take the Hippo oath [and] swear to the Hippo guy [to do their] doctor best") and getting tonsillitis are just a few of Judy's adventures this time around. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Children's Literature - Claudia Mills

In this entry in the popular chapter-book series, Judy Moody is learning at school about "Our Amazing Body: From Head to Toe." Before her class is done with its health unit, Judy has gotten a fake cast on her arm on the class trip to the hospital emergency room, shared (over his strenuous objections) her younger brother's "bellybutton" for show and tell (well, "that thing that falls off your bellybutton when you're born"), tried to cure his tonsillitis by feeding him dried-up prunes, performed a near-fatal operation on a catsup-smeared zucchini, fallen for her friend's faked attempt to clone a guinea pig, and forgiven him once he sticks by her through her own bout with tonsillitis. Although Judy's verbal mannerisms can occasionally become irritating (e.g., her repeated exclamation of "RARE!"), she's an irrepressible and indomitable personage whose activities always make for fun reading. Readers will wish they could be in Judy's class with Mr. Todd, excited to learn all she's learning in the adventure of third-grade science. 2004, Candlewick, Ages 7 to 10.

School Library Journal