Judy Moody Declares Independence

The Judy Moody series offers very interesting stories about a girl in third grade who has uncountable moods. In every storybook of the series there are new themes and new moods of Judy, the main character, which make these books a lot of fun to read. Judy Moody Declares Independence is very enjoyable as the theme of the story is that Judy decides that she needs to declare independence from a lot of things — like brushing her hair, from her brother, from doing homework, and having some privacy, among a lot of other things. It is due to a visit to Boston where she goes to see the Freedom Trail with her family and during the visit she becomes friends with a girl from England. Judy is jealous of the fact that her new friend Victoria has more things and liberty than she does. So Judy writes her own ‘Declaration of Independence’, which largely comprised independence from parental interference, and her parents get really angry with her for this. What I enjoy most about the Judy Moody books is the many moods of Judy and she is passionate about each mood, caring little about how it is affecting others. But each of her moods teaches her lessons that eventually help in making her a better person and giving her some fruitful experiences. Megan McDonald is a very good children’s writer who has also written other books and a series about Judy’s brother Stink too. The illustrations are also very nice and they make reading the books a more enjoyable experience. This series is the first children’s storybook series of which I am trying to read all the books and I am sure all of you will enjoy it too.

— Aamnah Arshad