New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
A captive audience of little readers
Books help writer’s children have a better-than-bummer summer
Like most children, my 5-yearold twin daughters have had a difficult time during quarantine. They had to finish out preschool at home, on our computer and only got to see their friends and teachers as images on a screen.
We’re fortunate that they have each other to play with, and that they get along pretty well. But summer is supposed to be a time when children can meet and make new friends through camps and other activities. Due to COVID-19, that isn’t really a possibility for them.
However, they have gotten to make a new friend this summer — and they didn’t have to leave the house, put on a mask, or keep their distance to make this relationship happen. Their new friend is named Judy Moody.
As some Gen Z-ers and millennials (and their parents) might already be aware, Judy is the cranky, Band Aid-obsessed, but good-hearted star of a series of books written by Megan McDonald and illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds.
We were introduced to Judy after my sister-in-law gifted the twins my niece’s gently used eight-book Judy Moody boxed set. I was pleased to see her, as one of my few quarantine projects has been to introduce my kids to chapter books.
Though they still love their picture books, I thought throwing some longer-form storytelling into the mix might offer a welcome distraction. Plus, one of my favorite childhood activities was having my mom read to me from the works of Beverly Cleary, Astrid Lindgren, Judy Blume and the like.
I had tried in the past to get the girls into chapter books, but it hadn’t taken. Maybe they hadn’t developed the attention span yet, or I hadn’t found the right books. I started when they were 3, with Michael Bond’s “Paddington” books — which are fine, but a bit dry for very young kids.
But when we went on lockdown, we all sort of made a pact to buckle down and try to finish more chapter books. One of the first was a childhood favorite of mine — Cleary’s “Ramona the Brave.” It was, thankfully, as delightful as I remembered, with the scrappy Ramona getting into heaps of trouble, much to the chagrin of her uptight sister Beezus.
Next came more Ramona books, and another Cleary favorite, “The Mouse and the Motorcycle.” We read one of my husband’s childhood favorites, Robert Lawson’s “Ben and Me” (the story of Ben Franklin, told by a mouse). We read some new stuff, such as Kelly Starling Lyons’s delightful “Jada Jones, Rock Star.”
Not everything was high-minded. Let’s just say the titles of the four My Little Pony chapter books we’ve read won’t be popping up on my Goodreads page any time soon.
We even read another “Paddington” book, “Paddington at Work.” It still was not a hit, but the girls did sit and listen to the whole thing.
However, my daughters haven’t
⏩ “Ramona the Pest,” “Ramona the Brave” and “Ramona and her Father” by Beverly Cleary
⏩ “The Mouse and the Motorcycle” by Bevely Cleary (first in a three-book series)
⏩ The Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald and illustrated by Peter R. Reynolds
⏩ “Jada Jones, Rock Star” by Kelly Starling Lyons
⏩ “Ben and Me” by Robert Lawson latched onto anything the way they have with Judy Moody. We started to read her a bit more than a week ago, and have already breezed through the first two books and are midway through the third.
I am not surprised my kids find Judy so captivating. She’s funny and smart and she doesn’t always do the right thing right away. She’s prone to mood swings (hence the title) and often finds the world unfair. Judy feels like a real kid, and so do her friends Rocky and Frank and Judy’s brother, Stink.
The books also contain such can’t-miss content as a toad that constantly pees on people’s hands.
Judy and her friends make my daughters laugh. And the fact that Judy is an aspiring doctor who loves science makes me feel like I’m exposing them to something positive and characterbuilding — even if I have to barrel through plotlines about bladderchallenged amphibians.
Reading together is a ritual I have built with my kids during a tough time. I’m hoping it will be something we do for a while. And if my daughters can’t run and play with other kids the way they used to, at least they have Judy
Moody.
What are you reading to your kids this summer? Or what are they enjoying on their own? Email me at acuda@ctpost.com or tweet @AmandaCuda and let me know what books are favorites of your children, and which are your childhood favorites.