JUDY MOODY DECLARES INDEPENDENCE

Judy Moody is in Boston to travel the history-laden Freedom Trail, scene of the American Revolution. There Judy meets Tory, who is from England, and the two briefly compare vocabulary words and customs. Narrator Kate Forbes does an especially good job switching back and forth between the two girls' differing accents and between the voices of Judy and her parents. Forbes also captures the tone of Judy's irritation as she begins her own revolutionary attempts to throw off the shackles imposed by her parents. Judy Moody lives up to her name, declaring freedom from homework, hair brushing, and her little brother, before discovering that with independence ("alien rights and the purse of happiness") also comes responsibility. J.C.G. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 06]