Judy Moody has a very special place in my heart.
Not only because it was the first series of books that I distinctly remember getting stuck into. But also because she was the first character that I felt connected with.
I’m not sure what that says about me BUT I loved having access to the inner workings of her mind, and her relatable opinions as an eight year old.
So when a parent asks me for books like Judy Moody, I feel a pang of nostalgia.
My five are Junie B. Jones, Beezus and Ramona, Katie Kazoo, Dory Fantasmagory and Jake Drake. Every one of them has a whole series behind it, and you can find them all on the funny books for 7 year olds shelf.
I should say that my early experiences of reading were super wholesome. My mum and dad would precariously stand on the ladder to my bunk bed and read to me (We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, The Tiger Who Came to Tea, The Minpins) and I loved it. But when it came to reading on my own that just didn’t appeal to me at all. It seemed dull and hard.
Judy Moody didn’t feel hard. She was in a bad mood on page one (which was pretty much me when I started reading them), her little brother was called Stink, and the chapters raced by. Once I’d devoured them, I quickly moved on to Jacqueline Wilson, then Harry Potter, and you can probably guess the rest.
The Judy Moody feeling
The Judy Moody feeling comes down to a girl with strong opinions and a mood she can’t always explain (hard relate), a little brother who is permanently in the way, and a school day that goes wrong in a way you can see coming from the first page.
The chapters are short enough to finish before tea, and there’s a drawing nearly every time you turn the page. And the big playful fonts help A LOT.
If they haven’t actually finished the Judy Moodys, that’d be my first go-to. Judy Moody Was in a Mood is book 1 (summer is over and she is not having it, she doesn’t want to brush her hair, learn spellings, or sit near Frank Pearl, who eats paste) and there are sixteen of them at this age. The Stink books are the little brother’s side of the story. In Stink and the Incredible Shrinking Kid, Stink is one whole head shorter than Judy and every single morning he makes her measure him. Every single morning the answer is the same, until the day he has gone down a quarter of an inch.
It’s pretty obvious from the titles of the books but in case you didn’t know Judy is American. So expect recess and third grade and a yellow school bus which was definitely part of the fun for me as a kid.
Five chapter books like Judy Moody
Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park
Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
The closest thing to Judy, and where I’d start.
It’s Junie B.’s first day at school and she doesn’t know anything. She’s so scared of the school bus and the meanies on it that when it’s time to go home, she doesn’t.
Junie B. is younger than Judy (this is her very first day) but she has the bigger mouth, and a 7 or 8 year old who has long stopped being scared of the bus will find her very funny indeed. There are nineteen Junie B. books at this age, and Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business comes next. She’s the one I’d hand to a child who wants Judy’s attitude in slightly bigger print.
Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary
Beezus and Ramona
For the child who IS the big sister.
Beezus Quimby is nine, her sister Ramona is four, and Beezus’s biggest trouble is Ramona. Not a dramatic trouble. Ramona wipes her finger paints on next door’s cat, rides her tricycle round the living room with a harmonica clamped in her teeth while Beezus is trying to sew, and has a terrible favourite book about a steam shovel that she wants read aloud again. And again.
It’s Judy and Stink but the other way around, with the little one as the menace. It’s a lot older than it reads. Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins literally lives on the same street (Henry and Beezus is the one where Henry wants a bike and every plan falls flat), so a child who likes the neighbourhood has plenty more to go to.
Katie Kazoo Switcheroo: I Hate Rules! by Nancy Krulik
Katie Kazoo Switcheroo – I Hate Rules!
This is a magical one.
Katie once wished she could be anybody but herself (after one spectacularly rotten day). Now a magic wind arrives without any warning and turns her into somebody else. This one starts with a rules problem. Katie’s teacher, Mrs Derkman, has a rule for everything, Katie passes a note and gets caught, and she has had it with rules. So of course the wind picks that exact moment to turn her into Mr Kane, the head teacher. And a head teacher can make rules. Or get rid of them.
This is basically Judy Moody with a wish gone wrong. We’ve got four Katie Kazoo books at 7 and each one is a standalone, so start with whichever cover they grab (Drat! You Copycat! is the new-girl one). Nancy Krulik also writes George Brown, Class Clown, which is the boy version, with considerably more burping.
Dory Fantasmagory by Abby Hanlon
Dory Fantasmagory
The younger end of this list. Could be one for a 6 year old who had the Judy Moody books partially read to them.
Dory is the youngest in her family, and more than anything she wants her brother and sister to play with her. They think she’s too much of a baby, so she’s left to her own imagination, which means outsmarting the monsters all over the house, escaping from prison (time-out) and taking revenge on her sister’s favourite doll.
It’s written for 6 year olds, so if Judy Moody still looks a bit long, this is the one to try first.
Jake Drake, Bully Buster by Andrew Clements
Jake Drake 1 – Bully Buster
Same voice, different narrator, and probably what I’d call the ‘boy version’.
Jake feels as though bullies have been finding him for years. One child takes his snacks. Another wrecks the things he makes, while someone else always seems ready with a shove. Now he’s looking back at the year things began to change, when a new boy called Link Baxter arrived. Jake tells you all this himself, and he has plenty of thoughts about school and the grown-ups who run it. If they’re so clever, why haven’t they sorted out the bullying?
School is at the centre of it and Jake’s problems are his own to sort out, which is the bit that feels most like Judy. We’ve got four of Jake’s books for 8 year olds (Know-It-All, Teacher’s Pet and Class Clown are the others).
Four more that nearly got a card
Clementine by Sara Pennypacker is having a not so good week (on Monday she’s sent to the head’s office for cutting off Margaret’s hair, and it goes downhill from there). Ivy & Bean starts with two girls who are certain they won’t be friends, and it sits at the top of my chapter books for 7 year olds list, so I won’t say it all again here.
Here’s Hank, by Henry Winkler (yes, that one), is the class-play one. And if it’s the little-brother energy they’re after, Trouble Magnet is George Brown signing up as a stagehand for the school talent show and being, for once in his life, responsible and helpful.
What age are Judy Moody books for?
Judy is in third grade, which is Year 4 here, so she’s about 8. The books read younger than that. Short chapters, a drawing on most pages and those big playful fonts mean a confident 6 year old can manage them, 7 is where most children meet her, and an 8 year old will still cheerfully read all sixteen. Nothing in them is scary. The worst thing that happens is a bad mood, and Judy has plenty of those.
When they’ve outgrown all of it
After Judy Moody I went straight to Jacqueline Wilson, which is a bigger jump than it sounds (Tracy Beaker has real problems, Judy has a T-shirt that says I ATE A SHARK). My books like Jacqueline Wilson list is where I’d send a 9 year old who has finished everything on this page.
In between, the books for 8 year olds shelf has the longer chapter books. If bedtime is still where the reading happens, my short chapter books for bedtime list has a Judy Moody in it too. And for a younger sister who wants a series of her own, books like Isadora Moon is the list.
Just so you know…
Little Reads is a children’s library app, and every book on this page is in it, Judy included. 3,000+ hand-picked books for £7.99 a month after a 7-day free trial. Cancel anytime. A free account gets you 100+ free books to start with, and Clementine is one of them.
It’s for children who read for the fun of it. There are no lessons and no levels here, so if the reading itself is the hard part at the moment, we’re not the app for that yet. For a child who has just found their Judy Moody and wants the next one, though, it’s the right place.