Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party
Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party
[Grandma Moody explained] "And if you go even further back on the Moody side to the time of Queen Elizabeth I, you have a British cousin. The name Moody means brave, and this fellow was known for his bravery. The story goes that he rescued a prisoner from the Tower of London."
"Tower of London?" Judy asked. "You mean the castle where they keep all the jewels?"
"Yes, but they used it as a prison, too."
"So my cousin rescued someone from the Tower of London?" Judy couldn't believe her ears. "Maybe he rescued a princess! What if he was a prince? That means he was related to the queen. So my cousin was royal!"
Little girls frequently indulge in two very common fantasies (maybe little boys do too, but I have less insider knowledge of what theirs might be). The first is that she is not the child of the -- stupid! dumb! -- adults whose house she lives in but was switched at birth, a la Gilbert, and will some day be claimed by her true parent(s), important/rich/famous people who will enthrone her in her rightful place in the world. The other is that her own family is descended from an important historical figure, giving her standing in the present day. Well, Judy's onto the second of these with her Grade 3 family-tree project, as in the excerpt above. Her Grandpa Jack had traced the Moody ancestors back thirteen great-grandfathers, and Judy takes the leap of faith from the Tower of London episode excerpted above to her being the present Queen's cousin. Why not?
The rest of the book is devoted to Judy’s expanding on this theme, acting Right Royally, (i.e., ordering her younger brother around, dressing in purple, using British slang), visiting a castle (in Virginia!), and inviting the class to a Royal Tea Party where they would learn to curtsey, and she would be crowned Queen. Her family is remarkably tolerant of this behaviour, more so than her classmates who are not keen on a party with no games and yucky food, but, before it can happen, her world falls apart! During the students' presentations of their projects, her least favourite classmate upstages her with a similar but more convincing and more royal family history than her own, one that destroys her own claim to royal blood.
Since self-aggrandizement is not an endearing characteristic in young or old, I found this book of Judy's indulging in her fantasy of a royal ancestor rather unappealing, and, on the whole, this reader at least was a bit pleased that Judy got her comeuppance at the end. On the other hand, thinking back to my own -- somewhat similar -- sillinesses at that age, I was pleased to think that Judy and the girl who cut her tree down to size, so to speak, may just end up as BFFs. They do have their Anglophphilia to link them together as well as the possibility that they may be actual cousins, even if thirteen times removed. Little girls may enjoy this acting out of their inner thoughts; little boys will very likely not.
Mary Thomas lives and works (from time to time) in school libraries in Winnipeg, Manitoba.