Jim Drummond yearned for a little piece of land he could call his own, and for a steady job which would provide a real pair of shoes for Judy and a chance for his children to go to school. He loaded his family and meager possessions into an old jalopy and trailer and left for good the leaky sharecropper shack in the middle of an Alabama cotton field.

Ten-year-old Judy, with her fierce loyalty and quick temper, is a lovable “spitfire” of a girl. Her experiences with other migrants and with people in all walks of life and all colors and creeds—especially her friendship with Madame Rosie, the wise old itinerant fortune-teller—teach Judy many a valuable lesson. When the Drummonds finally achieve their longed-for security, and Judy can say to herself I am a part of all that I have met, she realizes she has shaken off that chip on her shoulder, and happiness lies in trying to understand strangers instead of fighting them.

Judy's Journey, one of the most dramatic and significant stories Lois Lenski has ever written, is a sympathetic and honest portrayal of the migrants as a part and a problem of the American scene. In its kaleidoscope panorama of life in the various regions from Alabama to New Jersey, Judy's Journey takes an important place in the author’s program of regional books for children.

From the dust jacket