Blumes involvement, in some cases, was more than just emotional: She called a students guidance counselor and took notes on a yellow Post-it about how to follow up. It was still banned in the United States. [8] Blume serves on the board for other organizations such as, the Authors Guild; the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators; the Key West Literary Seminar; and the National Coalition Against Censorship. Her body is changing, still. Blume responded to as many letters as she could, but she was also busy writing more booksshe published another 10, after Margaret, in the 70s alone. They wanted to scream. Whats really shocking, one Bethesda mother told The Washington Post, is that there is no moral tone to the book. I know what thats like, she volunteered. [54] The show ran from 1995 to 1997 with the first season aired on ABC and the second on CBS. [2] Female novelists have praised Blume for her taboo-trampling literature that left readers feeling like they learned something about their bodies from reading her books. I just never did. Theyre always, you know, What is this? In 1980, parents pushed to have Blubber removed from the shelves of elementary-school libraries in Montgomery County, Maryland. It is the first in the Fudge series and was followed by Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Superfudge, Fudge-a-Mania, and Double Fudge (2002). Theres no adult or another child who says, This is wrong. (Her 7-year-old daughter told the paper that Blubber was the best book I ever read.), Read: How banning books marginalizes children, As Blumes books began to be challenged around the country, she started speaking and writing against censorship. The latest book, Going Places, was published in May 2022. . She learned that there was power in language, in knowing how to speak about ones body in straightforward, accurate terms. At one end of the apartment is a large office where Blume and one of her assistants work when shes not at the bookstore. Blume spoke about her anxieties, and her bodily travails, without a hint of embarrassment. Blume's books have significantly contributed to . Blume, 76, is the sort of author who is beloved by her fans, who stretch from the children of today to the adults who read her books when they were growing up, and . [59] Tiger Eyes stars Willa Holland as Davey and Amy Jo Johnson as Gwen Wexler. I put on the hat. 'Judy Blume Forever' Directors On The Author's Legacy, Relevance & Banned Books In America - Sundance Q&A By Dominic Patten January 23, 2023 10:30am Judy Blume Forever Courtesy of. Her philosophy is that the protagonist, especially with realistic fiction, should be around your age range. Its not censorship, she insisted, just asking you to wait.. Judy's lessons are engaging and optimistic but most importantly, she teaches for students of all skill levels ( view details ). In her fiction, Blume had always taken the kids side. Being raised without religion made me feel like such an oddball, Jones told me. Yet over the course of our conversations, I found myself telling her things about my life and my family that Ive rarely discussed with even my closest friends. Still a slip of a thing, with barely tamed curls a credible chestnut, Blume is nestled in the corner of a low-slung couch in her sunny, book-lined apartment that takes in a wide sweep of Central . Blum is still unaware of whether she equated Communism with religion or menstruation which are the . $20 / year. Blume later recalled that the doctor barely spoke to her at all. She felt creatively starved, she recalls, and started out to better the picture books her . Tiffany Justice, a founder of Moms for Liberty, has said that the group is focused on safeguarding children and childhood innocence, an extreme response to a common assumption: that children are fragile and in need of protection, that they are easily influenced and incapable of forming their own judgments. One teenage girl came to New York, where Blume and Cooper had moved from New Mexico, for a weekend visit (they took her to see A Chorus Line; she wasnt impressed). Yet Blumes titles are still the subjects of attempted bans. [43] Since 1980, Blume's novels have been a central topic of controversy in young adult literature. Since young, she's been an avid reader and was already reading New York University books before she started preschool. As of 2020, she had three children and one grandson. But Joanne said that nothing makes someone seem older than having to ask What? all the time, and Blume, a few weeks into using her first pair, was glad shed listened to Joanne. In fourth grade, I tried to take Margaret out of my school library and was told I was too young. People Who Voted On This List (23) Agentb721 57 books 4 friends Alsjem 2195 books 23 friends Jennifer 3305 books [35], In 1975, Blume published the now frequently banned novel Forever, which was groundbreaking in young adult literature as the first novel to display teen sex as normal. This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. [48] The ALA Margaret A. Edwards Award recognizes one author who has made significant contributions to young adult literature. I reread Judy Blume's book with my 12-year-old and was surprised by how current it still is. [10] They are praised for teaching children and young adults about their bodies. [23] Conservative and religious groups continuously attempt to ban Are You There God? Clear rating. I was relieved, if further embarrassed. Even those of us who didnt correspond with Blume could sense her compassion. Summer Sisters (1998) One of Blume's few novels. The novelist Tayari Jones, whose career Blume has championed, told me that the way Margaret is torn between her parents decisions and her grandparents culture was the main reason she loved the book. I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all, Holden Caulfield tells his younger sister in J. D. Salingers novel: Perhaps, through these letters, Blume had managed to live out Caulfields impossible fantasy. [16] Blume attributes her love of reading as a trait passed on by her parents. [5] Blume has expressed that she writes about these subjects, particularly sexuality because it is what she believes children need to know about and was what she wondered about as a child. (Blume had it cateredno reason to have anxiety dreams about serving food on a day like that.) 4. Todays 12-year-olds have the entire internet at their disposal; they hardly need novels to learn about puberty and sex. Blume spent God knows how long making elaborate decorations for dinner partiesfor a pink-and-green-themed evening in Paris, she created a sparkling scene on the playroom wall complete with the River Seine and a woman selling crepe-paper flowers from a cart. [5] Blume has been married three times. Blume, long a skeptic of film or TV collaboration, was always clear with her agent that Margaret was off the table. Blume made a name for herself early on since she's one of the first authors to exclusively focus on taboo topics. Bess Roth, whose son was Philip Roth, had some advice for her. Ill keep thinking of you. Do be careful.. Between Tiger Eyes, Blubber, and Are You There God? They got married in 1987, to celebrate their 50th birthdays. (The correct method, which Blume has demonstratedwith the caveat that it does not workis to make your hands into fists, bend your arms at your sides, and vigorously thrust your elbows back.). She doesn't get many handwritten letters anymore, though she still. In 2016 we opened Books & Books in Key West, where you can often find me behind the counter, and yes, I'm still writing! Usually, though, she avoids making recommendations in the young-adult sectionnot because of the kids so much as their hovering parents. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. [1] Blume began writing in 1959 and has published more than 25 novels. When Sally finds out that her aunt back home is pregnant, she writes her a celebratory letter full of euphemisms she only half-understands; her earnest desire to discuss the matter in adult terms even as she professes her ongoing fuzziness on some key details makes for a delicious bit of Blume-ian humor: Congratulations! Shed always loved babies, and loved raising her own. There were times when my daughter, Randy, and son, Larry, didnt come to me either. "Young Adult Literature." Id rather get it out in the open than pretend it isnt there, Blume said at the time. . [60][61], She is the subject of the documentary film Judy Blume Forever, which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. I didnt want to frighten you, her mother replied. In 1969, she published her first book, an illustrated story that chronicled the middle-child woes of one Freddy Dissel, who finally finds a way to stand out by taking a role as the kangaroo in the school play. Why Judy Blume felt a calling to write about taboo topics Blume's young adult novels, most of which were published between the '70s and '90s, dealt with topics that adults largely did not discuss . Some of them, of course, are. "The first draft came out quickly and spontaneously, in about six weeks," Blume wrote on her blog in 2020. But being a Scotch Plains housewife gave her stomach painsa physical manifestation, she later said, of her discontent. Character is paramount. She started writing. She felt that her mother, in particular, expected perfection. Someone who made us want to read: all her books, and then all the others in the world. And nothing teaches you as much about writing dialogue as listening to it.". Blume says she "buried" these memories until she began writing her 2015 novel In the Unlikely Event, the plot of which revolves around the crashes. Bend your chin toward your chest.) Id forgotten to bring a hat, so Blume loaned me one for rides in her teal Mini convertible and a walk along the beach. What level is . Even adults who support kids learning about these topics in theory sometimes find them too awkward to discuss in practice. "January Interview: Judy Blume." Where do you find that outlet?. [25], Randy Blume became a therapist with a sub-specialty in helping writers complete their works. [36] Blume explained that she was inspired to write this novel when her daughter, 13 years old at the time, said she wanted to read a book where the characters have sex but do not die afterward. Cooper came over afterward, and he never left. The books that will never be read. Some of her best known works are Are You There God?It's Me, Margaret. [43] Her first-person narrative writing has gained positive appraisal for its relatability and its ability to discuss difficult subjects without judgment or harshness. Nowadays she spends her time in Key West, where she and her husband own a bookstore, Books and Books Key West. These days she's a retired Jewish woman living in Florida, a breast cancer survivor who spends. [2] Among her best-known works are Are You There God? [29][30], A lifelong avid reader, Blume first began writing through New York University courses when her children were attending preschool. Blume thought seriously about inviting one of her correspondents to come live with her. She's been censored and banned for writing frankly about sex, puberty and death and her books have been part of the . When I hesitated to put it on for the walk, eager to absorb as much vitamin D as possible before a long New York winter, she said, Its up to you in that Jewish-mother way that means Dont blame me when you get a sunburn and skin cancer. Maybe, on some level, Id been seeking such reassurance when I emailed her in the first place. Blume's earnest and candid writing about puberty, menstruation, sex, relationships, and friendships was not only groundbreaking when they were first published in the 1970s, but they've literally shaped the time we're in now. [7][9], Blume's novels are popular and widely admired. But nostalgia alone seems insufficient to account for Blumes wide readership; parents can only influence their kids taste so much. Years later, Blume asked Jackson what hed seen in the book. Blume, now 85, says that she is probably done writing, that the novel she published in 2015 was her last big book. Shes happily back at her easel. [64] It has an expected theatrical release date of April 28, 2023.[65]. [12], Blume was born on February 12, 1938, and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of homemaker Esther Sussman (ne Rosenfeld) and dentist Rudolph Sussman. Her refreshingly honest children's books were banned by hundreds of librariesand loved by generations of readers. [17], She graduated from the all-girls' Battin High School in 1956, then enrolled in Boston University. (Blume also gently coached me on what to do when, at dinner my first night, my water went down the wrong pipe and I began to choke. The major themes of Blumes work are all present in Iggies House: parents who believe they can protect their kids from everything bad in the world by not talking to them about it, and kids who know better; families attempting to reconcile their personal value systems with shifting cultural norms. Gale Literature Resource Center, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1100109219/LitRC?u=wash43584&sid=LitRC&xid=311dcdb7 . Author Series. [10] In October 2017, Yale University acquired Blume's archive, which included some unpublished early work. (Please help me grow God. Judy Blume is an award-winning author who writes amazing books for children, young adults, and also adults. Judy Blume does not have a new book coming out soon. [62], Are You There God? The first draft is "pure torture." Writing is rewriting. but the truth of it is there was no "young adult" when I was writing the books that you all remember. Despite her retirement, Blume's work has proved to be resilient. Its protagonist, Nadine, is an angsty teen who has recently lost her father and feels like her mom doesnt get her. Her books remain popular, in part because a generation that grew up reading Blume is now old enough to introduce her to their own children. Between 2007 and 2009 she continued the story of The Pain and the Great One (1984) with a series of four chapter books. Here are 21 Judy Blume books that should be in your classroom library and other banned books that kids should read before they leave high school. [9] She was recognized as a Library of Congress Living Legend and awarded the 2004 National Book Foundation medal for distinguished contribution to American letters. Editorial oversight by Wendy Dorr. Margarets Christian mother and Jewish father are both proudly secular. Lately, she had been snacking on matzo with butter to try to regain some of the weight shed lost over the summer. Blume began writing when her children began nursery school. She listened as I ran down the list, asking questions and making reassuring comments. She married her first husband, a lawyer named John Blume, while she was still in college. [20] Shortly after her separation, she met Thomas A. Kitchens, a physicist. Tuesday night, Blume had a date with someone else. 325, Gale, 2012. Wasnt she the one who wanted to be a good neighbor!). I continued reading Blume over the coming yearsas a city kid, I was especially intrigued by the exotic life (yet familiar feelings) of the suburban trio of friends in Just as Long as Were Together (1987) and Heres to You, Rachel Robinson (1993). [54] The film starred Stephanie Zimbalist as Katherine Danziger and Dean Butler as Michael Wagner. When Margaret came out, the principal of Blumes kids school didnt want it in the library; he thought elementary-school girls were too young to read about periods. It made us have conversations about religion at a time when there's been an uptick in antisemitism. Judy, hi! one middle-aged visitor exclaimed when I was there, as if she were greeting an old friend. Theres a sense of a shared secret between the author and the child. Clearly, something about these stories still feels authentic to the TikTok generation. The New York Daily News once referred to her as Miss Lonelyhearts, Mister Rogers and Dr. Ruth rolled into one. In the 1980s, she received 2,000 letters every month from devoted readers. I have to stop and tap dance.. What happens to a creative kid who grows up? (The Fault in Our Stars, which was published in 2012 and became a movie in 2014, sold 3.5 million copies that year, but has not exceeded 100,000 in a single year since 2015.) [5] Despite the love of stories, as a child Blume did not dream of being a writer. I think we were on some drug, obviously.), Margaret was not a young-adult book, because there was no such thing in 1970. A still from Judy Blume Forever by Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, an official selection of the Premieres program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.. Judy Blume is most at home surrounded by books. He called and sang Love Is the Drug over the phone (Blume thought he was singing Love is a bug). Last year, the Brevard County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group based in Florida, sought to have Forever taken off public-school shelves there (the novel tells the story of two high-school seniors who fall in love, have sex, andspoilerdo not stay together forever). Did I need a ride from the airport? It took over my life at one point, Blume said of the letters, and the responsibility she felt to try to help their writers. [38] Blume's third adult novel, Summer Sisters (1998), was widely praised and sold more than three million copies. Hi AmyIts Judy in Key West, she wrote. A portion of these sales surely comes from parents who buy the books in the hope that their kids will love them as much as they did. You hear how the story flows. Generations later, and with redesigned covers, Judy Blume books still have so much to offer to readers of all ages. Its Me, Margaret (1970), Blume received many letters from young girls telling her how much they loved the book and identified with Margaret. Blume believes, by contrast, that grown-ups who underestimate childrens intelligence and ability to comprehend do so at their own riskthat childhood innocence is little more than a pleasing story adults tell themselves, and that loss of innocence doesnt have to be tragic. Young people dont need a catcher; they need a compassionate coach to cheer them on. "My teacher suggested a looseleaf notebook divided into sectionsplot, character, dialogue . Like tens of thousands of young women before me, I wrote to Judy Blume because something strange was happening to my body. She plays Wordle every day using the same first and second words: TOILE and SAUCY. If anything, the movie is more conspicuously set in 1970 than the book itself, full of wood paneling, Cat Stevens, and vintage sanitary pads. Judy Blume turned 83 last month. (Hager and her twin, Barbara Pierce Bush, have said that Summer Sisters is the book that taught them about sex.) Bradburys founders, Dick Jackson and Robert Verrone, were young fathers interested, as Jackson later put it, in doing a little mischief in the world of childrens publishing. [5], After publishing novels for young children and teens, Blume tackled another genreadult reality and death. [13] Additionally, in 1951 and 1952, there were three airplane crashes in her hometown of Elizabeth. Some kids praised her work while others dove right in, sharing their problems and asking for advice: divorce, drugs, sexuality, bullying, incest, abuse, cancer. The protagonists grandmother, a lawyer in Manhattan, bears more than a passing resemblance to her creator, mailing her granddaughter pamphlets from Planned Parenthood and offering to talk whenever she wants. If youre wondering why your child would write to me instead of coming to you, she wrote, let me assure you that youre not alone. [55], In 2012, Blume's 1981 novel Tiger Eyes was adapted into a film version. [39] Despite its popularity, Summer Sisters (1998) faced a lot of criticism for its sexual content and inclusion of homosexual themes. Parents need to know that Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is the first in Judy Blume's "Fudge" series about the Hatcher family: Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher, their older son Peter, and younger son Farley Drexel, whom everyone calls Fudge. This article appears in the April 2023 print edition with the headline Judy Blume Goes All the Way. When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Starting that year, devoted readers could purchase the Judy Blume Diarythe place to put your own feelingsthough Blume reportedly declined offers to do Judy Blume bras, jeans, and Tshirts. The advice continued once I arrived: where to eat, the importance of staying hydrated, why she prefers bottled water to the Key West tap. [49] Blume received an honorary doctor of arts degree from Mount Holyoke College and was the main speaker at their annual commencement ceremony in 2003. How Old Is Beverly Cleary [19] In 1963, she gave birth to her son, Lawrence Andrew Blume. Best for: Anyone looking to make a career in child/young adult fiction. Her brother, David, four years her senior, was a loner who was supposed to be a genius but struggled in school. This kind of validation can be hard to come by. This is the best advice I can give. In the 80s, her frank descriptions of puberty and teenage sexuality made her a favorite target of would-be censors. Fudgeand his long-suffering older brother, Peter. HEFFNER: And the seven year olds who were old hands at reading Judy Blume, do they understand Judy Blume? She grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where her father, Rudolph Sussman, was a dentist, and the kind of person everyone confided in; his patients would come to his office just to talk. After Iggies House, Blume published the novel that would, more than any other, define her career (and earn Bradbury its first profits): Are You There God? These campaigns are a backhanded compliment of sorts, an acknowledgment of Blumes continued relevance. [6][7] Her novels have sold over 82 million copies and have been translated into 32 languages. Despite, or perhaps because of, the censorship, Blume was, in the early 80s, at the peak of her commercial success. [63] A trailer for the movie was released January 2023. Blume, Judy, and Linda Richards. [42], The first media adaptation of Blume's novels was the production of a TV film based on Blume's novel Forever that premiered on CBS in 1978. Still have questions? [2] Among her best-known works are Are You There God? Judith Blume, born February 12, 1938, is an American young adult fiction writer. And all due to the fear of censorship. What were adults so afraid of? She didnt think adults could change kids behavior; her goal was merely to make kids aware of the effect that behavior could have on others. Instead of a cliff for kids to fall off, she saw a field that stretched continuously from childhood to adulthood, and a worrying yet wonderful lifetime of stumbling through it, no matter ones age. When this reporter bought. Blume and Cooper were married in 1987. Shes miserable. Judy Blume started writing during her mid-twenties when she was stuck at home with her two small children. [54] The film was later shown on ABC. On this site, the best I can do is share with you what works for me. Girls of a certain age would share whether theyd gotten their period yet. It just got to be too much. She was unhappy in Los Alamos, which felt like Stepford, but she kept writing. She is married with three children and one grandchild. The first in the series, "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" was published in 1972. In the late 1940s, David developed a kidney condition, and to help him recuperate, the Sussmans decided that Esther and her mother would take the children to Miami Beach for the school year (Rudolph stayed behind in New Jersey so he could keep working). That really spoke to me even more than the whole flat-chested thing, although there was no chest flatter than my own., The writer Gary Shteyngart first encountered Margaret as a student at a Conservative Jewish day school. Blume, now 85, says that she is probably done writing, that the novel she published in 2015 was her last big book. And that hurt. Award-Winning Author Judy Blume Shares 6 Inspiring Tips From 50 Years of Writing (and 85 Million Books Sold) Write the book you want to read. [56] This was the first of Blume's novels to be turned into a theatrical feature film. That's the predominant impression of a new documentary on the author's life directed by Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, Judy Blume Forever, which premiered at Sundance last month and will begin . Isnt that wonderful? Her desk faces the water and is littered with handwritten notes and doodles she makes while shes on the phone. [13] Later that same year, on August 15, 1959, she married lawyer John M. Blume, whom she had met while a student at New York University. Cart, Michael. [13] In the 1980s, when her books started facing censorship and controversy, she began reaching out to other writers, as well as teachers and librarians, to join the fight against censorship. 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