As the mother of an almost middle-schooler, I’m happy to report that Judy Blume is alive and well and working her magic at my house.
Nothing against Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but sometimes a girl just wants to read about a girl not unlike herself, a girl mulling over friendship and religion and bras. And stuff like that.
Having Judy Blume swoop onto the scene with Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret is like having the perfect aunt come to stay — with empathy and understanding, humor and gumption packed in her suitcase. I’m so grateful she’s here…
"… stay aware, listen carefully, and yell for help if you need it…" — Judy Blume
okay we need to talk about this. tall one was overheard by friend-of-small one and said friend-of-small-one knew we had a copy, so she located our copy and promptly announced that she was going to start it tonight.
i smiled, and said i something about remembering reading it, but how i was older- like maybe tall one’s age.
she opened it and as she began reading it i was filled with this kind of saddness…. NOT READY. she might be, i’m not.
so i told her that i’d like to puruse it first, and that i’d give it back to her soon after i’d had a chance to check it out and see if it was something she should be digging into now, or maybe might make more sense to wait a bit……
😉
k
Loved that book when I was twelve.
Have you read the book “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from Judy Blume?” I may have botched the title, but it’s close to that. It’s a collection of essays by writers about what Blume’s books meant to them, and it’s marvelous.
tanita says 🙂
I read this book when I was… sheesh, in the fourth grade? It was one of those things our teacher assigned all the girls, and we sort of read it in a story circle. I was not impressed – not with the book – the book was fine, but I felt itchy being required to read it and discuss it. Obviously, the idea of a book club was lost on me.
I love the idea of the book as a suitcase packed with things like empathy, humor and wisdom, though. That’s really the best we can ask of any MG book, and that’s a nice image to carry away and write with on my mental shelf.
Her books are a big part of why I love middle grade so much. I hope my daughters find an author at that age who feels like a wise and funny aunt to them, too, as they read her stories.
Still one of my favorites
This book is still one of my favorites. I remember reading it, I think I was eleven at the time, and thinking “Wow!” somebody else gets me. Thanks for the trip back down memory lane. A book that will stand the test of time!
I remember this book as being so important to me as I was understanding all those Big Transitions. Now my godson’s getting ready to finish out fifth grade and start middle school next year. I’ve been mulling over what books I should get him, but not having been a boy, I’m finding the whole thing kind of hard to wrap my mind around. It would be much easier for me to hand over Margaret, but, alas, probably not helpful to Lucas.