We’re quite excited about this — it was just yesterday that we reminisced about our childhood, and Judy Blume certainly played a big part in molding the person we became. Hmmm. We suspect she would immmediately disassociate herself from anything having to do with affecting the person we became. Nonetheless, she played a part. It may not be a point of pride for her, but we would like to note that we do not possess a criminal record and we pay our taxes. We also stop for pink lights.
Gettin’ All Worked Up
September 15th, 2004 · 3 Comments
by Booksquare
File Under: Square Pegs
3 responses so far ↓
Susan Gable // Sep 16, 2004 at 7:50 am
Oh, YEAAAYYYY for Judy Blume! Yes, I’ve always loved her stuff as well. The first book I read aloud to my second-graders each year was “Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing.” Want to talk about getting kids hooked on books? After that, they all would get their own copies of the other “Fudge” books.
Also, back when I was a kid (seems like a long time ago!) I read Are You There, God, It’s Me, Margaret. What young girl can’t relate to her?
Then I got a little older and read Forever. Judy Blume has excellent stuff that spans a large reading audience. (One near heart-attack occured for me when one of my second-grade girls, after listening to Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, came into school with Forever. ACCCK! I promptly took the book from her, and wrote a note to her mom that she might want to prescreen this book and decide if she thought her second-grade daughter was ready for that particular Blume book. Fortunately the mom didn’t think I was being a busy-body and appreciated my warning that she might want her daughter to wait a few years for that one.)
But I’m really happy that they’re honoring Judy Blume. Her books were definately a part of my growing up. And she made many other kids fall in love with books – what’s not honorable about that?
booksquare // Sep 18, 2004 at 10:44 am
This has been a week for thinking about the books of my youth — your post made me laugh because my poor librarian mother still has no clue how many age-inappropriate books I snuck off her personal shelves. Some kids try cigarettes — I tried Naked Came the Stranger. In my defense, I couldn’t begin to understand 90% of what I read. This was probably a good thing.
I think when an author has the impact of Judy Blume, she should be honored far and wide. I think she was the first author, outside of SE Hinton, I read who wrote about a world that somewhat mirrored mine. Hmm, I guess I should say that Hinton didin’t really mirror my world as much as show me another real world. I’d always suspected most fictional worlds didn’t really mirror reality.
If that makes sense. And if it doesn’t, give it a few hours!
Susan Gable // Sep 20, 2004 at 9:26 am
I never had to sneak books. In 7th grade I was reading my parents’ cast-off as soon as they were done – and caused quite a uproar among my classmates with John Jake’s The Bastard. What a title! And oh…there was s*e*x in it! Good grief!
But what an excellent series of books those were. I learned such an appreciation for history from the historical novels my parents loved to read.
S.E. Hinton – yep, read those books, too. And very much enjoyed them. I often think that “young adult” writers don’t get the respect they deserve – they tackle a lot of issues. Some stuff labeled Young Adult really needs to be read by adults – Lois Lowry’s The Giver, for example.
I guess, when it comes down to it, I just love a good book. Period. I don’t care what genre or age group it’s “supposed” to be for, I just love a good story.