A good friend reminded me of Judy Blume’s birthday. Since Judy Blume is still around and it’s not polite to tell a woman’s age, let’s just say she is a lot younger than Charles Dickens and older than Freddy, the fourth grader in her first book – The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo, published when she was 31.
Many stories followed – all with that Blume trademark of humor and honesty, and often specializing in pre-adolescent angst. As many have been banned as have been loved.
What is Blume doing today? If you remember – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret – you will understand Blume’s Twitter tag – “Are you there, Twitter? It’s me, Judy.” Blume is a prolific tweeter, and has almost 50,000 followers. And, to keep her classic stories relevant, Blume updates new editions of her old favorites; she changed the electronics in the Fudge books – from mimeograph machines to computers, and the belts and pins in Are You There, God? It’s Me Margaret to modern adhesive. Movie adaptations of her books are also being planned, and more writing.
I’ve laughed through Blume’s Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and cried through Summer Sisters, but one Blume line that I’ll never forget is Margaret’s determined mantra…
“We must, we must, we must increase our bust.”
Have you read any Judy Blume books?
The No Charge Book Bunch 
Judy Blume has a place of honour in our family’s book lore. I read more of them, as so many of them are girl-focused, but my son loved the Pain and the Great One books, and especially loved the Fudge books. They were read and re-read and downloaded as audiobooks. Her books are still relevant and resonating – she understands the mind of a kid!
…and the mind of the kid within us.