“What books should I get for Aoife? – she loves reading”, my cousin asked me about her 12 year old daughter
“Judy Blume” I said immediately.
I had forgotten about Judy until this afternoon surrounded by Aoife and her adolescent sister in their skinny jeans and braces, long hair and shy, averted glances.
Judy Blume invented the ‘Young Adult’ category. Until she started writing for teen age girls in the 1970’s there were only two categories, ‘children’ or ‘adults’. When I was growing up in the 1980’s, bookshops in Ireland were unsure where to categorize Judy Blume’s books. My favourite haunt, Alan Hanna’s Bookshop in Rathmines, stocked them down the back of their store, rather furtively, like they were dirty books.
But at eleven she was the only writer I was interested in. ‘Nancy Drew’ was an old-fashioned goodie and didn’t seem real. Even I could tell the formulaic ‘Sweet Valley Twins’ were ghost written by English Lit students in a rush to pay their bills.
Judy Blume grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey in the late 1940’s, early 50’s. She married for the first time in 1959 and was a housewife with two young children when she started writing. Although she was published before 1970, her book ‘Are you there God, it’s me, Margaret’ which appeared that year, is widely considered her debut. It’s the novel that Judy credits with finding ‘her voice’. In this book, Margaret, who Judy admits was based on her, is a shy and thin teen girl who longs to develop physically and has a comforting relationship with God.
‘Blubber’ which was published in 1974 tackles bullying in a very real way. Judy understands the cruelty of children and the language they use towards each other. This book was written in frustration when her daughter, then in 5th class, told her about an incident in her classroom which never would have happened had the teacher been more attuned to the dynamics between the kids. This makes ‘Blubber’ a terrific read for primary school teachers as well as children. This publication was the first, but not the last time, Judy courted controversy. Parents were disturbed by the language used by the characters, but kids weren’t. Letters were pouring into Judy from children who had bullied or been bullied to confirm that the protagonist being cruelly referred to as a ‘smelly whale’ because of her obesity was a realistic portrayal. Judy used these letters and more to create a collective called ‘Letters to Judy: What your kids wish they could tell you’. My mum had a copy and I used to sneak a look at the different letters. A letter which read ‘Dear Judy, I read your books because I don’t know who I am or where I belong in the world, From Katie, age 13’ was pencilled with an ‘NB’ by mum for reasons I couldn’t fathom at the time.
Judy Blume went though a divorce in 1976 stating that it was ‘a very painful time, but not the end of anyone’s world’. She wrote about this experience through the eyes of a 12 year old girl called Stephanie Hirsch in the book ‘It’s not the end of the world’. Stephanie is in denial the whole way through the book about her parents’ separation and is absorbed in the business of best friends. Her close friendship with Rachel Robinson is rocked by the arrival and friendship of a new girl called Alison Monceau. This is the book I most personally identified with as a young girl. While my parents weren’t separating, I was in denial, like Stephanie about my mother’s terminal illness. I re-read this book a few times in 1990, through the terrifying return of her cancer. While all the kids in my neighbourhood were excited about Italia ’90, I had my head stuck in this book, paralysed with fear.
After her death in 1990, I reached for ‘Tiger Eyes’, Judy’s story of 15 year old Davey Wexler who is dealing with her father’s tragic death. I never made it through ‘Tiger Eyes’ as it was too raw and upsetting for me at the time, but I’m going to pick it up again now, 22 years later. It’s been made into a film by Judy’s son, Lawrence Blume. It premiered at the Sonoma International Film Festival in April 2012. At the Palm Beach International Film Festival, Tiger Eyes picked up the Jury Award for Best Feature. The film stars a gorgeous up and coming actress named Willa Holland, so the general release in June is sure to collect a new generation of fans. It could see a return to gritty fiction from the fantasy genre which has dominated the ‘Young Adult’ category for the last few years with Stephanie Myers’ ‘Twilight’ series.
Judy Blume came under fire in the 1980’s for her book ‘Forever’ about teenagers who are in love and choose to have sex. ‘Forever’ and other books by Judy were removed from libraries and book stores through a nationwide book-banning campaign in the US. Judy has been an advocate of intellectual freedom since then. ‘I believe that censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need to feel in control of their children’s lives. This fear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to believe that if their children don’t read about it, their children won’t know about it. And if they don’t know about it, it won’t happen.’ she said in her book on the subject, ‘Censorship: A Personal View’
Chelsea Clinton recently interviewed Judy Blume in her home in Key West, Florida for NBC. Judy described her 75 year old self to Clinton, as ‘A 12 year old trapped in a grown-up body’. Clinton expressed delight when she discovered that kids today are still reading Judy Blume. It may be on a kindle and not shiftily down the back of Alan Hanna’s bookshop in Rathmines, but it’s a terrific testament to her writing that it can cross four decades. When my daughter is old enough I’ll be filling up her kindle (or whatever we will be reading from in 2023) with Judy Blume books.