A Letter to Judy Blume, Via a Doll in Her Likeness
Dear Judy Blume,
Do you remember your book Wifey? I mean, of course you remember it, you wrote it! But I wanted to ask you about one part in Wifey that really stuck with me, and I was hoping you could explain. Do you remember how you had the woman use a tampon even though it wasn't her lady time, but because she wanted to not wear underwear, because she didn't want to, I don't know, go all Old Faithful on the other party guests? I assume you remember that part because you wrote it. Well, I don't get it. I didn't get it then, but I figured it was because Wifey was an "adult novel" and I wasn't meant to understand it. But now I am an adult and I still don't really get it. What does it mean? Why didn't she just go commando? Am I doing this lady thing wrong?
Sincerely,
Confused in Cincinnati
What's your questions for this Judy Blume doll?
You can follow Melissa Locker @WoolyKnickers.
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Judy Blume deserves a doll. She single-handedly prepared me for men-stroo-ation.
Dear Judy Blume Doll,
Why your eyes so crazy?
love,h.
@heyad
Dear Judy Blume Doll,
I thought you were a Susan Boyle Doll at first.
Dear Judy Blume,
Here is what I would probably say if I ever met you in person:
I -um-(sniffle). Oh god, I'm sorry. I don't mean to cry, but, just, I mean…FUDGE! (gulp, sniffle). And Blubber? (sob). And then, Margaret? And it just…your books, I mean, (sob, sniffle). And Forever? It's just…I mean, thank you because without….(sob, sob sob). Can I hug you, 'cause… (sob, sniffle, sob)
I LOVE YOU JUDY BLUME! (uncontrollable weeping)
Love, Bebe
PS: TIGER EYES!! (weep, weep, weep)
@Bebe Yes, I think meeting Judy Blume would feel uncomfortably like meeting a psychic who has channeled all of your most mortifying thoughts.
@Bebe Have you read Summer Sisters yet? /gaahhhhh //starts looking for her copy just so she can reread it.
@Bebe I am totally meeting Judy Blume in April, and I anticipate this being my exact reaction. Screw professionalism!
@Bebe I would probably do that thing where you tell the person who they are. "You're Judy Blume. You're Judy Blume. You're Judy Blume.."
@Valley Girl I think I read every single one of her YA novels, but I haven't read her adult novels because I'm afraid I'll be disappointed in my idol. If I read them, will I cry?
@LaFabuliste OMG tell her that I love her, and thank you, and I love her, and her books helped me get through the worst parts of growing up, and also that I love her.
@Kate Baum@facebook I have read and re-read Summer Sisters about, oh, I don't know, 18 times or so. As a teenager, I really thought it was preparing me for adult relationships? And now as an adult, I just enjoy the drama? I don't know.
@emilylouise Haha, oh Summer Sisters! I did, in fact, meet The Blume when I was 14. She told me not to read that book for another few years. I went home and opened it immediately. LORD.
@BoozinSusan I tried and tried to read Summer Sisters because JUDY BLUME but couldn't get through and felt terrible about it for a really long time and now I do again
This was like last year and I'm 33. What it wrong with me???
Maybe she was really turned on and didn't want to be all drippy with ladyjuice all over the place? Maybe she spots when she ovulates and didn't want to bleed on a chair?
Maybe toxic shock would be a good reason to leave the party if it was boring?
@S. Elizabeth It is so clearly the last one!
@S. Elizabeth I assumed it was the former, but then I remembered that arousal ladyjuice comes from the outside (which would make a tampon useless for those purposes?)
Sometimes I get vagina crud on my underwear. My mom says it's normal. Maybe she's trying to stop her v-crud from getting on her pants, 'cause she doesn't wash her pants very often…….
BRAINSTORMING.
@heyad Yeah. I've had lady friends also complain that they experience more voluminous/thinner consistency discharge (normal vaginal mucous! not a sign of disease!) during certain phases of their cycle, and that it can make going commando a little uncomfortable in a didn't-use-enough-anti-perspirant-and-am-now-going-clubbing way. I'm guessing it's a thing that varies wildly from woman to woman, if only due to individual tolerances and squeamishness.
@heyad I can't wrap my head around this one….are you saying that you talk to your friends about their vaginal discharge and your friends wear antiperspirant (directly….?) on their ladybits?
@AmyB It's more like they will complain because they went commando because they needed to do laundry or something and then wound up feeling kind of sticky and damp and sort of gross around the groin for half the day because oh yeah, that's a bad idea for them to try the first week after their period, but mostly UGH they really should have just sucked it up and turned a cleanish pair of underwear inside out and worn that to church instead of trying to go without.
And while they do make antiperspirant for your ladybits, it is generally regarded as a trap that no one should ever fall for because dear lord, really? On your bits?
So basically, the train has left Overshare Junction. Next stop, TMIsville.
You didn't get that? I do that. That's a thing.
@junkle Really do you do that? Can you explain?! When should I be 'ponning besides Period Time?
@wee_ramekin Well, I'd certainly be the last to say you should be doing anything.
But me, there are days in my cycle when I am noticeably juicier. And if I'm wearing no knickers, or something like a spanx, or panty hose (do kids today still wear panty hose?) where one of those itty bitty pads get all rucked up and like as not winds up stuck to me where it's going to pull out pubes, I'll slam a tam, yeah. I don't like a damp crotch.
@junkle Slam a tam? I am saying that every time now, thank you.
@once more with feelings Yes yes YES! 'Slam a tam' is my new favorite saying!
@junkle This totally happens to me too – the juiciness. That's why I never go commando. And why my panties always wear out in the crotch, I think. (Not like my mom's assumed – because I was masturbating too much!) It never occurred to me to slam a tam though … hm.
@junkle That juiciness is fertile mucus, y'all. Typically occurring somewhere in the middle of your cycle, it's the special raw egg-whitey stuff that assists sperm in making it to the egg. I imagine going commando would make releasing such mucus less than pleasant. But, wouldn't slamming a tam be upping the chances for toxic shock? Or do they just have to put that in the box because 1 person got it 1 time by wearing a tampon that was too absorbent for the flow?
Basically I'm saying two things here: one, gooey mucus is a healthy part of being a lady, and two, is toxic shock syndrome just a part of ladylore, or are there people out there (maybe 'Pinners?) who have really had it and can warn people against donning a 'pon when Aunt Flo is on vacation?
@cocokins Yes of course it is. And my understanding is that toxic shock ( which is basically staph infection) happens when you leave a tampon in for disgustingly crazy lengths of time. When Rely tampons came out, early 80s, and there was a rash of toxic shock from them so they were discontinued, it was because they worked so fucking well (seriously, they were like OB Ultra X10, they were GREAT) that people left them in for days. Which can give you toxic shock. I have never heard of anyone getting toxic shock from using a tampon in a not-disgusting way, period or not. In fact, I haven't heard of anyone getting toxic shock in years.
@once more with feelings Go to boarding school and you will learn many, many expressions for bodily functions and services. Another favorite: "Got to go torpedo."
@cocokins If you want, here are some stories of people's TSS. The original piece plus the comments.
http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-me/it-happened-me-i-got-toxic-shock-syndrome
Not all of these stories involved "gross" behavior, either. The girl in the original piece just slept with her tampon in.
@junkle @Really Nice@twitter Okay, this is good information. My whole high school and college life, I never wore tampons out of fear of TSS (those little leaflets in the tampon box truly scared me). The first time I started wearing them, I only wore them for like 3 hours at a time, again, out of fear of TSS. Then, I got older, and grew a little more "devil-may-care," to the point where I have indeed worn 'pons to bed (but only if I'm going to be sleeping for less than 8 hours!). But now I won't. ever. again.
@cocokins I had a friend who had toxic shock! She used her tampons normally, but got the short end of the lady stick, I guess. Her doctor told her to stick to pads in future because clearly she was cursed.
@Quin I'm not really concerned about toxic shock. To me it seems about as imminently dangerous as cholera or polio. However! a doctor recently told me that leaving tampons in too long or using too much tampon for your flow level (like at the end of your cycle when there's just a bit of spotting) can irritate your urethra and lead to UTIs. I don't really understand the mechanics of this since vagina =/= pee hole, but you had better believe that it scared me straight. I hate peeing fire.
@cocokins A friend of mine recently had TSS, and she's a proper grown up 40 year old lady. She basically 'lost' a tampon and it ended up staying in way too long. I'm not sure of the mechanics, but it was scary. I remember being mildly surprised that it was an actual real thing that happened to people, rather than something they just scared you with in 'the talk' at high school. It's confirmed my deep seated mistrust of tampons – I use them sometimes if it's more practical to do so, but I'm never entirely comfortable with it and, since my friend's experience, live in constant fear that I've forgotten to take it out. Because I'm not at all dramatic and totally rational about these things, obvs.
Dear Judy Blume doll,
Please call to Judy's mind her book, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. (I think that was the one.) Sally or one of her friends maybe, had ambitions to someday grow enough cleavage to bury a locket in. I never forgot that line, and now that my cleavage is indeed worthy of this feat, I'm wondering…wait, no. No, sorry. I didn't have a question. I just wanted to brag. I'm all grownsed up, Judy Blume, and my cleavage can bury a whole locket!
@melmuu: That's the one with the Hitler look alike or whatever, right? I remember being really frightened by that whole thing because what if Hitler WAS that guy?
Also, congrats on that cleavage! I think.
@melmuu This reminds me of the part in Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging where the girls put pencils under their boobs to see if the pencil would stay after they let go. My pencil still doesn't stay unless I hunch forward.
Signed, a member of the IBTC
@melmuu Sigh. I will never get there, (not without the pushiest of push-up bras anyway) and somewhere pre-teen me is disappointed.
@pterodactgirl I could hold a pencil case, and while I guess I am fine with that, my lingerie bill is not.
Greener grass and all that.
@figwiggin I pass the pencil test, but only because I nursed for a year.
damn you, gravity!
@figwiggin Doesn't Georgia eventually stick it on with toothpaste? Yeah I would still have to do that. IBTC for life.
@melmuu My favorite of hers! I still have visions of the green and black bathroom…like a bordello.
@mouthalmighty You mean…MR. ZAVODSKY?? I know!
@mouthalmighty Yeah what was that all about? Didn't she write him letters to the effect of "I know who you really are"? Also, wasn't there a Steven King novel with pretty much the same thing going on (but probably slightly creepier)?
@Blousey Brown I'm freakin because I remember it being a lavender and black bathroom…like a bordello.
@Liina Wasn't the rec room tile green and black? And someone else's rec room (or could it have been a rumpus room?) was red and black?
@junkle Drawing a blank. I seem to remember the apartment in Florida better…and I never understood why it could be dangerous to your feet to walk on a rented carpet!? I guess they didn't have quality carpet cleaners in the Post War Era? Wasn't the housecleaner's name Precious Redwine!? Or was that my husband's elementary school teacher hahaha.
@melmuu Purple, it was purple. And I had to look up what bordello meant when I was 12 and I was absolutely SHOCKED.
@Liina You are totally right! My memory blew it!
@junkle Totally was. You can search "Starring Sally J. Freedman" and "green and black" (or whatever) and find the book in Google Reader on that page. Precious Redwine! I haven't thought of that in so long. I also have glorious flashbacks to thick yellow carpet with a red rose in the middle…which I think is from Otherwise Known As Sheila The Great, maybe? Love those Judy Blume interiors.
@melmuu I also remember when Sally was listening in on everyone's phone calls? Someone was marrying a "goy" and it seemed so scandalous…and remember when she got stung by the jellyfish…and when she threw her socks in the garbage…ahhhnhh so many things from that book. Good times ladies!
@figwiggin About to turn 30, A cup tits still upstanding. I will never pass the pencil test unless I get to have some kids and somehow my tits grow. In the meantime I console myself with this compliment I have had in the past: 'you have perfect breasts.'
@sevanetta I envy your a's. I was a c in 5th grade and a d by my twenties. Grass is always greener…
@melmuu I thought the pencil test was all about the pencil NOT sticking under your breast, because they are supposed to be perky and stuff. My pencil would always stick and I used to count that as further proof of my hopeless hotness deficiency.
@melmuu The yellow carpet with the rose in the middle was Sheila's fantasy vacation bedroom, but the room she ended up staying in was full of model airplanes! BUMMER!
@AnthroK8 I can hold a pencil case too. I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this; on the one hand, my breasts can be quite inconvenient; on the other, it's a way of holding things when both hands are full!
@melmuu – Ah! The Stephen King novella is called "Apt Pupil" and it's way, way creepy (a kid correctly identifies a war criminal and blackmails him into a relationship).
@CrescentMelissa I asked my mother what it meant! She didn't tell me and discouraged further reading of Judy, which of course made me OBSESSED with her
I'm 90% sure that Judy Blume will see this post, because she clearly has a name search on Twitter that she uses all the time and responds to people (which is awesome). Judy Blume, please chime in, and also we all love you!
@thebestjasmine can we make her a better wall paper? unless she likes it, of course. But we could make a good pattern out of period pad belts and other ephemera.
Dear Judy Bloom Doll,
Where is Fudge now? Is he okay? Is he still super?
Thanks,
Slutface
p.s. Is Fudge single?
Dear Judy Blume,
Why do all of your characters answer questions with 'Yes' instead of 'Yeah'? NONE OF THEM EVER SAID YEAH. It's the ONE THING I always noticed.
Big fan, btw.
- Andrea
Dear Judy Blume:
I haven't got so much a question as an anecdote. In my middle school, you had to have a special note from your parents to check out Forever from the library. Someone's parents complained about this book. When my mom gave me a note to check it out, the librarian told me that "oops… it's been stolen." Which my mother said meant "oops we are pretending it's stolen to avoid controversy."
So the next time we were at the airbase library, my mom let me check it out there instead. Which circumvented the stupid school rule completely.
Anyway, Forever taught me three things:
1) Censorship is stupid.
2) Sex doesn't really seem like it's that big of a big scary deal and people have sex and break up and it is fine.
3) My parents are, and always will be, super-duper awesome when it comes to stuff like letting you read books when you are ready for them, and telling you about how stupid censorship is. (Also, I think my mom thought Forever was pretty good.)
So, thanks for all of that!
Love,
Kate
@AnthroK8 I actually credit Forever with teaching me NOT to just go out and have sex because some high school guy wanted to, but to wait until I really felt safe and respected by a boyfriend. If these people who get all up in arms about that book would read it and understand the underlying message, maybe they'd see it was a good thing.
Also, my parents let me read whatever I wanted to read, too, which led to some interesting discussions. Especially the first time I read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret when I was 8.
@Bebe Yes yes yes this this this! Forever was the only sexy thing I read as a teenager that acknowledged both desire AND responsibility to yourself and your own feelings.
@Bebe I read Catcher in the Rye when I was 8 and come to think of it I also maybe saw Barbarella for the first time that year.
THAT DID THINGSSSSS TO ME.
but yeah. awesome parents are so awesome.
and also: fuck censorship forever.
@Bebe Well, yeah. I mean, she had to think through all these things. And then it was okay. She learned, you know? But it wasn't THE END OF THE WORLD whatever she did. It was growing up.
Parents who let you read whatever is right for you to read… are awesome.
@AnthroK8 yeaaahhhh but Forever also made it sounds like your first time will be super enjoyable and by the second time you'll just be orgasming all over the damn place. MISLEADING, JUDY BLUME (but I love you nonetheless).
@AnthroK8 Yeah, my mom let me read Summer Sisters when I was 14 or so, and asked me afterward if there had been any sex in it (we were Catholics, after all). I said oh, no, nothing much. Then she read it next. Then I blushed for the next two weeks, knowing I'd been discovered.
@BoozinSusan
My mom read Summer Sisters BEFORE she gave it to me to read.
I felt….. weird about that.
@JoanTition Haha, "Here, dear. Let me know when you get to the Horny on the Highway scene, I love that one."
@JoanTition My mother had no problem with me reading Catcher at 11 or 12, but disapproved of Judy. I think the logic was that sexual content in Catcher was ok cos it was 'literature', but Judy was 'trashy'. I don't make that distinction about anything now. A good read is a good read.
Dear Judy Blume,
Thanks for helping me show my English language students that reading in a second language can be cool. I'm even not upset about the reissue of Fudge et al updated to be more ~modern~ because all your books are so relate-able that both my 12 year old student (who is just "inventing" sarcasm) and my 30 year old self crack up every single lesson reading.
Also, I loved Sheila. She was so full of faults and still the hero of her own book.
Love always,
yaaronet.
P.S. Still dunno WTF belts had to do with pads. Made me scared shitless of getting my period and also spent many years surreptitiously checking to see if Older Girls had some weird PERIOD BELT showing through their pants. That's ok, though. Still love you!
@yaaronet
Yes! I was really freaked out by her description of the belting of the pad. I couldn't shake the association with "chastity belt".
@Mary McKenna@facebook
SO WEIRD.
@yaaronet Fudge was updated!? WEIRD!! What kinds of things modernize it!? The internet!?
@Liina – the only stuff I noticed was Peter (Pee-tah) asking for CDs instead of records; stuff like that. Nothing too changey. I might have missed a few changes though.
Dear Judy Blume,
Do you regret writing this part of Summer Sisters?
"…his Package throbbed and sputtered while Van Halen played on the tape deck."
It was hard for me to understand why you would do such a thing.
Love,
Vanillawaif
Dear Judy Blume,
My mother really hated you. When people would ask me who my favorite writer was, I would say you, and she would tell them no, that really I loved Madeleine L'Engle and not you. And I did love her. Did you two ever have coffee? And after my friend's father found the copy of Forever I loaned her, and made my parents sit and listen while he read to them about Ralph, hoo boy, then she really hated you. But I always thought my mother owed you a lot, because you taught me about menstruation, masturbation and sex. And she never even mentioned any of those things to me. Not once.
Also, in Then Again, Maybe I Won't, I found it very confusing that you referred to dirty books as "paperbacks." Was that like the sanitary belt in Margaret, just a reference from before my time? And, he really should not have peeped on the neighbor girl with the binoculars. That weirded me out.
Dear Judes,
When Stephanie talked about Jeremy Dragon's "chartreuse" leather jacket (Just as Long as We're Together), saying it was a colour she learned about from her crayon box, is there any chance that it was a misnomer? I mean, is chartreuse leather even possible? And how did you even get the idea that he would wear such a thing? Was he a flamer?
your fan,
Mary
@Mary McKenna@facebook
Dear Judy,
Why did you focus so much on 7th grade boys penises in Just As Long As We're Together? I can tell you I wasn't so interested then. Also, should I read this book again? It's been a good decade.
PS. Are you going to update the passages on Dear God… about needing a pad belt? Tampons sans belt technology has been going on for awhile now.
@Mary McKenna@facebook The internet is showing me a chartreuse leather jacket as I type this. It is glorious, after a fashion.
@beanie
Ha, I don't remember the penis focus. I DO remember the fascination with boys' hairy legs.
@wharrgarbl
once again the internet has put to bed one of life's great mysteries
@beanie
If you read it again I will read it again and we can talk about it. Or just squeal and talk about 7th grade. JUDY BLUME BOOK CLUB.
MAKE IT HAPPEN.
@Mary McKenna@facebook Jeremy Dragon was so hot, but I believe his jacket was chartreuse satin, not leather. And it had a dragon embroidered on the back!
http://www.kaskus.us/showthread.php?t=7786888 like so only sexy
@Mary McKenna@facebook I think someone points out that Jeremy Dragon has hairy legs and that means he is mature and then if he is mature then something about penis! That's the conversation.
I'm still waiting for Alison's book.
@beanie Margaret has been updated! I bought it for my niece, and re-read it before giving it to her, just to see. Had to prepare my sister for that discussion.
@JoanTition I'm in! I've been reading the little blurbs about all her books via her website now and I don't really remember what happens in any of them? Does something awful happen in Blubber and I've blocked it out??
@JoanTition But how awful did the sweatshirt dress sound, the one at the end that Stephanie wore to the dance?
@Mary McKenna@facebook I was scrolling down this page, skimming, and saw "Jeremy Dragon's 'chartreuse' leather jacket" and was 11 years old again. Merci.
@vanillawaif EVERYTHING Stephanie wore sounded awful.
@psychedelicate
What now? Satin? That's crazy talk.
Though it does explain the embroidery…
@ginalouise
I love that you wrote "then something about penis!"
@Umlauts
Remember the outfit she chose for the dance? It was made out of "sweatshirt material" and "had little animals dancing up and down the sleeves"
:/
@vanillawaif
whoops, i just noticed my comment is redundant!
@Midie I remember Alison's first-day-of-school outfit involving a giant t-shirt and a crooked middle part. Not quite Claudia Kishi material, but it still takes me back!
@vanillawaif @midie
I mean not like this but also totally like this.
Oh Stephanie.
@Umlauts Yes, but she always managed to look so comely anyway!
@Midie Great minds hate sweatshirt-material dresses with animals on the sleeves.
@JoanTition UGH!
@insouciantlover Rachel says comely! No one says that. And now when I think of the word comely I just think of orgasms. As in, "He is comely, as in he is able to make women have orgasms."
@vanillawaif
The worst part was that it was like you were THERE with her when she was shopping for it, and she passed up that "gauzy" thing that sounded ok, and you feel like you know someone…and then, sweatshirt dress.
also: Rachel's "lampshade" shirt??
@JoanTition
That is actually much better than I had imagined.
@Midie Oh my sweet lord, I forgot about the lampshade shirt.
Also, this entire thread is making me wish my Hairpin username was Sadie Wishnik.
Dear Judy Blume,
When I started "dating" the boy I would eventually lose my virginity to I made him read Forever for reasons I can not for life of me remember. That was SO weird of me! Why did I do that?
xo,
Joan
@JoanTition Did he really read it?
I liked Judy's books before I was 12 but hated her after that. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. I still hate her post 12 books. Her post 12 books represented the dearth of reading materials for post 12 year olds circa 1980. Thank God for Agatha Christie.
I wrote Judy Blume a quick email a couple of years ago through her website, thanking her for Forever among others, and she wrote me a great reply. Imagine seeing Judy Blume in your inbox! Her books helped me so much when I was young, and I'm forever grateful.
I wrote Judy Blume a quick email a couple of years ago through her website, thanking her for Forever among others, and she wrote me a great reply. Imagine seeing Judy Blume in your inbox! Her books helped me so much when I was young, and I'm forever grateful.
The night some girlfriends and I were trying to figure out *exactly* what a blow job was and how you would… do that, one of the girls (from The Cooler High School) said that you should ALWAYS wear a tampon if you are planning on doing ANYTHING with a boy so that your underwear would always be Perfectly Clean.
I read an interview where she said she wrote Forever because her daughter had pointed out that if teenagers in books have sex, then something awful always happens to them. Which was really true, either directly, like she gets pregnant (remember a book called something like Mr. and Mrs. Bojo Jones, where the teenagers had to get married and his mother puts twin beds in their new apartment?) or indirectly, like, then she gets raped, or then her horse kills itself trying to run away. What was that book? She had her own horse but it died while she was in the unwed mothers home instead of home taking care of it. It was like homosexuality in movies, you could only depict it if the character got punished.
So Judy wrote Forever, where they were in love, and had sex with birth control, and broke up, but it wasn't totally regrettable. And dedicated it to her daughter, which must have been a mixed blessing, because if my mother had written Forever I'd have been really fucking embarrassed, before I got proud.
And, and, she could have spent a little more time on the female orgasm. If she'd taught him how to get her off as plainly as he taught her to give him a hand job, that, uh, would have been great.
DEENIE! I was so scared I was going to get scoliosis! Aaaack!
omg jeremy dragon
OMG! So many questions about Wifey! Where do I start?
Let me start with the insane kissing that is burned into my brain since I read it in 1985 or whatever (I think it was in Wifey because that's the one where she has an affair with her high school boyfriend). ANYWAY, what is up with the kissing!? In the book (so my memory of 30 years ago tells me) her ex-boyfriend kisses her and runs his tongue ALL ALONG HER TEETH.
This terrified me as a young unkissed gal. Well into my early 20s I lived in fear of a guy basically giving me a dental exam with his tongue! WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?
@Rebecca K.@twitter ZOMG, I found it:
"He licked the corners of her lips (!) then pushed his tongue into her mouth, running it over her teeth, then above them (HER GUMS, ARE YOU SERIOUS, JUDY BLUME!?).
@Rebecca K.@twitter Could it have been the back of her teeth? Still weird, but not quite as weird? Next time I kiss a guy, I'm gonna see if I can run my tongue over the back of his teeth. Well. Next time I kiss a boy I never want to kiss again, plus he'll likely be a man because I am 31, so that would be appropriate.
I just reread Just As Long As We're Together for a project for my Adolescence class. I was simultaneously taking a Divorce class. Let me tell you something. I always loved that book. But after taking both those classes I was able to pick up on so many fantastic things that she had woven into the story. It was so real! Really really real! She was so spot on about adolescents and children experiencing divorce-like situations that I was just flooded with total admiration. Judy Blume is amazing.
OHHHHH summer sisters, i love so many of your books but seriously, i have read summer sisters every year since i was 14 and it's still my favorite. so many questions! what is the b school? (spoiler alert) did you always know nathan would die or did it break your heart to do that?
i can make it mostly through the book without tears now, until sharkey and lamb are crying and hugging. grown dudes crying and embracing… that always got to me. also, von always seemed totally skeevy.
ah, I was never allowed to read Judy's books (my Mama even outlawed NBC after "sexy" was said on the Torkelsons) ah, so bummed to see what I missed!
OK, now I have to go and trawl Amazon for all the Judy Blume books I no longer have. Thanks, you guys.
I'm late but I love this thread as much as I love Jeremy Dragon!
Dear Judy Blume doll, I worked with a guy named Ralph for 2 years, and he did kind of look a bit like a penis, and it made me snigger and I'm not proud of that. Also at my all girls grammar school we had a lady from the local library come in and talk to us about how reading is great and we should all go to the library, but mostly she just spent 20 minutes telling us that we had to stop going in and trying to check out Forever because it was only suitable for older girls and we wouldn't be allowed to check it out without a note. My mum bought it for me though because she's awesome.