Judy Blume Knows All Your Secrets

Judy Blume was "after my time". My nephew's wife told me about reading her. "My" Judy Blume was L.M. Montgomery. I read ANNE OF GREEN GABLES over and over and over. What a different world.

When I read "Are You There God?" at age 11 in 1977, I didn't know what a period was. I asked my older brother, who said very quickly, "Go ask Mom." "Just tell me," I whined. But he was firm. I asked my mom, who told me what it all was, but I had to initiate the conversation. I gave my daughter "Are You There, God?" a couple of years ago when she was 10, after I told her what a period was. She read the book in one evening and said to me, "Why do these girls care about their period so much?" I told her I didn't know, that I had always found the whole set up of menstruation to be completely weird. Last night, my daughter told me she had been feeling cramps. Did that mean she was going to get it? I told her, not necessarily. To me, that is Judy Blume's legacy. I felt perfectly comfortable telling my daughter about getting her period and had the right language for it for her age. Because I was upfront and honest, my daughter feels comfortable in asking me about it. Millions of parents in the US now raise their children to feel much more comfortable about and open (to themselves) to their sexuality because of Blume's books. It's a priceless gift.

I think the worst book I ever read was Judy Blume's book about several cliche women living in Boulder. It was a drive by where she spent a day or two here, learned a few cliches about the area and regurgitated them on paper. She has all the depth of a piece of paper. Ditto for her characters. No brains, no thoughts. It was utterly empty. Her son may have a true understanding of her. As for being a storyteller, there was no story. Maybe her books for kids are better, although my own children never took to them. Why this piece of fluff?

I first read "Freckle Juice" as a very young girl, and so began my love affair with the books of Judy Bloom. She tackled subjects I wanted to know more about, like racism (Iggy's House), bullying (Blubber), and Nazism (Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself)...the latter making such an impact on me that I wore my hair like Sally's for my 6th grade school photo.

When I needed to laugh, Judy gave me Peter and Fudge Hatcher and their crazy neighbor, Sheila. When I hit puberty, she was there with "Are you there God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Then Again, Maybe I Won't." She guided me into nascent sexuality with "Forever" and helped me to understand what might be eating at unsatisfied suburban moms, perhaps even my own, in "Wifey."

To say Judy Blume shaped my character is an profound understatement; I am a professional children's librarian today because she ignited in me a passion for children's literature that meets kids where they are, honestly and without blinking, letting them discover for themselves the kind of people they want to become.

Thank you, Judy. ♥

In the 1970's, just a few years out of college, I worked for one of JB's publishers often in the capacity of YA book exhibitor at various conferences. There were "educators" who charged at me with pitchforks. I think some of those folks (now rather old and still not over it) have commented here this week.

One of my greatest thrills of being a mom to an 8 year old daughter is having her find my cache of Judy Blume books and asking to read them. I started her with Blubber and it got her talking about bullying at school and some of the girls in her class. She had read the Fudge books in 1st grade and when she realised they were the same author, her joy was beautiful to behold.
Thank you Ms. Blume for a lifetime of memories for me and now for my daughter.

Judy was a huge influence on me and my peers, growing up in the 80s in a small community where sex ed mostly consisted of "don't do it." Both "Are You There, God" and "Forever..." helped me understand and get through a lot of what happened to me as a teenager. She was the calm, understanding guide through early womanhood my mother was not capable of being. Her influence on women my age and having healthy attitudes towards sexuality, and our bodies, can't be overestimated. Thank you, Judy, for everything.

Sometimes I say to myself that Judy Blume saved my life. That's overly dramatic, but it could be true that she saved my mental health. I was an awkward, unhappy, some would say depressed, child in the 1980s. I did feel that Judy Blume could see my soul, read my mind, understand my feelings, worries, emotions. Her characters were nearly my only friends. I read, re-read, and re-re-read all her books, especially Deenie and Starring Sally J., until they fell apart. One day when I was a graduate student at the CUNY Graduate Center, she came and gave a talk. I learned about it on the day of the event - I almost missed it! - but I was there. I agonized over which book I should choose for her to sign after the talk. I finally chose Deenie over Sally J., stood in a long line; finally, it was my turn. I looked at her and, like was described in this article, I was suddenly was overwhelmed with almost uncontrollable tears. I mouthed 'thank you', burned that moment of connection into my memory, and quickly walked away. I will always treasure the moment I met Judy Blume. Judy Blume saved my childhood sanity, and I love her.

I didn't have a bad childhood but I was an artistic, sensitive and shy child being raised by parents who needed marriage counseling long before they finally got it. My dad drank too much (but probably no more than a lot men of his generation) and my mom was resentful of never fulfilling her own quietly held dreams (not unlike the other moms I suspect). I had lots of questions about love, sex, my changing body, and how to fit in, and nobody to really give me useful feedback that didn't leave me feeling guilty, ashamed and even more isolated. Judy Blooms books provided me with the open, accepting mother I craved, and the knowledge that the shame-based messages about sex and sexuality weren't quite right. My parents loved me but weren't prepared to respond to my insecurities and worries; they were too much products of the repressed times they grew up in. I think my mother partly knew that. She read Are You There God, shortly after I finished reading it, and I recall that it made her laugh all the way through. I have a feeling my mom was glad that Judy Bloom could have the conversations with me that she never felt comfortable having herself.

Judy Blume was the commencement speaker at my graduation from Mount Holyoke College, in 2003, and I will always have fond memories of her at our campus. She was funny and warm, forthcoming about herself, and sensitive to all our emotions and anxieties, excitement and trepidation as we contemplated life beyond college. I loved Judy Blume's books growing up and always will. There are some authors who open your mind by presenting fantastic new worlds or characters that seem strange and different, and then there are authors that seem to speak to you directly, who seem to know you better than anyone else. Judy is one of the latter types, and that's why I love her work so much.

In college, we were assigned a paper about the author who was most influential in our lives. I wrote about Judy Blume-and still stand by that choice! I learned so much from her. Growing up in a sheltered home, Judy taught me about menstruation, masturbation-even Santa! More importantly, I learned that the questions, fears and insecurities I had were not unique.

I just noticed that "Summer Sisters" is nearly 20 years old. How can that be?! (And how can Judy Blume have been nearly my mom's age when she wrote it?!) I still re-read it every summer and it feels as fresh now as it did when it first came out...

I accidentally read Forever in middle school. I found it in our school library, and I trusted Judy Blume based on my experiences with Fourth Grade Nothing. But the 12-year-old me--shy, still playing with dolls, living in the Bible Belt--was not ready for Forever.

Judy Blume was and still is my hero. I sought refuge in her books as a lonely fat girl growing up a poor girl in a rich girl's town. In eighth grade, I even wrote a research paper on her in English class. I am an English teacher today, and I am surprised that so many of my students don't know her.I think I need to buy some to add to classroom library.

I have read all of Judy Blume's book and rank "Wifey" as one of my all-time favorite books. Not for the sexual titillation, mind you - but rather for the brilliant way she captured a time and a place, and the richness of its cast of characters (not unlike Mad Men!). I find the book fascinating as a sociological study. And to think how young Blume was when she wrote it!
I will be seeing Blume in the flesh at the 92nd Street Y next month and cannot wait.

Count me in as another Judy Blume fan whose adolescence was surely shaped by her intelligent and honest story-telling.

To this day I like to use her "love and other indoor sports" sign off (from "Sally J. Friedman") when sending letters and emails.

Thank you for this article, NYTimes, and for all your wonderful stories Ms. Blume!

When I was eight years old, my fourth grade teacher took me and my sister to see Blume give a talk. That was 40 years ago. Next month I will see Blume read in Berkeley. And believe me: I will cry. Her books were a bright spot in tough childhood, and one reason I became a writer.

Blume's books also had an impact on this boy. In the seventies, between the ages of 10-12, I read everything I could find by her. She helped me understand and navigate life. Her writing was the start of my understanding of the universality of great fiction.

I had read the summary of Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, and knew the librarian at my school wasn't loaning it out to the boys. But my fifth grade teacher had a copy on her desk and she let me read it when I asked. Memory is pliable, but I'm pretty sure my emotions ran from immature (bust, heh, heh) to mature (periods are serious stuff). I just think her writing made me more empathetic.

An older cousin had left the book for us (the book went to another cousin of mine, then my older sister, and then me). I attribute the vastly different experiences my mom and I had when we got our first periods to "Are you there God? It's me Margaret." While my mother thought there was something seriously wrong with her and cried the whole way home from school, I just thought, "I got my period" and knew right away what I should do (except they had dispensed with the belts by the time I was old enough).

I could have used Judy Blume books while growing up - I was about 10 years too old. I went from The Happy Hollisters, etc. to adult novels. Young Adult novels really fill a space for young teenagers. I remember one I found that meant so much to me, called The Unwanted. I don't recall the author, but I remember devouring that book.

"The problem with this sort of writing is that it takes in only half of the human experience. Blume can never describe how it feels to have the body and the mentality of a boy, or a young man. . . . You see this in adult fiction as well. In 'To The Lighthouse', for example, Virginia Woolf gives a fabulous rendition of the interior life of a upper-class woman [but not of Mr. Ramsay ]."

So? In the "Time Passes" segment of the the book, Woolf "gives a fabulous rendition," if that's the phrase you want to use, of life itself, genderless.

I'm one of those adults who cried when they met her. I wouldn't have been able to articulate what she meant to me. All I know is that I loved Katherine, Deenie, Tony, Peter, Fudge, Tootsie, Karen, and Sally. Even Sheila, who always seemed a bit dramatic (not unlike someone who cries when meeting a writer). Thank you, Judy Blume!

I read some of Blume's books, but I didn't knell over them as so many others have. Something about her approach didn't sit well with me.

I felt then (and still feel) that Louise Fitzhugh's book THE LONG SECRET (the sequel to the better-known HARRIET THE SPY) did a much better job at introducing girls to menstruation than Blume's book. But it's much harder to find in libraries nowadays since it deals with religion as well. For that matter, it did a better job with religion than Blume, too, in my opinion.

As a rather hideous, nerdy, pimply small creature, I learned a lot about girls from Judy Blume... She humanized them, revealed their insecurities, their doubts.

To me, at the time, girls were unattainable, perfect, with Teflon exteriors, and crystalline, confident, sharp edged personalities that could cut like a knife. By revealing their imperfections, she made me feel better about myself, my imperfections.

That was no small thing to a lonely little boy. Thanks.

In one place you say she spends much of the year in Key West. In another you say she and her husband spend several months each year in New York. How can one person do both?

Can the kisses experienced in the "safety" of Shelley Ave. be universal enough to be real ? Would they be better expressed had they been gleaned from a car in Warinanco Park? Battin, Goerkes, Leavy Brothers, Goodmans and the Snowflake are all gone. So too may be the answers as to why the plane crashes do not resonate in your memory. A young girl from Marshall St. or Fulton St. who experienced the planes coming in low all their lives may have those threads of memory still present. Elmora provided a veil through which it was impossible to develop the necessary empathy to "know" the greater human experience.

Judy Blume is right, she was my childhood. She was a constant and much beloved companion as I grew up. Thank you, Judy.

In Alexandria, VA in the mid 70's, Forever was removed from the libraries in school after a hue and cry.
I bought a copy and just left it on the coffee table for my two preteen daughters to pick up if they wanted to. I read it, too, and thought it was wonderful. Still do. Would do it again for my grandaughters.

I will never be able to express how much Judy Blume's meant to me growing up. I felt like she was one of the few (perhaps) only adults who was honest and did not talk down to me. I forever grateful to her for giving me comfort and understanding during an otherwise lonely and confusing time.

She definately knows our secrets, and she's fabulous. She changed my life. All girls in their tweens should read Are you there god....

Her books helped get me through puberty and high school. I'm looking forward to the new one. Thank you, Judy Blume!

I am not the first nor will I be the last to say this, but Judy Blume holds such a special place in my heart. I began reading Blume's novels when I was perhaps eight years old - "Blubber" was the first - and have re-read at least one Judy Blume book every year for the 25 years since. I loved (and still love) the books for adolescents; "Forever" and "Tiger Eyes" still read so well from an adult perspective. I fell in love with "Summer Sisters" as a seventeen year old which, if you've read it, you would understand as an impressionable age at which to discover the book. I tracked down "Smart Women" and "Wifey" in the late 90s, just so I could read EVERYTHING. I can't help but feel like "In the Unlikely Event" will be - especially if Judy Blume's last book - the addition to my Blume bookshelf purchased when I finally, potentially, could be considered an adult at 33. Judy, you have had a profound impact on those of us you reached in our youth, and we are absolutely thrilled to have at least one more book to eagerly anticipate and devour!

Her work against censorship has set an example for all her young readers to cherish and learn.

She is a singular force in fighting for the freedom of the written word.

She will never be forgotten.

Judy Blume was one of the pioneering women that are part of the juggernaut that is destroying the innocence of children.

Read some of her books yourself.

Start them young and they will join you when they are older.

For those whose argument is "if you don't like it don't let them read it:"

Go to a library and discover what kind of books are laid on the reading tables and the almost pornographic covers exposed to young children—forget about the contents.

Take a look at the live seminars and lectures by sex preaching radicals and you will be shocked by the clandestine infiltration of sexual ideas and practices into a once sacred sanctuary called the library.

And reading the sex-laden books by Judy Blume, Lauren Myracle and their ilk are read by children of all ages—bad enough teenagers.

Myracle’s books cover erections, teenagers dancing topless, hot-tub encounter with a teacher. Her latest book was about an teenager losing her virginity.

Her book topped the list of banned books nationwide in 2012. Angela Maycock, assistant director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom said of her books; “This is trash.”

The fall of world empires began with the fall of morality and the family.

It begins with educating children in immorality.

I grew up reading her books. Loved all of them.

I see the name "Judy Blume" and race toward the article like a moth to a flame. (The only other author who has the same effect on me is Anne Tyler).

Bottom line: I've loved the woman for years. She tells a good story, and that's all I need.

Hey, Times Mag,

What's up with the book covers? Like, should we maybe order some books?
Maybe even pre-order the new book?

But, this couldn't possibly be a plug, because there's all kinds of new information here. Who knew that Judy Blume wrote about sexuality for tween and teen girls?

I read many of Mrs. Blume's adolescent-themed books as a child, too - it wasn't a girls-only club. How else could I find out the differences between boys and girls? Certainly not from my parents!!!

Thank you, Ms. Blume, for getting me through adolescence. Your books gave me knowledge and understanding that I could not get from my parents. T

There was a scene in "Then Again, Maybe I Won't" where a group of spoiled rich kids leave a struggling waitress's tip in the bottom of a glass of milk. The kids' condescension and cruelty made a huge impression on me, a child of affluent parents myself. I think it may well have been the first lesson I had in recognizing everyone's humanity regardless of social "status". Thank you, Ms. Blume.

Do young adult authors today write like Judy Blume did, about real teen issues in a frank and non-condescending way? I'm honestly asking. I usually feel like kids today are so infantilized and micro-managed that their parents' couldn't possibly allow them to read anything that isn't sanitized to within an inch of our slick, consumerist lives, but then I wonder if I'm just old and don't get out much.

Anyway, thanks Ms. Blume for your books and your presence in my life. You did a really good thing.

Beautiful woman inside and out. Maybe I'll check out "Wifey" before I read "Unlikely Event."

I was a freshman in high school when my best friend and I snealed a peak at the opening chapter of “Wifey” which was lying on his mother’s bedside table. Before that experience I had thought she wrote books only for young girls. Wow! Talk about girl power. Blume can write adult fiction for me anytime.

The problem with this sort of writing is that it takes in only half of the human experience. Blume can never describe how it feels to have the body and the mentality of a boy, or a young man. All the male characters will necessarily be described by their external behavior rather than their inner life.

You see this in adult fiction as well. In 'To The Lighthouse', for example, Virginia Woolf gives a fabulous rendition of the interior life of a upper-class woman. However, if Mr Ramsey described his own life and emotions, he would present a very different perspective.

I dearly loved reading book after book.