Read Your Way Through Judy Blume

Is any book more quintessentially Blume than Margaret? I don’t think so. Taking on topics like puberty and menstruation from 11-year-old Margaret’s point of view, Blume established herself with this 1970 novel as a trustworthy voice for young readers. This was also my gateway to Blume; I read a family friend’s hand-me-down copy as a kid and I was hooked!

I’ve read this one a few times and I always find it impossible not to fall in love with Deenie, the plucky title character of Blume’s 1973 novel about a young aspiring model who gets diagnosed with scoliosis. Deenie’s journey towards self-acceptance — and away from her controlling mother — is actually quite nuanced, but this book is probably best known for its frank discussion of masturbation.

Blume’s first novel for adults, published in 1978, is fire, as the kids say. I read it for the first time a few years ago and couldn’t believe the way the book just consistently goes there. Sandy Pressman wakes up one morning and realizes her suburban life with a boring husband and small-minded country club friends isn’t working for her. Her subsequent sexual escapades are shocking, funny and oh-so-1970’s.

One of Blume’s less discussed YA books, Tiger Eyes is nonetheless not to be missed. It’s a gorgeous coming-of-age story of a teenager grieving her father’s murder. Set in New Mexico, it’s also one of Blume’s few books for children that leave behind the East Coast suburban milieu. When I was researching my book, Tiger Eyes gave me the chance to hunt down a controversial passage that had been cut by Blume’s longtime editor. Reader: I found it!

Baddass Blume published this novel for adults in 2015, when she was well into her seventies. I really admire her for taking on a project of this heft at such a late stage in her career. It’s character-driven historical fiction set in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and tells the little-known story of three real-life plane crashes that happened in that town, all of which Blume experienced as a child growing up there in the 1950’s.