Biblioracle: Judy Blume is having a moment, and so are those of us who were raised on her books
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
With the release of the film adaptation of her classic novel, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and a career-covering documentary, “Judy Blume Forever,” Judy Blume is having something of a moment.
Perhaps those of us of a certain age raised on Judy Blume’s books are having a moment as well.
At least, I feel that way, having found myself emotionally overwhelmed by the first 10 minutes of “Judy Blume Forever” to the point that I had to hit pause in order to collect myself.
It’s not as if the beginning of the film is designed to engender this kind of response. It opens with a short reading from Blume, followed by shots of folks inquiring if and when she is going to be at her Key West, Florida, bookstore because they presumably want to meet her. The next series of shots includes a smiling, 85-year-old Blume riding her bike (presumably to the store) and encountering people who recognize her and tell her how much her books have meant to them.
I suppose this is what got to me because I know how much her books meant to me, how much books, in general, have meant to me, and to see these opening scenes of what is to become a celebration of this idea got me right in my feels.
I read books for all kinds of reasons when I was a kid — to be entertained, to learn new things, to live vicariously through the lives of others — but Judy Blume’s books were almost unique in their ability to make me feel like she understood what it meant to be young in the world.
I’m obviously not alone in this feeling as Blume’s books have reportedly sold more than 80 million copies over the course of her career. The famous folks in the documentary called upon to testify to Blume’s impact include celebrities like Molly Ringwald, Lena Dunham and Samantha Bee, along with authors like Tayari Jones, Jacqueline Woodson and Jason Reynolds.
Blume’s books for young people grasp that while childhood is in theory a time of innocence, it is also a time of great unknowing and confusion as the complexities and cruelties of the world reveal themselves. Her books are unflinching in treating issues like death, sex and desire seriously, but also with great humor and grace toward her characters.
Above all, Blume’s books tell us that being human is not a sin and is nothing to be ashamed of.
It is not coincidental that this attitude put Blume and her work in the crosshairs of censors, but the failure of these forces to suppress Blume’s work over her many decades as an author is proof of its potency. When something is true, it becomes impossible to deny.
In all honesty, it’s been many years since I read a Judy Blume book, so I think to some degree, my psyche is treating Blume as a stand-in for my relationship with books and reading in general. It makes me think of my mom, who cofounded the Book Bin in Northbrook when I was a year old because she and her partners thought it was important for the town in which she was raising her children to have a bookstore.
It was. It is.
Judy Blume gets this, as she founded that Key West bookstore with her husband in 2018, wanting a place for readers in her community to gather.
The movie’s title, “Judy Blume Forever,” is both a statement of her long presence in readers’ lives and a rallying cry for those of us who get emotional about books in general.
Judy Blume forever, indeed.
John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “I Have Some Questions For You” by Rebecca Makkai
2. “All That is Mine I Carry With Me” by William Landay
3. “Hello Beautiful” by Ann Napolitano
4. “Reef Road” by Deborah Goodrich Royce
5. “Romantic Comedy” by Curtis Sittenfeld
— Diane J., Park Forest
For Diane, I’m recommending a novel that’s primarily about the years of marriage after the romance ends, the moving and deeply human “Morningside Heights” by Joshua Henkin.
1. “The Night Ship” by Jess Kidd
2. “Pym” by Mat Johnson
3. “The Plotters” by Un-Su Kim
4. “Standard Deviation” by Katherine Heiny
5. “Angelmaker” by Nick Harkaway
— Christine C., Skokie
To me, Christine looks like a good candidate for Percival Everett’s “The Trees,” which is a book I’ll be recommending until the end of my days.
1. “The Second-Worst Restaurant in France” by Alexander McCall Smith
2. “The Beauty in Breaking” by Michele Harper
3. “What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance and Hope in an American City” by Mona Hanna-Attisha
4. “Sooley” by John Grisham
5. “The Cruelest Month” by Louise Penny
— Mary Beth N., Chicago
It’s strange to describe a book about murder as good fun, but Jincy Willett pulls it off in her novel, “The Writing Class,” in which a writing workshop leader has to ferret out the killer among her students.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com
