The Engineering Library is turning our attention to Judy Blume for our Reading Revelry picks for the month of July.
Since her first published work in 1969, Judy Blume gained renown as a prolific author to have published works for child, young adult, and adult audiences. However, she is also considered a trailblazer of child and young adult literature[1]. Blume wrote books that discussed topics of bullying, love, sex, and body image during a time where these things were rarely ever discussed in spaces children and teens had access to. While she was met with opposition, many of her readers still hold true that her books were spaces for them to finally get answers about themselves and the world around them that they couldn’t have asked anywhere else[1].
We hope you will enjoy reading (or re-reading) the selections we’ve picked for this month. Happy Reading!
Blubber by Judy Blume
ISBN: 9781481414401
Publication Date: 1974/2014
Jill and the rest of her fifth-grade class follow Wendy and Caroline’s example after they begin bullying a classmate for her appearance. However, it doesn’t take long for Jill and her best friend Tracy to realize that they are not exempt from becoming bullied themselves. The girls soon find themselves being tormented in a similar fashion by Wendy, Caroline, and the classmate they chose to bully simply because it was what everyone else was doing.
Here’s to you, Rachel Robinson by Judy Blume
ISBN: 9780440409465
Publication Date: 1994
Rachel Robinson is thirteen years old, and she is the youngest of three siblings. While she is proud of her academic accomplishments, Rachel feels like her insecurities and perceived insignificance may get the better of her. Throughout the novel, she feels like she fades into the background of her family’s hectic life, that her best friends, Alison and Stephanie, secretly dislike her, that she might not be able to handle the pressure of joining high-achieving school societies, and worried over her crush on her brother’s older tutor, Paul Medeiros. In this novel, Blume captures the worries and insecurities that follow children into young adulthood[2].
Wifey by Judy Blume
ISBN: 9780425206546
Publication Date: 1978/2005
Wifey follows the life of Sandy Pressman, a New Jersey housewife in the 1970s. Bored with her life and marriage, Sandy decides to have an extramarital affair with an old boyfriend. However, her world seems to shift suddenly when she discovers evidence that her husband might also be having an affair. This novel expands on many questions surrounding the pressures of what building a “perfect” life looks like for women. While the book was written in the 70s, the discussions within the novel can still apply to today’s ideas of gender roles, heteronormative lifestyles, and the parts of a marriage no one else sees[2].
Sources
- Phillis, Leah (2018). Judy Blume (2938-) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327423779_Judy_Blume_1938-
- The New York Times. (n.d.). The New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/maynard-blume.html