Cabot commends the Blume characters because they “simply go on living. I felt like Margaret got her period, turned in her letter and bam, the book was over. Blume’s books _are_ largely issue driven, though she does a good job of making the book and characters about more than the issue–Are You There, God? is about girl puberty and religion Then Again is about boy puberty and social class Deenie is about scoliosis and parental pressure Blubber is about bullying.Īlso, the ending of Margaret didn’t leave me satisfied. Judy Blume’s books aren’t “issue” driven, never offering readers a “message” or “lesson” and they don’t have pat, sugarcoated Hollywood endings to leave readers feeling satisfied. Meg Cabot (author of The Princess Diaries, and guest writer on this book in Chapter 2) likes how it ends: I think it’s interesting that Margaret is most remembered for the period and bust stuff, but not for the religion, which is about half the book.

I re-read Are You There, God? (entry here) and read Beverly Cleary’s Sister of the Bride for the first time (entry to come later this week). (Or is this just me? Are other books from above more widely known, except maybe for the other Blume books, Blubber and Tiger Eyes?) This is probably why they remain some of the most banned and most widely read books from this chapter. Of all the above books, these are the two that seem the most concerned with the actual nuts and bolts (so to speak, sorry, hard–oh, rats–difficult to avoid puns in this chapter, no?) of puberty. Hers was about periods and breasts, his about erections and wet dreams. I always thought of Then Again Maybe I Won’t as the boy version of Margaret. To Take a Dare by Paul Zindel and Crescent DragonwagonĪre You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is the most famous of this bunch. The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger,Ī Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L’Engle,Īnd You Give Me a Pain, Elaine by Stella Pevsner, This week we’re talking about Chapter 2 ,”She’s at That Age: Girls on the Verge,” about the whiplash of puberty.Īre You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, (or a book that fits the theme from that time period, from this time period, from a genre, whatever.)

Welcome to week 2 of my summer reading project, the Summer of Shelf Discovery–reading a chapter of Lizzie Skurnick’s reading memoir a week, along with a book she writes about in that chapter.

Shelf Discovery by Lizzie Skurnick