Reading: Judy Blume | American author
After graduating from high school with high honours, she attended New York University and received a bachelor ’ s degree in education in 1960. In 1959 she married John Blume, with whom she had two children. The couple divorced in the 1970s. While enrolled in a continuing education course on writing for children and teenagers, Blume produced a conscription of what became her beginning published book, The One in the Middle Is the green Kangaroo ( 1969 ). At about the same time, she published a version of Iggie ’ sulfur House in Trailblazer magazine ; she rewrote it for publication in book form in 1970 .
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In 1970 Blume made a huge sprinkle in the world of young adult literature with the publication of Are You There God ? It ’ mho Me, Margaret, a preteen novel told from the perspective of Margaret Simon, an 11-year-old daughter whose family has moved to a new town. Margaret, who has a christian mother and a jewish beget, struggles to understand her developing consistency and her relationship with religion, speaking immediately to God about the uncertainties that come with adolescence —her foremost period, brassiere size, boys, and understanding of where she fits in among her new classmates, in her syndicate ’ randomness religious communities, and with God. many critics praised Blume ’ s willingness to tackle puberty and early sensitive capable matter in an honest and apprehensible way. many young readers wrote letters to tell Blume that they identified with Margaret and her dilemma. Some adults, however, deemed the book inappropriate and wanted it removed from library shelves, citing its blunt treatment of menstruation and physical development and claim that it denigrated religion.
Blume solidified her standing as a leading author of books for young adults with novels such as then Again, possibly I Won ’ t ( 1971 ), It ’ s not the end of the World ( 1972 ), Deenie ( 1973 ), Tiger Eyes ( 1981, film 2012 ), merely arsenic long as We ’ re Together ( 1987 ), and here ’ south to You, Rachel Robinson ( 1993 ). In Forever ( 1975 ), a history about unmarried teenagers Katherine and Michael experiencing love and arouse for the first meter, Blume addressed the topic of sex in a manner that spoke to readers of the importance of responsibility—Katherine visits a clinic and is given a prescription for parturition see pills —while remaining honest, relatable, and nonjudgmental. The book ’ mho treatment of adolescent sexual activity, give birth control, and disobedience to parents made it a prime aim of book-banning campaigns. Blume wrote numerous books for middle-school readers, including Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing ( 1972 ), otherwise Known as Sheila the Great ( 1972 ), Blubber ( 1974 ), Superfudge ( 1980 ), Fudge-a-Mania ( 1990 ), and Double Fudge ( 2002 ). between 2007 and 2009 she continued the narrative of The Pain and the Great One ( 1984 ) with a series of four chapter books. Like Blume ’ s books for older audiences, her books for younger readers contained speech, situations, and concerns that rang true to the historic period group, ranging from sibling competition to bullying. Blume ’ randomness use of a first-person narrative allowed her to speak to readers in the relatable spokesperson of her youthful characters. Though her books much dealt with difficult topics such as divorce, puberty, and sex, those topics were never treated with a judgmental tone. Blume besides penned four novels for adults : Wifey ( 1978 ), Smart Women ( 1983 ), Summer Sisters ( 1998 ), and In the improbable Event ( 2015 ). She collected letters from young readers for the book Letters to Judy : What Your Kids Wish They Could Tell You ( 1986 ). Proceeds from that book and choice others went to the Kids Fund, which she established in 1981 to offer accompaniment to nonprofit organizations that encouraged communication between parents and children. Finding her works the stress of book-banning campaigns in the 1980s, Blume became a unhesitating preach for cerebral freedom and a board member with the National Coalition Against Censorship ( NCAC ). For Places I never Meant to Be ( 2001 ), Blume invited other young adult writers whose work had been censored or challenged to contribute original stories to benefit the NCAC.
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