1 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:06,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom Never told you from how stup 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline. And today on the show, we 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: are talking about Judy Bloom. That's right, I mean, I 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: can hear the screaming. I know. I feel like we 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: should just pause for listeners to jump up and down, 7 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:35,519 Speaker 1: crazy applause, clap their hands, dance maybe, yeah, maybe dance, 8 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: perhaps a little dance, grab their copy of Forever and 9 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:43,520 Speaker 1: and just start rereading it and forget that. Yeah, forget 10 00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: there listening to a podcast. Um. So, when we announced 11 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,600 Speaker 1: on Facebook that we were going to talk about Judy 12 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: Bloom and we're asking for listeners favorite Judy Bloom titles, 13 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:58,639 Speaker 1: people erupted in the comments in the best possible kind 14 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: of way. Yeah. I mean, I don't know, We've only 15 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:03,440 Speaker 1: I feel like we've only received feedback like that on 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: a couple of very specific topics. Judy Bloom is obviously 17 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: obviously very close to people's hearts, and and for good reason. 18 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: This is a woman who has written or or did 19 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:17,959 Speaker 1: right in the seventies and still now is writing about 20 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,199 Speaker 1: things that other people just don't. She's she's being so 21 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: honest with her readers about a lot of stuff that 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,000 Speaker 1: maybe sometimes your parents didn't even talk to you about. 23 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: Maybe it is stuff that your mom never even told you. 24 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:35,520 Speaker 1: We just brought a full circle, Caroline, we get in 25 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: the podcast That's fine stuff Mob never told you, the 26 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom of podcasts. Right new tagline, Judy Blooms lawyers 27 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: might come after us um. I loved this quote though, 28 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:51,880 Speaker 1: from Ellen Barry at The Boston Phoenix, who called Judy 29 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: Bloom the woman who invented American adolescents. And this would 30 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: also be a good time to note that she just 31 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: came out with a new book. Yeah, and everybody's writing 32 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: about it by calling it an adult book. Not that 33 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: it's not, not that it's not for grown ups. But 34 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,959 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom herself has talked a lot about how you 35 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,960 Speaker 1: shouldn't limit yourself, that her books that people call young 36 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: adult books can be for anyone, and and same with this, 37 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: because all of her themes are universal and I think 38 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: hit home for a lot of people. Yeah, I mean, 39 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 1: and she doesn't even like being called a young adult author. 40 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: She was like, I wasn't writing for young adults. I 41 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: was just writing Yeah, exactly, why do we need these boxes. 42 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom doesn't care for boxes, but she does care 43 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: for leather and denim jackets. Yes. I love this conversation 44 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: that Judy Bloom had with Chloe seventy. They were talking 45 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: about Judy's books and her character's fashion, which I think 46 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,320 Speaker 1: is a really fascinating conversation and so adorable and informative 47 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 1: because you know, in Judy Bloom's books she always seems 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: to mention sweaters, all so many sweaters, many sweaters. But 49 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: but Bloom ends up talking about how one of her 50 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: favorite periods in fashion was very specific. It was Santa 51 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: Fe fashion in the seventies because she got to wear 52 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: a lot of leather jackets and kind of prairie skirts 53 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: over boots. And I just imagine how fabulous that would be. 54 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: I mean, I love it. What's not to love about 55 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: all that? And of course Kloy seventy would ask about 56 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: about passion right um. And she also mentioned side note 57 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: listeners that she especially identified with Deanie because she also 58 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: had scoliosis. It's like, here's someone going through what I'm 59 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: going through, which really encompasses why Judy Bloom is so beloved, 60 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: And we can even quantify just how beloved of an author. 61 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: She is because Caroline Judy Bloom has sold eighty two 62 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: million books. That'll buy you a lot of leather jackets. 63 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: Many lovers maleather jackets. But what comes along with her 64 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 1: readers identifying with her honest writing so much is the 65 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 1: flip side of that, which is the fact that five 66 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: of her books are on the American Library Association's one 67 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 1: hundred Most Frequently Challenged Books from the period between nineteen 68 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: and nine and still even today in she is super Challenge. 69 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: That doesn't mean the books have been banned yet. Challenge 70 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: just means that people have brought a challenge saying that 71 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: the book is inappropriate for certain readers. But they have 72 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:37,919 Speaker 1: been actually banned not only in school libraries but also 73 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,680 Speaker 1: in at home libraries like my home library growing up, 74 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: which we'll talk about later. Um. But before she got 75 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,679 Speaker 1: to where she is now with a two million books sold, 76 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine, she published her first book, The 77 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo when the 78 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: title is fantastic. She written thirty two books, and she 79 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: swears up and down that her most recent novel, in 80 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: the Unlikely Event, will be her last. Yeah, and it's 81 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,119 Speaker 1: it's kind of great to read interviews where she's talking 82 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: about it because she's not at all She's not at 83 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: all sad. She's very much optimistic about Hey, you know what, 84 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: like that's kind of behind me, that whole stressful working 85 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: a million hours a day every single day for months. 86 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 1: I just kind of want to put that to the 87 00:05:25,040 --> 00:05:28,159 Speaker 1: side and enjoy life with my husband George, who again 88 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: she talks about him in such an amazing way too. 89 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: I'm just sort of I'm sort of fan growing out 90 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 1: over Judy Bloom's whole life, really, the jackets, the romantic 91 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: relationship with her husband, the fact that she's like, I'm 92 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: just gonna go on trips and enjoy life. But the 93 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: thing is, though, Caroline, it hasn't always been so sunny 94 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: for Judy Blown. She went here some tough times even 95 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:53,400 Speaker 1: while she was at her most prolific in the seventies. 96 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: So for for a brief Judy Bloom bio. She was 97 00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: born in in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where her most recent 98 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 1: book is set, which she's talked a lot about how 99 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: she finally, after so many books, is coming back home 100 00:06:10,560 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: for it. And she got married the first time at 101 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:18,839 Speaker 1: twenty one to John m. Bloom. He of her last 102 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: name Bloom, of course. Yeah. And so by the time 103 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 1: she was twenty five, she already had two kids, and 104 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: she talks a lot about She's very open with the 105 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: fact that, yes, she is friends now with her first husband, 106 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,359 Speaker 1: but back then it was really difficult because she she 107 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,559 Speaker 1: talks about, how, you know, that's such a young age 108 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: to get married. You barely even know yourself at twenty one, 109 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: as grown up as you might feel, and as common 110 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: as it was at the time for people to be married. 111 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: By twenty one, my mom was married. Yeah, and but 112 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: she she talks about how, uh, you know, she was 113 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,720 Speaker 1: missing that creative energy and creative outlets that she had 114 00:06:56,760 --> 00:07:00,479 Speaker 1: as a child. And she's so clearly and in such 115 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,560 Speaker 1: a crystallized fashion, remembers what it was like to be 116 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: a kid and to run around and be creative and 117 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: not be basically tied down by life. And so um 118 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: she around this time starts writing and talks about how 119 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: that saved her life. Yeah. I mean, and we should 120 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: know that she had gone to college, she got her 121 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: degree in education, but then realized that writing was the 122 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,640 Speaker 1: thing that was really in her blood, and she started 123 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: by just making up rhyming stories while doing the dishes 124 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: at night, and and she would add little illustrations to them, 125 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: package them up and send them off to publishers. And 126 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: as her interest grew, she started to think, you know, 127 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: I think I want to tackle novels. So she takes 128 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: a writing course at n y U. And honestly, even still, 129 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: I mean, I know that it was not simple at 130 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: this time for her to be a mother of two 131 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: and you know, like writing these stories in her spare time, 132 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: but she still makes it sound so easy. I took 133 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: a writing course and then the rest is history, right, Well, 134 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: not yet. There was actually a lot of rejection in 135 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: the beginning. Yeah, according to her biography. Ever, at the 136 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:15,440 Speaker 1: Jewish Women's Archive, Judy Bloom received I keep calling her 137 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom because I want to call her Judy, and 138 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: then I worry that that's disrespectful. But I feel like 139 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: we would call each other by our first names if 140 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: we hung out, Yeah, Or would you try to go 141 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: for a nickname like j B. J Blue? J Blue 142 00:08:29,680 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: whoa well so old? J Blue received about six or 143 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:36,640 Speaker 1: even more rejection slips every week for two and a 144 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:40,160 Speaker 1: half years before the book. The One in the Middle 145 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: of The Green Kangaroo was finally accepted, so keep that 146 00:08:44,360 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: in mind aspiring creatives, that rejection is part of the process. Um. 147 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: And after that publication of The One in the Middle 148 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: is the Green Kangaroo, her first novel, Iggy's House, was published, 149 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: and The Guardian describes Iggy's House as the story of Winnie, 150 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,920 Speaker 1: a girl who's quintessentially white suburban American street gets its 151 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:11,599 Speaker 1: first black family and who was confronted with and confronts racism. 152 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:17,160 Speaker 1: So right out of the gate, Judy Bloom is tackling issues. Yeah, 153 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: and and during this period from nineteen seventy and ninety seven, 154 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:25,120 Speaker 1: she hits this creative burst. So she finally gets her 155 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:29,199 Speaker 1: books accepted and they're published. And those were the famous 156 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: years when her books Blubber Tales of a fourth Grade Nothing, 157 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: Sally J. Friedman and are you there, God, It's Me 158 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,720 Speaker 1: Margaret came out, which I'm a thirty one year old 159 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: woman and I just read are you there, God, It's 160 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,079 Speaker 1: Me Margaret for the first time last week. And we're 161 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: going to talk all about that the podcast, because I 162 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,079 Speaker 1: wanted to hear all your thoughts. Caroline and I haven't 163 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:53,560 Speaker 1: really discussed our feelings about are You There, God, It's 164 00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: Me Margaret, which I recently read for the first time 165 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:01,120 Speaker 1: as well, So I'm very excited to get that point um. 166 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: And speaking though of are You There, God, It's Me Margaret, 167 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: which came out in nineteen seventy, I believe, she says, 168 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 1: that's a real turning point for her to start developing 169 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: this honest style that is really what so many adolescents 170 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: and kids and even teens or even thirty year old 171 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:25,880 Speaker 1: women have gravitated to over the years. But in the background, 172 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: as she is really getting her first taste of literary success, 173 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: it's it's not all roses on the home front. In 174 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:40,199 Speaker 1: nineteen she divorces John M. Bloom and for a snapshot 175 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 1: of what life was like when you got divorced in 176 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, Judy Bloom told makers that the first 177 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: thing her mother said was, well, how could you possibly 178 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 1: leave such a beautiful house? Yeah? Uh, I don't know. 179 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: I feel like that's something my mother would say. But 180 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 1: there were so few choices. Yeah, exactly, you know, but 181 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,439 Speaker 1: women's women's liberation was in full swing and Judy Bloom J. 182 00:11:08,640 --> 00:11:11,840 Speaker 1: Bloom was on board for it well. In nineteen seventy six. 183 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: She was also on board for marrying Thomas A. Kitchens 184 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: and moving to New Mexico. And that's when she gets 185 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:19,840 Speaker 1: into all the leather jackets and she talks about how 186 00:11:20,080 --> 00:11:22,559 Speaker 1: to Chloe seventy In that same interview, which I'm obviously 187 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:24,559 Speaker 1: obsessed with. I just didn't realize that until right now, 188 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: talks about how her children went to school with Tom Ford. 189 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: I know, and yeah, don't you wish I could have 190 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: been like a three way conference call. We could have 191 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: just we could have just hopped on with both of them. Yeah. 192 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:38,440 Speaker 1: I wouldn't even have to have asked any questions or 193 00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: talked on sidle like those calls in middle school, like 194 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: when you do the three way call to figure out 195 00:11:42,400 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: if a boy liked your friend or whatever. Maybe like um, 196 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: Judy asked Chloe if she likes us, and they'd be like, 197 00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,959 Speaker 1: who is this? How did you hack this line? Judy 198 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: gets Margaret that I don't want to freak Judy out though, 199 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:02,439 Speaker 1: UM J Blue J Blue, Yeah, r J bloom J Blue. Well. 200 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,360 Speaker 1: Three years later, she and Thomas divorced and she moved 201 00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:10,400 Speaker 1: to New York and in nineteen eighties seven she meet Well, 202 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,440 Speaker 1: I don't know when she met him, but she marries 203 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: her beloved George Cooper again. I love hearing her talk 204 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: about George. Oh. She she's just over the moon about George. 205 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: Still is. And there's this fantastic quote from Harper's Bazaar 206 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 1: that makes me really look forward to my forties, although 207 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: it won't be taking place in the nineteen seventies. She 208 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: said quote, I was at my best in the seventies. 209 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: I turned forty, and that's when I met George, So 210 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,400 Speaker 1: it seems like a romantic, sexy time to me. He 211 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:41,880 Speaker 1: remembers the night of our first date. It was winter 212 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:43,679 Speaker 1: and I took off my boots and I didn't have 213 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: any socks on, and he thought that was the most 214 00:12:45,840 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 1: amazing thing he'd ever seen. Girl takes off boots, no socks. Wow, 215 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:55,080 Speaker 1: that was something. Yeah, I love it. I love picturing 216 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: like there by a roaring fire in my mind. I 217 00:12:58,120 --> 00:12:59,880 Speaker 1: feel like if that had been me, though, and I 218 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 1: taken off my boots and no socks, yes, gentlemen would 219 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: have said, wow, please put your boots back on. Yeah, Wow, 220 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:11,440 Speaker 1: you're just gonna do that hump that's just happening. Wow, 221 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: that is a stinge. Yeah, I feel like romance cannot 222 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:21,680 Speaker 1: overcome foot smell well, I mean, yeah, really in love, 223 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: maybe true love. It's a test perhaps, but not early romance. 224 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,520 Speaker 1: I mean, that's proof that it was love at first 225 00:13:28,559 --> 00:13:32,120 Speaker 1: boot love it first foot, learn of it first foot 226 00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: vergfort Um. And another refreshing thing about Jitti Bloom, which 227 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: is also not surprising honestly, is that she does not 228 00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: hesitate to call herself a feminist and answer in the 229 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,199 Speaker 1: affirmative when asked whether she is one, and yeah, she 230 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,079 Speaker 1: was telling makers quote, I don't understand why some young 231 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: people think feminism is a bad word. Maybe they just 232 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:55,720 Speaker 1: don't know what it was like to worry all the 233 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: time about getting pregnant and to be terrified even within 234 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: our mayor ridges. And she goes on to say that 235 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: the women's movement gave her courage, And like you said, 236 00:14:06,000 --> 00:14:10,400 Speaker 1: it's not surprising that she identifies as a feminist because 237 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,119 Speaker 1: she was a twice divorced working mom in the seventies 238 00:14:14,280 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: writing about girls having sex and not being punished for it. Yeah. Yeah. 239 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: She talks about her book Forever, which is a huge 240 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: book for so many people, in which I still have 241 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: to read. Um. But her daughter Randy actually requested the book. Um, 242 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: she was sick of reading stories about young people who 243 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 1: made the decision to have sex or be intimate in 244 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,520 Speaker 1: one way or another and then end up plot wise 245 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: getting punished for it in some way, you know, like 246 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: the Young Person book where at the end evil is 247 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: punished and bad actions are punished, and all of this stuff, 248 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: and that all included sex or any type of sexual activity. 249 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: And so Judy Bloom takes up the mantle of safe 250 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,440 Speaker 1: young person, responsible sex and says, I have to write 251 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:05,320 Speaker 1: this book, and I I loved finding out about how 252 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: different books intersected with her real life. So how Forever 253 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 1: was written for Randy, and how Tiger Eyes was inspired 254 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: by the difficulties that her son encountered with that move 255 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: to New Mexico after she got married for the second 256 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,080 Speaker 1: time and sort of uprooted the family a little bit. 257 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:28,000 Speaker 1: And she she admits openly that there were times when 258 00:15:28,040 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: her personal life was a mess, but she was still 259 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,160 Speaker 1: writing these books and trying to figure it out. And 260 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: then she met George and took off her boots and 261 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: everything everything got so much better, except for when n 262 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: hits and censorship really starts to come down on Bloom. Yeah, 263 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: and we're not talking about people focusing solely on Jooty 264 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: Bloom's book. It was more of a cultural movement going on, 265 00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: and her books being published really coincided with a sharp 266 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: rise and attempted books censorship here in the US in 267 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies and eighties, And writing specifically about Jitty 268 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: Bloom and censorship in the neo neo American is that 269 00:16:11,560 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: was hard to say. Mallory as Emanski talks about how 270 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,200 Speaker 1: in the early to late nineteen seventies, So, I guess 271 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: I could just say the nineteen seventies challenges of books 272 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: made to the American Library Association or pretty low. They were. 273 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:28,760 Speaker 1: They were increasing, but they were still pretty low. They 274 00:16:28,760 --> 00:16:31,359 Speaker 1: were about three hundred per year by the late seventies, 275 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 1: but in one nearly a thousand challenges were reported. And 276 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: so Jitty Bloom's books, which we've said a couple of 277 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:41,360 Speaker 1: times now, we're just very honest and very open with 278 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: themes like sexuality and religion, that was part of that wave. Yeah. 279 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,360 Speaker 1: She talks about how puberty was a dirty word at 280 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: the time, and it's understandable that this was happening in 281 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:58,320 Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties because you have the Reagan administration and 282 00:16:58,360 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 1: this rise of con servitism at the time, so censorship 283 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 1: kind of goes into overdrive and it and it turned 284 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:12,000 Speaker 1: her into an anti censorship activists of sorts. As she 285 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: writes about this on her website, quote, I believe that 286 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: censorship grows out of fear, and because fear is contagious, 287 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: some parents are easily swayed. Book banning satisfies their need 288 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,680 Speaker 1: to feel in control of their children's lives, and the 289 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: spear is often disguised as moral outrage. They want to 290 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: believe that their children don't read about it, their children 291 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,640 Speaker 1: won't know about it, and if they don't know about it, 292 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:41,479 Speaker 1: it won't happen, which in my experience growing up in 293 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: a household where Judy Bloom books were intentionally not allowed 294 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:53,000 Speaker 1: because of how they discussed things like religion, puberty, sexuality, 295 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:57,439 Speaker 1: and children just generally having opinions that that's not the 296 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: case at all, obviously, and Judy Bloom knew that puberty, 297 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 1: what's gonna happen to me? And and and encounters with sexuality, 298 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: We're gonna happen to me regardless of whether I read 299 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:14,760 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom or not, right, And I mean this whole 300 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 1: thing is, it's the same conversation that surrounds sex said 301 00:18:17,520 --> 00:18:20,439 Speaker 1: in this country in terms of like believing that if 302 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,119 Speaker 1: you just don't say s e X two kids, they'll 303 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 1: never figure it out and no one will ever get pregnant, 304 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: no one will ever have an STD, where in reality, 305 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom kind of knew better than that, and knew 306 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 1: because she literally was receiving letters from scared, sad, confused, lonely, 307 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:44,200 Speaker 1: unsure children. Her readers were writing her things, writing her 308 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: letters just saying, you know, am I normal? You know 309 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: people are starting rumors about me at school, I'm getting bullied. 310 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: When am I going to get my period? All of 311 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: the things that her characters, like Margaret and are you there? 312 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 1: God it to me Margaret struggle with Well, I mean, 313 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:02,280 Speaker 1: it's it's the fact that she wrote about kids as 314 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 1: people and not just these these kids with who need 315 00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:12,439 Speaker 1: to be protected or shushed. Yeah, exactly. And amid the 316 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:17,119 Speaker 1: Harry Potter panic and all the censorship going on around that, 317 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: she wrote an op ed of The New York Times saying, quote, 318 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: the real danger is not the books, but in laughing 319 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,400 Speaker 1: off those who would ban them. Because she takes censorship 320 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,240 Speaker 1: very seriously. And not just because it might hurt her 321 00:19:31,280 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 1: book sales. Yeah, she's she's a super active voice in 322 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,199 Speaker 1: the anti censorship community because she basically says, you know, 323 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,440 Speaker 1: if we keep letting people ban books that they disagree 324 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,119 Speaker 1: with for their own personal reasons, then what's going to 325 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: be left on the library shelves? How will kids ever 326 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: learn anything? And she she made a point in one 327 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,360 Speaker 1: of the sources we read where she was talking about 328 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:57,720 Speaker 1: censorship that you know, in my books, kids tend to 329 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,040 Speaker 1: and and and in really any book, kids to and 330 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,280 Speaker 1: to skip over and just sort of gloss over and 331 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: gloss past things and concepts they don't understand. So it's 332 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 1: not like they're getting spoiled by certain concepts that she 333 00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: writes about in her books. But she did say that, Okay, 334 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:16,840 Speaker 1: if they do read or pick up on a concept 335 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: in my book that maybe they're not sure about or 336 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: they can't tell what it means or if it's wrong, 337 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:23,439 Speaker 1: or what it has to do with their bodies or whatever, 338 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 1: then maybe they'll actually get to take it to their 339 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: parents and say, could we talk about this, could you 340 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: help explain it? And then it's sort of up to 341 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: the parents to parents and either talk about it or say, 342 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: you know, make a decision about the book at that point. 343 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: And that honesty that we have emphasized over and over 344 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:46,199 Speaker 1: again already is certainly a cornerstone of why Judy Bloom 345 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,360 Speaker 1: has been so beloved by readers of all ages for 346 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,800 Speaker 1: so long. And now we're going to get a little 347 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: bit more into the individual books themselves and the impacts 348 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,479 Speaker 1: that they have had not only on us, but also 349 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:05,639 Speaker 1: famous authors who've probably heard of, and even some stuff 350 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: Mom never told you listeners. So we'll get into that 351 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:18,879 Speaker 1: when we come right back from a quick break. Now, 352 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:21,199 Speaker 1: even though we've already touched on it a little bit, 353 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 1: we're really going to take this half of the podcast 354 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 1: who dig into the specifics of why Judy Bloom is 355 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: so beloved, and really it comes down to the exact 356 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: same reasons that she's so relentlessly censored because she is 357 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:43,040 Speaker 1: unafraid of writing, frankly about boys, girls, socialization, changing bodies, 358 00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:48,120 Speaker 1: all of these things that in our own adolescent minds 359 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: kind of get us spinning and worried and concerned, and 360 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,400 Speaker 1: even more so probably for parents and adults who want 361 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: to shelter us from all of those more prurient things 362 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: like bodies and puberty and relationships. Yeah, whereas hey, wouldn't 363 00:22:05,800 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: that just be easier to just give me a jitty 364 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: Blom book then let me learn about the facts of life. 365 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: Although I was never given any Judy Bloom books, I 366 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,280 Speaker 1: don't think they were censored in my house. I don't 367 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,479 Speaker 1: think my mom was purposely trying to keep them out. 368 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:21,960 Speaker 1: I just don't remember even really being aware of them. 369 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 1: When I was growing up. You never got secretly past 370 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: a Warren copy of Forever I was, Kristen, you and 371 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:33,040 Speaker 1: I have talked about this. I was reading romance novels like, oh, yeah, 372 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 1: you were past Judy Bloom. Caroline really didn't need really 373 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: didn't need Bool a time I was like early puberty. 374 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: I was reading romance novels that my mom had left 375 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 1: around the house. So yeah, I guess I did skip 376 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:48,160 Speaker 1: over the but argue there, God, it's me Margaret stage. 377 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,399 Speaker 1: I went right for the bodice ripping. I love that 378 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: you and I are both now circling back to the 379 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: age appropriate literature of our early youths. Yeah, I picked 380 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:01,119 Speaker 1: it up, you know. Kristen and I decided to do 381 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:04,400 Speaker 1: this episode because it harkens back to the the Young 382 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: Adult Summer Reading episode we did last last year, last summer, 383 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:11,760 Speaker 1: and we're talking about how neither one of us had 384 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: read a Judy Bloom And so when I read are 385 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:15,680 Speaker 1: You There, God, It's Me Margaret, I was pretty much 386 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: smiling throughout the whole thing because I think it's I 387 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,119 Speaker 1: think it's adorable, and I think her writing is so 388 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: important and I loved reading even though obviously I'm so 389 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: far past all that stuff. It was so great and 390 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: refreshing to read someone talking about puberty in that way 391 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: and the way that girls can be in the way 392 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:39,879 Speaker 1: that it's like you just feel like you're the only 393 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,840 Speaker 1: weirdo on the planet sometimes when you're growing up. I mean, 394 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: I still you know, chant my must increase my bust 395 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:51,160 Speaker 1: ritual every night. Yeah, and because one day it might 396 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:57,160 Speaker 1: take Caroline Um, I had the same experience reading are 397 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,720 Speaker 1: you there, God, It's me Margaret, finding it hilarious and 398 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 1: also just basically enjoying as a writer her the spare 399 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: style of how she uses language so economically to communicate 400 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: like a kid's brain. So well, yeah, well that was 401 00:24:19,359 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: also refreshing. And Leada Dunham has a quote about this too, 402 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,960 Speaker 1: about loving Judy Bloom for the way she writes kids. 403 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 1: She says, Judy is one of the only authors who, 404 00:24:30,119 --> 00:24:32,919 Speaker 1: at the time she started writing, acknowledge that kids have 405 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,600 Speaker 1: a fully formed consciousness and questions that aren't innocent, and 406 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,440 Speaker 1: a sense of what's happening in the adult world around them. 407 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,760 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, it was so great when you 408 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,320 Speaker 1: were a kid to encounter a grown up who talked 409 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,479 Speaker 1: to you, who indulged you enough to talk to you 410 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,239 Speaker 1: like a grown up, and to treat you like you 411 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: did have a brain and you did have opinions, even 412 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: if your opinions were ridiculous and very you know, appropriate 413 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,400 Speaker 1: to whatever age you were. You know, a nine year 414 00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: old doesn't know much about Israeli politics or any thing 415 00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: like that. But well, speak for yourself, Carolin. Well, um, 416 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:09,639 Speaker 1: so yeah, so, so I also appreciated reading a character 417 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: written like that. Well, and even though we're reading these books, 418 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: what forty years after they were originally written, she's still 419 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: touching on timeless issues. Yeah, I mean, and that's that 420 00:25:25,560 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: seems like that's such an inappropriate word for it. That 421 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,520 Speaker 1: it's just like basic like dynamics of adolescents in terms 422 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 1: of girl friendships and how do you deal with that 423 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: girl's developing bodies. I mean, in a little bit of 424 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,919 Speaker 1: select shaming that happened among some of the girls, and 425 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: are you there, god, A's me Margaret and just crushes 426 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: like how you feel when you see a boy or 427 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: a girl and your stomach kind of erupts. Yeah, I know. 428 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: And a lot of people ask Judy Bloom if she 429 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: was trying to write these books as lessons as teaching 430 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: tools is a political tool, and she's very adamant that, no, 431 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,800 Speaker 1: these were not, and this wasn't any of that stuff. 432 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to teach people something or teach people 433 00:26:08,040 --> 00:26:10,359 Speaker 1: a lesson. I just had these stories and I had 434 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 1: to write them. But it just so happened that my 435 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:16,480 Speaker 1: voice was sort of alone in in in that in 436 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: the way that I ended up writing. And she says, 437 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:21,760 Speaker 1: maybe I'm trying to illuminate. I've always felt that my 438 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,679 Speaker 1: responsibility as a writer is to be honest. When I 439 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,320 Speaker 1: first started writing, I felt that adults hadn't ever been 440 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,680 Speaker 1: honest with me or my generation. Our parents loved us, 441 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: but their way of loving was to never tell us 442 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,480 Speaker 1: the truth about anything, and to protect us from what 443 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: they thought we shouldn't know. Or the things they felt 444 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: uncomfortable discussing. So I wanted to be honest for kids 445 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: in my books the way I wanted adults to be 446 00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:47,400 Speaker 1: honest with me when I was growing up and growing 447 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,919 Speaker 1: up in that post World War two era of so 448 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,560 Speaker 1: much silence like that. I mean, it must have had 449 00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 1: such a big impact because like kids today, thanks to 450 00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: the Internet, will will probably never grow up in as 451 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: culturally sheltered as you know baby boomer children did. And 452 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: probably because she was starting so genuinely from from almost 453 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:21,719 Speaker 1: that just blank canvas, it sort of shaped the entire 454 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:26,840 Speaker 1: just like it gave her that need for honesty that 455 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: she wouldn't have had otherwise if she were growing up 456 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:33,000 Speaker 1: with a little more knowledge about how things are a 457 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 1: little more access to information about how things work. And 458 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 1: I mean, she's very clearly upfront with a lot of 459 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: teen and purity related issues and a lot of her books, 460 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: and that includes the book Deanie with the famous or 461 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,760 Speaker 1: infamous depending on how you look at it and maybe 462 00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:53,640 Speaker 1: whether you're a school principle, uh, the scene that features 463 00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:57,720 Speaker 1: masturbation and Deanie. Deanie has scoliosis, and that's the focus 464 00:27:57,720 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: of the book. But a lot of people do focus 465 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: and zero in on the fact that she's sort of 466 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:06,240 Speaker 1: discovering her body. You know, she's experiencing scoliosa. She's this 467 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: pretty young girl. She has to wear an embarrassing back 468 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,920 Speaker 1: brace and deal with what that means and what people 469 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:14,680 Speaker 1: think about her. But it also focuses on just being 470 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:18,160 Speaker 1: a young girl and discovering your body and your physicality 471 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: and what feels good. Yeah. And I mean, speaking as 472 00:28:21,880 --> 00:28:24,400 Speaker 1: a woman who was once a young girl, that would 473 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: have a helpful thing for me to have and read 474 00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 1: to be like, oh well and yeah, especially since in 475 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: the book, the gym teacher is also very I don't 476 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:36,439 Speaker 1: want to say sex positive, I don't want to go 477 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: that far, but it's also very like, no, you're you're 478 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: touching yourself, this is masturbation, it's normal, it's goodly sex positive. 479 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 1: Well yeah, but I mean, I don't know if Judy 480 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: Bloom would use the word sex positis, right, she hates labels. Um. 481 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 1: When I was reading about how basically positive and supportive 482 00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: the gym coach was, my mind was blown. I mean, 483 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: my face was just like, oh really, because I don't 484 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: I never read anything like that at all when I 485 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: was growing up, and so to have, to have not 486 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: only a book like Forever, where sex between teens is 487 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 1: written as something that is done between responsible young adults 488 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,760 Speaker 1: who've made a decision and practice safe sex, do not 489 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: only have that, but then to have sort of this 490 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,760 Speaker 1: ancillary character who's like, no, you're okay, You're okay in 491 00:29:22,800 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: your body and you're doing something normal and it's not wrong, 492 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: You're all right. It's just even now in it's mind blowing. Well, 493 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: it's also revealing getting her insight on Sally J. Friedman 494 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: starring herself, which Judy Bloom has said is her most 495 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 1: autobiographical novel, and um In an epilogue to You a 496 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,920 Speaker 1: later edition of the book, she wrote, quote, when I 497 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: was ten, I was a lot like Sally, curious, imaginative, 498 00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:54,240 Speaker 1: a warrior, and my stories, which I never wrote down 499 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:57,040 Speaker 1: or shared, I was brave and strong. I let a 500 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: life of drama, adventure in fame. I think the character 501 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: of Sally explains how and why I became a writer, 502 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:10,920 Speaker 1: And that to me says so much and and makes 503 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: so plain why her books are as forthright as they are. Well, 504 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 1: not only that, but I think it illustrates why she's 505 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: such a passionate advocate for basically allowing children to read 506 00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: what they want to read to fight censorship, because she 507 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: talks about how, you know, when I was a kid, 508 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 1: I was reading these these books with adventure and fantasy 509 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 1: in them, and you know what, it made me want 510 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 1: to go out and do fly. She writes about how 511 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:43,040 Speaker 1: it just these things they're not meant to convince children 512 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: like Harry Potter. They're not meant to convince children that, 513 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,400 Speaker 1: you know, magic is a thing, and that religion is bad, 514 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: and that wizards are going to rule the world. It's 515 00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: more about letting children imagine and fantasize and and delve 516 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 1: into that world of imagination where they can be any 517 00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: one and do anything, and how powerful that can be 518 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,320 Speaker 1: on a child's own sense of creativity. I was a 519 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: super obsessive, constant reader growing up, and I also love 520 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: to write. No, I didn't write anything amazing or great. 521 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: You know. I wasn't like Penning the Great Out of 522 00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:17,400 Speaker 1: This podcast Studio then, and I wasn't Penning the Great 523 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: American Novel at seven. But in reading wonderful stories of 524 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: adventure and fantasy and or novels about friendship or or teamwork, 525 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: like it makes you realize that the world is bigger 526 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: and it can be a wonderful place. Yeah. And it's 527 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: also to giving kids that sense of normalcy, which is 528 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: so important. And this is something that's emphasized over and 529 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,480 Speaker 1: over again in Letters to Judy What Kids Wish They 530 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: Could tell You Um, which is a collection of letters 531 00:31:51,280 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: from readers to Judy bloom Um that includes things like 532 00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,240 Speaker 1: letters from a Fern girl named Fern, nine years salt, 533 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: who says, dear Judy, please tell me the facts of 534 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: life in numbered order. I love that so much. I 535 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 1: am also a very h like rigid. I like things 536 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: in order and in lists and to do lists and schedules, 537 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 1: and so I I identify with nine year old Fern, 538 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,520 Speaker 1: well in the nine year old Fern and all these 539 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: other kids writing, like ultimately, what they really want is 540 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,240 Speaker 1: to just know, like, am I okay? Am I? Normal? 541 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:30,080 Speaker 1: Is what I'm going through? Like right? And will I 542 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 1: fit in? You know? All all of those, you know, 543 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: just kind of vexing questions that certainly don't evaporate once 544 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 1: you get out of adolescent Yeah, and I mean sure, well, 545 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: when you grow up, it starts you start to realize that, like, hey, 546 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:46,160 Speaker 1: maybe being like everyone else is and all it's cracked 547 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 1: up to be. But when you're going through puberty, or 548 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,680 Speaker 1: when you're about to hit puberty, and maybe you you 549 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: haven't had any sort of talk with your parents or 550 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:58,080 Speaker 1: any sort of education about your body, when things start changing, 551 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: that's that can be really scary and stressful. And so 552 00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: you're sure not going to talk about it with friends 553 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: if you're really embarrassed by it. So to have somebody 554 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 1: like Judy Bloom to let you know, she's like almost 555 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: like the goddess of adolescence. Yeah, I mean, her books 556 00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 1: have served as such a companion. This was something that 557 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 1: Samantha b from The Daily Show and her forthcoming solo show, 558 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: talked about to The New York Times and how she 559 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: saw herself reflected in the lead character in Blubber And 560 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: she says, not from the bullying point of view, but 561 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:32,800 Speaker 1: from the point of view of a kid who's trying 562 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 1: to fit in a striver I recognize in myself that 563 00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,959 Speaker 1: feeling of oh, you've got to work hard to belong, 564 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 1: You've got to figure it out, and that is so 565 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: I mean, I I have felt that same thing when 566 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: I was a kid reading Beverly Cleary books. Because you know, 567 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: Ramona resonated so much with me because I saw myself 568 00:33:53,440 --> 00:33:56,719 Speaker 1: on the page, and that's such an empowering thing for 569 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:00,200 Speaker 1: a kid to feel that you are represented. Then that 570 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: just somebody gets it. Yeah, yeah, and that makes you 571 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,600 Speaker 1: and that makes you okay, and that gives you, you know, 572 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,839 Speaker 1: a little bit of a boost to muddle through all 573 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: of the adult things that might not make any sense, 574 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,160 Speaker 1: that you might not have any control over whatsoever. Yeah, 575 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: And like you know, reading are you there, God, it's me, 576 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:23,719 Speaker 1: Margaret Um. She's dealing with parents who are of a 577 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: different religion. She's dealing with, you know, her grandparents who 578 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,040 Speaker 1: were radically different from one another. She's dealing with a 579 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: new school, new friends, a best friend who's a little 580 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:39,799 Speaker 1: bit bossy, a little bit Nancy Wheeler, a lot of bit, 581 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: a lot of bit, and also having a secret crush 582 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:46,080 Speaker 1: on a boy that you know, maybe you're not supposed 583 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: to have a crush on, but you just can't help it. 584 00:34:48,080 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 1: He looks so good mo in the lawn, I mean. 585 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,360 Speaker 1: And also, haven't we all had to deal with a 586 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:56,480 Speaker 1: Nancy Wheeler at some point? Even as I was reading 587 00:34:56,520 --> 00:35:01,960 Speaker 1: that book at thirty, I was like, oh, oh, Nancy, Nancy. 588 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,239 Speaker 1: But I've been both of them. I've been Nancy, and 589 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 1: I've been Margaret, and you've been the crush mowing the lawn. 590 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: I have never mowed a lawn. That's something. Okay, So wait, 591 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: thirty one is the year that I finally read Are 592 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:16,359 Speaker 1: you there? God, it's me Margaret. Maybe it's the year 593 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,360 Speaker 1: I'll finally mow a lawn. You know, I've mowed a 594 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,480 Speaker 1: number of lawns in my day. That is not a euphemism. 595 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:28,879 Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what. It's not bucket list worth it. 596 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:30,880 Speaker 1: It's not yet, it's not cracked up. What all it 597 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: is cracked up to be? Not all it's cracked up 598 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:39,200 Speaker 1: to be. Um. Well, we've talked a lot about parents, adults, 599 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:44,960 Speaker 1: these generic stodgy humans who don't want to inform younger 600 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:47,840 Speaker 1: kids about the facts of life, and that was something 601 00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:50,239 Speaker 1: to point it out in a New Yorker piece by 602 00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:55,240 Speaker 1: Anna Holmes on why Judy bloom books means so much 603 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,200 Speaker 1: to her and to other girls in particular, and she 604 00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:03,560 Speaker 1: talks about how the depiction of adult women in the 605 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 1: books a lot of times are, as she describes it, 606 00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:12,040 Speaker 1: highly anxious, easily upset, overly protective and obsessed with outward appearances, 607 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:18,640 Speaker 1: and she notes that perhaps Judy Bloom is also in 608 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:23,920 Speaker 1: that process, really emphasizing this contrast between these earlier times 609 00:36:23,920 --> 00:36:28,600 Speaker 1: in our lives that we should appreciate when what's going 610 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:31,399 Speaker 1: on inside of our heads feels like everything and we 611 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: have so many feelings and we're trying to sort it 612 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,680 Speaker 1: out and every moment is the best or the worst 613 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: before you kind of transition into this time when there 614 00:36:42,239 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: is so much body focus and anxiety and just general womanhood. Yeah, 615 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 1: you know, there's so much more. There is such a 616 00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: sense of freedom, um in a lot of her characters. 617 00:36:57,719 --> 00:36:59,759 Speaker 1: I think, well, yeah, and then the fact that, like, 618 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: while everything seems so big and heavy when it comes 619 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:07,719 Speaker 1: to worrying about your period, worrying about you are you 620 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 1: going to grow boobs? Finally? Um, But then they get 621 00:37:11,040 --> 00:37:13,400 Speaker 1: to go run outside in the sprinkler, And so I 622 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,640 Speaker 1: think there's something I just I just really loved reading 623 00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:18,840 Speaker 1: about these kids who like, uh, you don't have to 624 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,520 Speaker 1: worry about taxes, yet you just have to worry about 625 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,719 Speaker 1: filling out your bra and running through a sprinkler. I 626 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: missed that. I missed it, And you know what, I 627 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:32,560 Speaker 1: was so jealous of was how she was able to 628 00:37:32,719 --> 00:37:36,359 Speaker 1: just walk over to Nancy Wheeler's house. It was just 629 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:39,640 Speaker 1: like this. You know, neighborhoods were so different back then. 630 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:41,799 Speaker 1: I mean, and we're talking about you know, the New 631 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,719 Speaker 1: Jersey suburbs and you just let the kids out and yeah, 632 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:47,840 Speaker 1: I just walk over to someone's house, bike over to 633 00:37:47,920 --> 00:37:51,319 Speaker 1: somebody's house. Um. That was something that I wish I 634 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:53,439 Speaker 1: had had more of as a kid. But I also 635 00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 1: I read that in other books too, and was always like, man, 636 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:58,759 Speaker 1: that'd be cool. I want a neighborhood gang. Yeah. I 637 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,319 Speaker 1: was part of a neighborhood gang. Ing of there were 638 00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,759 Speaker 1: four or five of us. It was. I grew up 639 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:05,719 Speaker 1: next door to two boys, and then my my best 640 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:08,560 Speaker 1: friend Ali was down the street with her sister, and 641 00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 1: so I was I was the only child that sort 642 00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:13,440 Speaker 1: of floated between siblings. And we'd wander the neighborhood and 643 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,919 Speaker 1: would you bike around, we'd bike around. We'd I get 644 00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: my dogs to pull me on the skateboard of the 645 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,920 Speaker 1: boy next door, yes, or because we've talked about on 646 00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:26,720 Speaker 1: our skateboarding episode. Um, yeah, and then play with makeup 647 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: and stuff with the girls. So yeah, I do it. 648 00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,439 Speaker 1: Was it was nice to think back to that time 649 00:38:31,480 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: of like sweaty summers as a kid, roaming from house 650 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:37,279 Speaker 1: to house and basically having your parents just in the 651 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:41,799 Speaker 1: air conditioning inside, not worried about it. So, Caroline, what's 652 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: your next Judy Bloom reread going to be? Well? I 653 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,480 Speaker 1: I have to buy Blubber, and I have to buy Forever. 654 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:52,200 Speaker 1: But literally, the next Judy Bloom book that is in 655 00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:55,799 Speaker 1: my bag right now is super Fudge, oh yeah, and 656 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:59,120 Speaker 1: which she said was based on her son's or her 657 00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:02,919 Speaker 1: son one of the two. Yes, super Fudge was one 658 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,479 Speaker 1: I remember my mom's citing as a reason why no 659 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 1: not okay? Well then I can't wait to read it. 660 00:39:09,120 --> 00:39:14,839 Speaker 1: I know, please please don't tell my mom. Uh, let 661 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: me just pass it, pass it to me by under 662 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:21,040 Speaker 1: the under the cubicle or something. Yeah, so so my 663 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: mom won't find out. Um, the next book of hers, 664 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:28,480 Speaker 1: I would like to read His Wife, Oh yeah, one 665 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:33,960 Speaker 1: of her more adult novels, partially because the title intrigues me, 666 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,320 Speaker 1: and also partially because I love a good story about 667 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:41,120 Speaker 1: repressed housewives. I'm not gonna lie. We we just need 668 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,839 Speaker 1: to have sort of an ongoing jitty blim book club. 669 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:46,880 Speaker 1: It sounds like it sounds like someone listening is going 670 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,319 Speaker 1: to organize that. I know if somebody to get on that. 671 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:52,160 Speaker 1: I have a have a sminty fan book club going on. Well, 672 00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 1: and speaking of listeners, of course, we want to hear 673 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:57,920 Speaker 1: from you. We want all of your Judy Bloom thoughts. 674 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,839 Speaker 1: Mom Stuff at how stuff works dot com is our 675 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 1: email address. You can also tweet us your favorite Judy 676 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:08,359 Speaker 1: Bloom titles hashtag Judy Bloom. You can also message us 677 00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:13,840 Speaker 1: on Facebook, and in lieu of our typical listener mail segment, 678 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: We're going to share some of your Facebook comments about 679 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 1: Judy Bloom because they're just too good and too excited 680 00:40:24,440 --> 00:40:33,560 Speaker 1: not to. So these are responses to the question what 681 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: is your favorite Judy Bloom book? Serta Combs candidate said, 682 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:42,200 Speaker 1: o MG starring Sally J. Freeman as herself is my 683 00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:46,719 Speaker 1: caps all time favorite book. Please please please read it. 684 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,240 Speaker 1: You will freaking love it. And Serena, I'm so glad 685 00:40:51,280 --> 00:40:54,480 Speaker 1: to see your comment because I just realized that I 686 00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:58,279 Speaker 1: botched that title earlier in the podcast when I mentioned it, 687 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,080 Speaker 1: So friends, please save your self an email. The correct 688 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 1: title I realized I'm correcting myself now is starring Sally J. 689 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:09,359 Speaker 1: Freedman as herself, not Sally J. Freeman starring herself well. 690 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,240 Speaker 1: Speaking of Fudge and Forever, Jennifer writes, I remember really 691 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:16,720 Speaker 1: enjoying the Fudge books in third grade. In high school, 692 00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:20,120 Speaker 1: I found my mom's old copy of Forever with sticky 693 00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:23,560 Speaker 1: notes marking certain pages. I mentioned them to her, and 694 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:25,160 Speaker 1: then the next time I picked up the book to 695 00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:31,080 Speaker 1: keep reading, they had mysteriously vanished. Michelle's Serenity Salas said, 696 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 1: Summer Sisters and Wifey read them both when I was 697 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:38,560 Speaker 1: four eighteen, and I remember my lady parts feeling very 698 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:43,840 Speaker 1: adult while reading these books in class. Amy Wheeler Colburn writes, 699 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:47,080 Speaker 1: it's a tie between Tiger Eyes and Iggy's House. Those 700 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:50,520 Speaker 1: books changed me so profoundly. I am positive I still 701 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,319 Speaker 1: have them packed away somewhere, and I'm inspired to go 702 00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:58,120 Speaker 1: pull them out. Alicia Adams commented, I love everything this 703 00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 1: woman ever penned. Truly how me through some of the 704 00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 1: most difficult parts of my childhood. I can probably recite 705 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:07,040 Speaker 1: at least the first chapter of Tales of fourth Grade 706 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:10,879 Speaker 1: Nothing from Memory. Also, was I the only little black 707 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:13,520 Speaker 1: kid who flipped when the show came out and Jimmy 708 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:17,239 Speaker 1: Fargo was black. That made my entire week. Remember it 709 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:22,400 Speaker 1: like it was yesterday. Kelsey and Romanoff rights Forever. It 710 00:42:22,520 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: taught me young relationships are hard for everyone and to 711 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,080 Speaker 1: value myself. But it didn't have that don't have sex 712 00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:32,480 Speaker 1: or you will die vibe at least that I remember. No, Kelsey, 713 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:37,000 Speaker 1: I think you're right. Bertha Collie said, it's somewhat ironic 714 00:42:37,040 --> 00:42:38,600 Speaker 1: that I'm at a loss for words when it comes 715 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 1: to Judy Bloom and what she meant to me when 716 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,920 Speaker 1: I was a preteen and beyond God, I have tears 717 00:42:43,920 --> 00:42:45,880 Speaker 1: in my eyes even trying to think of what to 718 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,640 Speaker 1: say right now. The only word that comes to mind 719 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:53,920 Speaker 1: is gratitude. I'm so grateful for Judy Bloom. Marianne Boyer 720 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,120 Speaker 1: hopping rights. Oh, I think I need to do some rereading. 721 00:42:57,440 --> 00:42:59,919 Speaker 1: Are you there? God? And Forever were faves of mine. 722 00:43:00,200 --> 00:43:02,919 Speaker 1: I remember being shocked that I was allowed to read 723 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,919 Speaker 1: Forever and making sure my parents didn't find out what 724 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,520 Speaker 1: was in it. And speaking of which Linda Allen commented, 725 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:15,399 Speaker 1: Forever my mom called it porn. Well, listeners, we can't 726 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,239 Speaker 1: wait to hear more from you about Judy Bloom and 727 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,400 Speaker 1: why you think she is so beloved mom. Stuff at 728 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:23,719 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com is our email address and 729 00:43:23,760 --> 00:43:26,520 Speaker 1: for links to all of our social media as well 730 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:30,719 Speaker 1: as all of our blogs, videos, and podcasts, including this 731 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: one with links for US sources. So you can learn 732 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:35,919 Speaker 1: more about the life of Judy Bloom. Head on over 733 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:42,359 Speaker 1: to stuff Mom Never Told You dot com for more 734 00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:44,640 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Because it how 735 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:53,600 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com.