This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
After a gap of, quite frankly, far too long, Judy Blume has a brand new novel out for adults. In The Unlikely Event is about three generations of families, friends and strangers whose lives are forever changed in the aftermath of three plane crashes in 1950s America. To celebrate (as Kirsty says, "Judy Blume is da queen") we thought we'd revisit those special Judy Blume books from Team Novelicious's childhood.
1. Tiger Eyes – This is Cressida and Kerry's favourite. When Davey's father is murdered, her mother takes them to stay with their prim and proper aunt and uncle in New Mexico. Davey goes out cycling to the canyon to escape the claustrophobic house and meets a boy called Wolf. But meeting him won't bring her dad back.
2. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret – This is Helen's and Kirsty's favourite – As a teenager going through a confusing time, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret is perfect. Margaret doesn't know if she is Jewish or Christian. And – horror! – she's a late developer. She talks to God because it's far too embarrassing to talk to her parents about this stuff.
3. Just as Long as We're Together – Susan loves this book and has re-read it over and over again. Stephanie and Rachel have been best friends for years, but this is all upset when Alison moves into the area. Is it possible to have two best friends?
4. Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself – Another favourite of Kerry's. It's 1947 and Sally's close knit family has been separated because of her brother's illness. Moving to Florida, Sally is gloomy, and her love of making up stories in which she is the star is not enough to comfort her. Worse still, Sally is sure Hitler is alive and well and living in Miami Beach.
5. Blubber – Kirsty's second favourite. Blubber is a thick layer of fat that lies under the skin and over the muscles of whales … Linda is reading out her class project about whales. Unfortunately she is on the large side and the whole class finds her words extremely funny. Jill stands up for her, then finds herself on the receiving end of the nastiness. A story about bullying.Funnily enough none of us mentioned Forever. Either we're all pretending it's not our favourite or we prefer the ones before all that 'complicated stuff' happens. How about you? Which Judy Blume book is your favourite?