Beezus and Ramona
 

Beverly Cleary books made me laugh. Ramona had me dying, she was a little bad butt.
:)

Have any of you read the latest Ramona book, which was published about 2 years ago? It's called Ramona's World and continues where Ramona Forever left off--with Roberta as a baby. I was so excited! Beverly Cleary must be close to 90 now.

I love Judy Blume too! When her first books came out in the seventies, they were sooo controversial. My favorite scene in any of her books is the one in which a principal calls a girl to the mike at a dance and the girl freaks because she thinks the principal is going to announce that she just got her first period! LOL!!

website
 

Tomorrow I am going to the library and getting ALL BEEZUS and RAMONA books. :D

http://www.beverlycleary.com/index.html

http://www.judyblume.com/menu-main.html

Thank God someone else does this.

I STILL have my copy and occasionally pick it up when I feel the need. It is very comforting when you have had a crappy day at work to pick up that book and read about Norman Fishbein's supper party just one more time.

Oh, and re the pads with belts...I am a very nostalgic person and find myself sorely missing many of the things from my childhood and adolescence. But this ain't one of them. :p They were on their last legs when the puberty fairy came to my house...I used the ones in my starter kit (who else got those?) and the remainder of my mom's and that was it. I think they still do manufacture them for use in hospitals.

Well, you guys should've been around in the days of not only those belts but garter belts (no panty hose yet) too. Just imagine how much fun it was to be clanking around in all that at once!

Books by Catherine Woolley are really good too!

I think I was in fourth grade, when I first read (or was read) Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, which really hit it's target audience quite well. I then remember reading whatever the one where they spent the summer in Maine, and Peter's friend Alex was always wearing a shirt that said Class of 2000, which I thought was pretty cool since I was class of '01

I probably am one of the few guys who ever read Are you there God it's me Margaret ;) LOL. I had no clue what was going on! I think I had to ask my mom what some of it meant, and I'm sure she was wondering just what I was reading. Similar thing happened when I asked how to pronounce pornography (and then what it was) when I came across it in a book called Five Finger Discount...At least I was reading!!!

I have probably read half of her books.
Blubber
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Then Again, Maybe I Won't
Deenie
The Pain and the Great One
Freckle Juice
Sheila the Great
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Sorry that I don't have a link to post, but I read recently that Are you there God? It's me Margaret has been republished in an updated version that changes the part about the pads and belts.

I loved Babysitters Club! I was in Germany when they first came out and it was HARD to find them. My friends and I all passed our copies around so that we could read them all b/c you just couldn't buy them. We also read Sweet Valley Twins, never got into Sweet Valley High though

Judy Blume has to be one of my favorite authors. I think I've read everything she's written. I agree, the whole part about the belt with the pad confused me so I'm glad they rewrote it in "Are you there God?" My two favs are "Just as Long as we're together" and "Summer Sisters"

I didn't read as much Judy Blume because I was a serious Baby-Sitters Club freak. I have all of them up to 60something. And then I have them off and on up to 100+. I'd really love to fill in the whole collection. The original ones are actually out of print. They started over at #1 again, with new ones.

I'm still not sure how that belt thing worked. I'm so happy that technology has improved!

I never heard about Wifey or Forever before. I always wanted Peter to hook up with that Shelia chick. Bow chicka bow wow.

My girls--even the older ones--got hooked on the "Karen" books, the BSC Little Sister series. I liked 'em too, although I got tired of the lack of contractions in the books!

Juniorgrrl, the best places to finish out your series are used bookstores and eBay.

Childhood Memories
 

My all time favorite Judy Blume book is "Just As Long As We're Together". That was my 1st book written by her. When I was young my mom used to work in a middle school reading class, so I got to hear her read it while she cassette recorded it for her students to listen as they read their own copies. After she was finished recording her reading, I borrowed her copy and read it twice.
That brought back some childhood memories. :)

Are You There God, It's Me Margaret sparked many crazy discussions between my friends and I! I loved that book.

I also loved Summer Sisters. I had no idea until a few years ago that Judy Blume wrote adult books, too. Wifey was good, too. Maybe I'll have to get some of the others you all are mentioning on here...