Speaking of Judy Blume. . .
 

FUDGE is back. . .

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Grade 3-5-A worthy successor to Superfudge (1980) and Fudge-a-Mania (1990, both Dutton). Peter Hatcher is now entering seventh grade and apprehensive that no one will remember him since his family spent the past year in Princeton, NJ. Five-year-old Fudge is obsessed with money-acquiring it, talking and singing about it, and counting it. He even creates his own currency, Fudge Bucks. To try to curb this fixation, the family takes a trip to Washington, DC, to visit the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, and runs into Mr. Hatcher's long-lost cousin. Howie, his wife Eudora, twin daughters Flora and Fauna, and four-year-old son Farley are traveling through the East Coast before moving to Florida. Of course, a visit to New York City is in their plans. A few weeks later, the relatives arrive and set out their sleeping bags. Two nights turn into four, then seven, and then Howie announces that he is subletting an apartment in the building for six weeks. It is a tough time for Peter, culminating at Halloween when Fudge and Farley are trapped in the building's elevator while trick-or-treating. Peter is a real 12-year-old with all the insecurities and concerns of that age. And nothing can suppress the personality of Fudge, who even renames Washington, Fudgington.


yes boys and girls, he's back.

Also let's share our Judy Blume memories. . . what was your first? Which was your favorite? Will you be reading/buying this book for yourself? I know I will. :D

Oh my goodness... I may have to go get this from the library. :o I used to absolutely love these books.

my Fave is Summer Sisters, which is my favorite book of all time. Everytime I read it, its even more amazing.

Wow, I read those fudge books like in 2nd grade. Brings back memories.

I remember being about 12 or 13 and wanting to get my hands on "Forever" because it was one of my first reads that had (dare I say it?) SEX in it!

LOL! You crack me up!

I loved Judy Blume books! They were the best.

WIFEY
 

I remember being 12 and seeing a dog eared copy of WIFEY on my mom's bookshelf and being a little indignant that she was keeping a Judy BLume (one of my favorite authors) from me. I SNUCK and read it in my closet as a 12 year old. I remember these words 15 years later, "F*CK ME SUNSHINE! F*CK ME!!" :eek: :eek: :eek:

I was a bad girl. :p :o

OH MY!!!
When I was 10years old I found Forever in my local library. I checked it out because I was a big Blume fan. Boy did I get a surprise! Ok, I was that kid who felt the need to inform everone else in the 5th grade of the books contents. I dogeared all the good pages and passed it around:p
I also read my older sisters copy of Wifey when I was 12 or 13. I think I knew way too much too young!

We Keep A Pig in Our Parlor

Judy Blume was one of my mom's friends when I was growing up, so I've met her.. I have her signature somewhere. She's a very nice woman!

I was a JB fan, as well. My first read was Freckle Juice. I really loved that book. I think of it still to this day. But my all-time favorite was Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. I remember in college, I got stressed out, and went and got that book from the library. I did no homework, just sat and read that book. My roommate thought I was regressing into childhood, lol.

**this is NOT the same book cover**:(

Are You There God It's Me Margaret :D
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Amazon.com
If anyone tried to determine the most common rite of passage for preteen girls in North America, a girl's first reading of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret would rank near the top of the list. Judy Blume and her character Margaret Simon were the first to say out loud (and in a book even) that it is normal for girls to wonder when they are ever going to fill out their training bras. Puberty is a curious and annoying time. Girls' bodies begin to do freakish things--or, as in Margaret's case, they don't do freakish things nearly as fast as girls wish they would. Adolescents are often so relieved to discover that someone understands their body-angst that they miss one of the book's deeper explorations: a young person's relationship with God. Margaret has a very private relationship with God, and it's only after she moves to New Jersey and hangs out with a new friend that she discovers that it might be weird to talk to God without a priest or a rabbi to mediate. Margaret just wants to fit in! Who is God, and where is He when she needs Him? She begins to look into the cups of her training bra for answers ...


Also just added to my Christmas list :D

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and

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I loved "Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret", when I was 13, but I remember that even then (and this is maybe 1983), the book was already out of date.

Remember how Margaret buys herself a box of maxipads and she is trying to figure out how to put them on with the sanitary belt? I don't think they even make that kind with "the belt" anymore?!

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I remember "Tiger Eyes", too. That was a good one, but it came a bit later.

I also loved Norma Klein books too.

Yeah it was a little outdated. . .I read it around the age of 9 (1984) and I remember my granny giving me the belt kind as an 11 year old and I was like :confused: :eek: :confused: -- I tell you periods can be scary stuff :p

However I thik all preteens can relate to being awkward with our bodies, hoping our breasts grow SOMEDAY:( :o and menstruation anxiety as well. Also the whole boy/girl thing is a universal experience.

My favorite is Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret

I also remember the part with the belt sanitary napkins. I was about 12 years old and I remember asking my mother why they had to wear belts with their pads. My mother informed me years later that it was at that moment that she realized that she was old. :)

Speaking of which, the bathrooms at UCF have not been renovated since the 60's (and it smells like it needs to be renovated too.......yuck!). The old pad disposal machines in the bathrooms haven't been renovated in years either. Now, the machines probably have worked for over two decades but they haven't taken them out. They still say on the machines "Beltless Sanitary Napkins". I guess they had to specify that they were the adhesive kind. My friend was in there one day with me and she goes, "Beltless? Pads come with belts?????"

Ideal08... I am soo there... I loved that book... nothing but childhood memories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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...

I don't think there have been any new BSC books for a couple of years. The last one I saw was about Mary Anne's house burning down and new beginnings and then Ann Martin wrote a few really odd books about the same characters (different series) in which some of them really disliked each other (like Stacey and Claudia--because of a boy). At the same time, the new Little Sister books started having disclaimers in front that kind of indicated they were being ghostwritten. Then they all disappeared.

I read online and in Ann Martin's bio that she has health problems due to a spleen removal but it also sounded like she was getting real weird about contact with the public.:(

A lot of the later BSC books indicated that they were being ghostwritten.

The "new beginnings" series was what I was referring to about the new numbering system.

I remember hearing about those books when i was younger, but i wasnt a fan of reading so if i didnt have to, i didnt read it.

Now, being 22 years old, am very interested in reading those books! I might have to go to Barnes & Noble and pick them up! :D

I read ALL of Judy Blume's books when I was little. :D Loved them and Beverly Cleary's as well.

Was it Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing where the kid's little brother swallows his pet turtle and his parents buy him a puppy to make up for it?

And was it a Ramona book where she is late for school because her mom tells her to leave at a "quarter past the hour" and she leaves at 25 minutes past because she remembers that a quarter is worth 25 cents? LOL

I only remember bits and pieces of those books now because it's been so long since I picked one up. But Fudge and Ramona's siblings were my favorite characters because of all the stuff they had to put up with. :)

You are correct! I reread this the other night in Ramona the Pest. I am currently rereading Ramona Quimby, age 8 and laughing all over again at Ramona and Beezus' dinner, encounters with Yard Ape and her book report.:cool:

"Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret" my all time fave:D

Man when I was a kid I LIVED for the Super BSC books! They were so awesome!!! I miss being a kid now b/c it would be so much fun to have the time to read all these books we're talking about instead of reading thick huge somewhat dull textbooks. I remember when I was a kid my mom would take me to the library and I'd check out the maximum number of books, usually a combo of BSC and Judy Blume, and then curl up on my for the rest of the day just reading and enjoying.....ahhh, those were the days. :)

Are You There God, it's me Margaret is the best. . .

I learned all about 15 minutes. . .


Also, didn't she write.. .'Then Again Maybe I Won't' and 'Tigerlily'