Where is judy blume from

They were married in After earning her degree in education in , she gave birth to a daughter in and a son in While a homemaker, Judy Blume realized that she needed an outlet for her creative energy and decided that she wanted to write.

She composed several children's novels and took writing courses at NYU. Her husband was not encouraging. He told her that he thought it was great that she was writing if it meant she would not shop as much. Her confidence grew, though, as she began to sell a few stories to magazines and even had one of her children's books accepted for publication. The release of a book written for an adolescent audience, Are You There, God? It's Me, Judy Blume. Margaret, in brought huge success to Blume.

The novel describes eleven-year-old Margaret's worries and fears about starting her period and choosing her own religion. At the time of its publication, Blume was praised for her warm and funny descriptions of childhood feelings and conversation.

She was also criticized, however, for the book's references to the human body and its processes. There were many attempts in different cities to have the book removed from library shelves.

This book is now considered a groundbreaking work due to the honesty with which Blume presents previously taboo not talked about subjects. Blume went on to write other successful books for different age groups. Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing and Superfudge , two entertaining tales about ten-year-old Peter and his uncontrollable baby brother, Fudge, were especially popular with readers. Blume also caused another controversy dispute with the release of Forever , in which she relates the details of her eighteen-year-old heroine's first sexual experience.

Despite the fact that it was published as an adult book, protesters pointed out that Blume's popularity with readers and uncomplicated writing style attracted a preteen audience that could be influenced by the details of the novel.

In Tiger Eyes , Blume relates the story of how fifteen-yearold Davey adjusts to her father's murder. Hailed by many critics as Blume's finest work for her successful handling of a complicated plot, Tiger Eyes includes such issues as alcoholism, suicide, and violence.

Reviewers commended Blume for her honesty, warmth, and wit, praising her keen observation of childhood and strong appeal to children. Her books for younger children, such as Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, deal with problems such as getting along with one's brothers and sisters, establishing self-confidence, and having no friends.

Books for young adults, such as Are You There, God? Blume's discussion of sexuality reflects her ability to target the issues that most interest young people. She explained to John Neary of People, "I think I write about sexuality because it was uppermost in my mind when I was a kid: the need to know, and not knowing how to find out. My father delivered these little lectures to me, the last one when I was 10, on how babies are made.

But questions about what I was feeling, and how my body could feel, I never asked my parents. I never told anyone, but they were there.

She trained as a teacher but never taught; she was married before she graduated from college. My father had just died and the wedding was scheduled. I was 21, we got married and I did my final year at college. Then, before that ended, I was pregnant, and had two babies by the time I was 25, and then started to write. She'd make up rhyming stories when she was washing the dishes at night and added her own illustrations, sending them off to publishers.

Then she decided she wanted to write novels, took a writing course, and out came Iggie's House , the story of Winnie, a girl whose quintessentially white surburban-American street gets its first black family, and who is confronted with — and confronts — racism.

I loved having little kids, I relate to little kids, but something was missing, and I don't think about this every day, but when I think about it, it's that creative energy. I was an imaginative, strange little girl, and in school I had a lot of creative outlets. I danced, I sang, I painted, there was a lot of that, and suddenly I didn't have any of that. I've thought about this — I think that's why I was having such a bad time. And there was the marriage, too, but that's another story.

But it was very tough, and I felt lonely and didn't have the friends I had when I was in school. I missed that female friendship. In she married again, and moved to New Mexico, but the marriage didn't work out. She has been married to her third husband, George Cooper, since Blume talks a lot about friendship, female friendship — as well as George, her best friend, Mary, is here in London with her.

I was young and I remembered everything. I had total recall," she says. It was spontaneous, it just poured out. And in the middle of that I was writing the Fudge book. Fudge, the naughty toddler who drives his brother Peter wild, was originally drawn from her son; Forever… , she says, was written after a request from her teenage daughter it's dedicated to her: "For Randy as promised … with love".

And Randy said, 'Couldn't there ever be a book where two nice kids do it and nobody has to die? Blume's protagonists range in age from toddler Fudge to the adult Caitlin and Vix of Summer Sisters , but perhaps her best work centres on the crossover from child to teenager, whether it's Tony; in Then Again, Maybe I Won't , making sense of a world where his friend is shoplifting, or Margaret.

It was the 50s, and I hated the 50s. We all just wanted to fit in and none of us, not even with a best friend, were willing to go deeper.

The 50s was such a time of 'Pretend everything's OK, pretend it's all good. The younger Judy was more interesting, she thinks. The family hadmoved to Florida when her brother was sick, leaving her father, a dentist, behind in New Jersey.

I adored my father, not only worried about him flying, which was a very scary idea, but worried about him being safe. It was a bad year, and I became ritualistic. Dutton, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great. Freedman as Herself. New York: G. Tiger Eyes. The Judy Blume Diary. New York: Yearling, Smart Women.

The Pain and the Great One. Bradbury, Danbury, CT: Grolier, Summer Sisters. Double Fudge. In the Unlikely Event. New York: Knopf, Contemporary Authors , New Revision Series. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Cooper, George. Telephone interview with author, January 10, Current Biography Decter, Naomi. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Sutton, Roger. Weidt, Maryann N. Presenting Judy Blume.

Woodbridge, CT: Twayne Publishers, Author website. More on Judy Blume See Also:. See Also:. From the Blog:. Donate Help us elevate the voices of Jewish women. Listen to Our Podcast.