While I Didn't Hate It...

I just didn't think Iggie's House was that great.  As you can see from my Judy Blume reviews, she really isn't a big hero of mine, but I have enjoyed some of her books very much.  This one is similar to AYTGIMM in that none of the characters are likable at all, really. It's the story of a girl who sees the evils of racism first-hand when an African American family moves into her previously all-white neighborhood.  It is just okay.

Then Again...

When I was a kid there was a lot of mystery around Then Again, Maybe I Won't.  It was one of those books like Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, Forever and Waiting Games.  I read the others but never Then Again.  I must say that covers of this book were just terrible.  That green one is the one I remember.  One thing that is heavily featured on the green cover and the newest one, as you can see, is the pair of binoculars.  That was what I remember most beings whispered and giggled about, that the book was about a boy who spies on his neighbor with binoculars while she gets undressed.
Once I read the book I was surprised at how little the binoculars figure in to the whole story!  The book is a lot more than just Tony's interest in girls.  It's a neat little peak into the world of young guys and their insecurities and worries.  There are so many books out there for girls.  It brought back memories of this book by Gary Paulsen.  I gave it a blah review back when I read it, before I was in love with Paulsen.  It was actually first Paulsen book.   I need to read it again and see what I think now that I understand him more.  Anyway, what I liked about TAMIW, Tony is a nice guy.  He wouldn't go near the 4 PTSs, that's for sure.

It's Judy Blume and I Didn't Hate It!

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is a neat little historical fiction book and I was pleasantly surprised to find Sally very likable!  Definately not a PTS.  Blume says that Sally is the character that she finds most autobiographical.  So maybe Judy Blume was a really nice kid who had to deal with a lot of jerks and that's why she writes characters like the PTSs and the rotten toads in Blubber.  This book is set right after WW2 and Sally and her mom, brother and grandmother get an apartment in Miami Beach for the sake of her brother's health.  The book shows a great sibling relationship.  The only part I really cringed over was the continual use of the really gross word for a woman's chest.  Just totally unnecessary and made me go "blah" every time I heard it.  I listened to the book, read by the author. 

Judy Blume Books I Liked!

So I know I have done a lot of ripping on Judy Blume.  I still stand by my feelings on AYTGIMM and Blubber.  But Just as Long as We're Together and Here's to You, Rachel Robinson were two wonderful books.  Rachel is the sequel to Together and I would suggest reading both of them around the same time as they just flow so well together and are even published in one book together, at least in ebook format, anyway.  Great stories for tweens about friendship, divorce, self-reliance.  I really can't say anything bad about the girls at all.  I know they would never fit into the Pre-Teen Sensations.  And that's why I like them. 

Yeah...Judy Blume...Huh...

Yes I know, I know Judy Blume is loved beyond all love!  I know she is a champion of reading and has written books that children and teachers and librarians adore!  But man...I just don't like the characters in her books.  As you may remember from AYTGIMM.  Yesterday I read Blubber again and man.  I just don't like the main character Jill, her best friend Tracy, the bullies in the class (Jill is one of them), Linda (the girl who gets bullied) and the adults.  What a bunch of jerks they all are.  I have never known people who act or think this way, so everything about the book felt really bad.  Maybe I am just lucky to have never known losers like this group. 

This is why I'd never want to play God

Do you know this song? I couldn't find a video of Lyle Lovett doing it, but this guy is pretty good. Anyway, it reminds me of Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret. Because God listens and has sympathy for Margaret, but yeah...that's the difference between God and me! It also reminded me of this man in my church when I was a full-time pastor. He gave the senior pastor a mug that said on the side "Jesus Loves You" and then on the bottom when you tip it over, it said "Everyone else thinks your an *&%4hole". I'd like to give Margaret Simon that mug.

Okay. Went to Half Price Books and bought a copy of AYTGIMM for fifty cents. Be careful when you shop there. If you find a book you want, check the Clearance section, too. Instead of paying four or five bucks for the book, you just might find it there for fifty cents or a buck. That's what happened to me. Anyway I sat down and started to read it there since I was going to buy it anyway. Everyone probably knows the story but its about a sixth grader named Margaret who is about to turn twelve and who used to live in NYC but is starting her new school year in suburban New Jersey. She's an only child and going through the usual trials of growing up, fitting in, wearing a bra, etc. The added conflict that Margaret has is that she is trying to figure out if she wants to be Christian or Jewish or either. Her dad was raised Jewish. Her mom Christian but now they are neither. Margaret talks to God about her problems. My recollections that she and pretty much everyone else in the book are totally unlikable were totally right. I mean only a quarter the way through the book, I realized that no one in this book has any redeeming qualities. Oh well maybe that is harsh but suffice to say that there's no one in this book I'd like to be friends with or even meet! From dad to mom to all of Margaret's friends to Margaret herself who is even cynical and grumpy with salesclerks. Margaret goes through all of this pre-teen trauma that, when Winnie or even the less sympathetic, but perhaps more realistic, Dani, goes through it, you feel for them. When Margaret is treated a bit roughly by the even more unsympathetic Nancy, you just think who cares or no big deal because all the girls are jerks! These girls, including Margaret, are the kind of girls you'd want Winnie to stay away from in school! I know that's realistic for girls to be mean. I mean The Girls where mean. But you knew why. And even when you didn't know why you still felt bad for one or two of them when the others are being mean. This is kinda like Pre-teen Zombie Blondes from the zombie point of view except these totally ick girls are supposed to be human! Ha!

I have no idea why I feel this way about this book when no one else in the world seems to. I have even read this book about ten times and I never liked Margaret or anyone else. Maybe I liked it and read it so much for the same reason I like movies like The Strangers. Yes. That must be it. Actually I can see all of the Pre-Teen Sensations, which is the name of the coven that Margaret and her friends belong to, joining the Manson Family. They are just that way.

Speaking of God, thank God its a short book. I wouldn't want to waste anymore of my life than I already did on this junk. The last half of the book was just as nuts as the first. Nasty Christian people wanting to convert Margaret. Nasty Jewish grandmother wanting to convert Margaret. As if anyone would want Margaret to be a part of the same zip code they lived in let alone attend their church or temple! Flat supporting characters. Margaret going on about how some kid in her class is a drip. A drip? Well at least he isn't a sociopath like Margaret and the rest of the beastly and thoroughly boring Pre-teen Sensations. Ugh. You know, I know a lot of teens who go right from kid lit to adult books, skipping the whole teen lit thing. I can definitely see the merit in doing this backwhen this kind of schlock was all there was to read. But now YA literature is so compelling and so fresh and creative, it would be a shame to miss it. Judy Blume books shouldn't be banned. No. They should be a cautionary tale. Or a lesson on how truly bad YA lit once was. Blah.

There's also stuff in here that's been updated from its first printing. When the book came out, Margaret and her friends had to use belts with their pads. I remember reading this book when I was about eight or nine maybe and even then there were no more belts but my mom explained them to me. Well in the 90s Blume updated her book, taking out the belts. This was controversial. I think the book is so bad I don't want to even waste this much space and time on it, so I'm not going to weigh in on either side, but my question is, if you're going to update such junk anyway, why not take out the ridiculous dated statement about tampons being for 'considerably older' girls? I mean come on! And why was this book banned anyway? For almost putting people to sleep? Whatever. Fortunately like I mentioned, I spent fifty cents on this book. Unfortunately, it was forty nine cents too much!