Deenie

By: Judy Blume

Narrated by: Kim Mai Guest

When Deenie finds out that she has scoliosis, she’s scared. When she sees the brace for the first time, she wants to scream.

But the words won’t come out. And Deenie, beautiful Deenie, who everyone says should be a model, is stuck wearing a brace from her neck to her hips. For four years—or longer. She never worried about how she looked before—how will she ever face the hard times ahead?

Deenie

I loved this book, it is a truly heartfelt story, with Deenie’s emotional love and joy.

Better than I remembered

Listening to this book brought back so many memories. My momwasn't thrilled with my reading Jody Blume books, and now I do think some of the content about masturbation is somewhat unnecessary. However, Blume captures teen angst perfectly. Back then, reading Deenie brought on new meaning when a friend had to wear a brace for scoliosis. The experience made me realize that knowledge about a disease can help me be more compassionate to the afflicted...an understanding that has carried over into a nursing career.

Re-listening to Deenie now, I still found the book entertaining. The narrator does a superb job. There is a timeless quality to Blume's writing that keeps her books relevant even 40 years later. A relaxing listen for all ages.

Introduced the book to my 14 yr old

I loved the audio version, this is a coming of age classic. Judy Blume is a hero to pre-teen girls…helping them navigate through those terrifying waters, she normalizes sexual curiosity while making you laugh.

Nothing

I'm of two minds about this whole thing - I dig it, but I don't dig it, you know what I mean? It's a real head-scratcher, if you ask me.

Underrated Blume

Reads like a gender-swapped version of "Then Again Maybe I Won't" where a loving supporting family guides the main character's journey without her being aware of it. This is peak Second Wave Feminist Blume, with the passage about a teacher openly discussing masturbation that appears in the documentary about the author. Blume's 13 year old seems hopelessly naive today, but reflects a loss of innocence that comes from changing norms (for comparison's sake, remember that the "cash me outside" girl was around that age). Ultimately a story of self-acceptance and testing boundaries to get a better sense of who you are.