The Genius of Judy

How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us

By: Rachelle Bergstein

Narrated by: Mia Barron

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

This “lively and important portrait of a true literary revolutionary” (Los Angeles Times) explores Judy Blume’s life, work, and cultural impact, focusing on her most iconic—and controversial—young adult novels, from Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret to Blubber.

Everyone knows Judy Blume.

Her books have garnered her fans of all ages for decades and sold tens of millions of copies. But why were people so drawn to them? And why are we still talking about them now in the 21st century?

In The Genius of Judy, her remarkable story is revealed as never before, beginning with her as a mother of two searching for purpose in 1960s suburban New Jersey. The books she wrote starred regular children with genuine thoughts and problems. But behind those deceptively simple tales, Blume explored the pillars of the growing women’s rights movement, in which girls and women were entitled to careers, bodily autonomy, fulfilling relationships, and even sexual pleasure. Blume wasn’t trying to be a revolutionary—she just wanted to tell honest stories—but in doing so, she created a cohesive, culture-altering vision of modern adolescence.

Blume’s bravery provoked backlash, making her the country’s most-banned author in the mid-1980s. Thankfully, her works withstood those culture wars and it’s no coincidence that Blume has resurfaced as a cultural touchstone now. Young girls are still cat-called, sex education curricula are getting dismissed as pornography, and entire shelves of libraries are being banned. As we face these challenges, it’s only natural we look to Blume, the grand dame of so-called dirty books. This is the “ground-breaking” (BookPage) story of how a housewife became an artist, and how generations of empowered fans are her legacy, today more than ever.

A Total Delight

A terrific listen done by a marvelous narrator, sharing an incredibly educational and entertaining look back at the life of Judy Blume. As a huge fan of Judy Blume, I was all in on everything about Judy's life and body of work. I can't recommend this book enough.

Great mix of bio, lit crit, and history

I was in the fifth grade, ten years old, when the recently published Are You There God? It's me, Margaret passed from hand to hand among the girls in my grade. As I grew older, so did the audience Judy Blume wrote for so I read he books for many years.

This book reminded me how much of an impact Judy Blume had on me because, as this book points out, she told her readers that things they couldn't talk about or things they did that nobody talked about were ok, perfectly normal. I didn't think about it till listening to this book but how would life have been different if this one person hadn't told me in a novel that I was normal?

The author does a great job weaving bio, lit crit, and the history of the times in which Blume wrote the books--and the aftermath (e.g., bannings NOT when published but in later years when all the Crazy Christians etc. objected to *Gasp* 17-yr-olds in love having sex and other ridiculous stuff).