• 2 months ago
Transcript
00:00Time for feeding the turtle, it's the thrill of one bite, feeding brown little pellets
00:09to your reptile.
00:11Hey, where's Tibby?
00:16Moby, have you seen my turtle?
00:21What do you mean he's in a better place?
00:24Hmm, it does look kind of nice in there.
00:32Dear Tim and Moby, I have to read a book by Judy Blume for school.
00:37Can you tell me more about her?
00:39Sincerely, Haley Well, Judy Blume is one of the most famous
00:44children's authors in America.
00:47Since the late 1960s, she's published more than 25 books and sold more than 75 million
00:53copies.
00:54Blume has written for all ages, but her most popular works are novels for and about kids.
01:01Well, you know, growing up can be kind of tough, and adults don't always remember how
01:06difficult it is.
01:08But Judy Blume has always taken kids' problems seriously and handled them with sympathy and
01:13humor.
01:15Take one of her first books, Are You There, God?
01:17It's Me, Margaret.
01:19It's written in the voice of a 12-year-old girl who has quite a few problems.
01:24Margaret is starting sixth grade in a new town, and she worries about fitting in.
01:28She worries about faith, since her mom is Christian and her dad is Jewish.
01:33And she's just starting puberty, so she's concerned that she might be maturing more
01:37slowly than other girls in her grade.
01:40Well, actually, the book is pretty funny.
01:43But it deals with some important stuff in a way that's not too serious or preachy.
01:48I mean, before Judy Blume came along, if you wanted to read about puberty, all you'd have
01:52is something like this.
01:57Older books about growing up didn't have realistic characters, and they usually lectured kids
02:01instead of sympathizing with them.
02:04That's why Blume's books, like Deanie and Superfudge, have remained popular, even though
02:08they were written in the 1970s.
02:12In fact, her books tackle a variety of important issues.
02:16Like Blubber deals with bullying, and It's Not the End of the World is about divorce.
02:22Actually, most of her ideas have come from her own life.
02:27Judy Blume was born in 1938 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
02:32She had a pretty normal childhood.
02:34Her dad was a dentist, and her mother was a stay-at-home mom.
02:38As a girl, Judy made up stories in her head, but she never wrote them down.
02:43In fact, she didn't start writing until the late 1960s when she was married with two young
02:47children of her own.
02:49So she often combined her own childhood experiences with the problems her kids and their classmates
02:54are going through.
02:56Well, actually, not everybody likes her books.
03:00Some adults feel that they're inappropriate for young kids.
03:05Over the years, certain parent and teacher groups have tried to ban Judy Blume books
03:09from school libraries.
03:12Well, parents have the right to decide what books, movies, and TV shows are appropriate
03:17for their own kids.
03:19But removing books from a library means that nobody can read them.
03:23That's called censorship, and it's a controversial practice.
03:27Judy Blume herself has been speaking out against it for decades.
03:31She's served on the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship, and has even
03:35edited a collection of stories by censored writers.
03:40Well, today, she lives with her husband on the East Coast, and she's still writing and
03:44speaking at engagements all over the country.
03:47Now, um, can I have my turtle back?
03:52Can I at least feed him?
04:00Um...
04:05Oh, okay, fine.