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Dec 17, 2009

Recynd rated it:

I think I was about ten years old when I read this book (one of a Judy Blume box set); I suspect my mother has yet to recover from my ensuing questions: "Mommy, the book I'm reading has a boy in it who keeps saying that 'it went up'. Why would he be embarrassed if his ZIPPER went up? Was it written wrong?"

After my mother's commendable (and surprisingly unflappable)explanation, I had some serious thinkin' to do...I mean, I grew up without brothers, so the nitty-gritty of t More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2007

Jeremy rated it:

Us kids all needed SOMEBODY to give us the lowdown on periods and boners back in the '80s, and Judy Blume tended to be a bit more reliable than that weird kid on the bus. This one's kinda the boy version of "Are You There God...", demystifying for pre-adolescent readers that unfamiliar new stain in their undy-dundypants.

Can you imagine being Judy Blume's child? You'd have been the most well-informed kid on the playground. I bet parents never let their kids go to sleepove More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2009

Richard rated it:

I read this for a real-world book club; it took about two hours to breeze through. Strangely, it was published in 1971 when I would have been twelve years old, just like the boy in the story, but I never heard of it then and was only vaguely aware of the author's name until now.

It struck me as a strange book. The prose was pretty juvenile, with short and uncomplicated sentences. Is it intended for 'tweens? I don't know, it seems a nice "I guess I'm not a freak after all" me More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 29, 2008

Joanie rated it:

This was one of the few Judy Blume books I didn't read when I was younger. I guess it always seemed like a boy's book to me but a friend was going on and on about reading it when she was younger and I felt like I was missing out so I got if from the library. Wasn't there an After School Special about the book too? I know I'm dating myself but I think Leif Garret was in it and he just always seemed like bad news-maybe that was why I stayed away from the book back then too.

The book More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 27, 2008

Ola rated it:

I think I read this back in fourth grade (maybe not the most appropriate book for a 10 year old girl). Recently reread it for nostalgia's sake.
Then Again, Maybe I Won't is a nice read. A comfy read.

Tony Miglione is a kid whose father makes the family rich. They move to a nicer neighborhood (at least on the surface).Tony's neighbor is a shoplifting creep (although his sister is really hot), his mother's starting to become a phony bitch (there's no other way of putting it). This More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Liz rated it:

This book made me feel uncomfortable. But then I realized that was part of what made Judy Blume as an author successful during the 1970s. She wrote about issues that tended to be swept under the rug by the culture (and in fact, still are a bit). Then Again, Maybe I Won't is a realistic fiction novel that tells the story of Tony Miglione as his family goes from lower middle class to more upper class. I thought some of the issues it brought up (selling out, girls, friendship,and shoplifting) are r More...

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Oct 18, 2009

Ella rated it:

This book is about a boy whose life just got weirder. He had to move to a richer environment because his dad got a new job. When he makes a new friend it makes his life very different. His friend’s sister undresses with the blinds open. If that doesn’t say weird then what does?

I can make a text-to-self connection. My connection is that when new people come it my school they are very different. Some are weird different and some are good different. There is one person who is weird diff More...

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Jun 07, 2007

Karen rated it:

Ah yes, my introduction to hard-ons and semen. I had no idea what either of them were, and they're not really explained in the book, so I was in the dark for some time. Why does this guy get to masturbate while Margaret simply waits to need a bra and get her period! Unfair! At least Deenie got to get off in the midst of having scholiosis, I suppose...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 01, 2009

Somebody =] rated it:

wat i lerned was tat a boys life is not easy

3 comments like

Mar 07, 2009

C rated it:

I originally got this book because I heard a news piece on CBC radio that said this book was banned - not exactly sure where, but it made me want to read it.

It's a great story about a young boy whose live changes when his Dad's invention pays off and he has to move, make new friends, deal with changes in his family life and with his growing body. Judy Blume writes as though she once was a boy, but I'm a girl so I don't really know this for 100%, but it sounds pretty accurate, and in More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 23, 2011

Cheryl in CC NV rated it:

Oy. Short, quick, but kinda heavy. I suppose it was groundbreaking in its time, but do 12 year old boys still need something so very 'helpful?' Neat touch to have the boy go to church youth group - I wonder if that protected this book of Blume's from the censors / book banners at all. Too preachy for my taste.

Not really all that engaging - it was more like the author had a checklist of issues she wanted to address and she put as many as she could in each book. I had the same s More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 07, 2010

Erin rated it:

This seems to be the boy's version of "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"--a book that I read (and learned a lot from) when I was in 5th or 6th grade. Judy Blume is a tried-and-true "tween" author because she just seems to "get it"--that is, what kids' brains are really thinking during those weird years when their bodies seem to be going all out of control and their hormones are kicking into overdrive.

All of this "straight talk" was woven int More...

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Aug 31, 2009

Ellen rated it:

I read this when I was about 8 or 9--so yeah, it scared the heck out of me. There I was, a fourth grader, reading about a boy who watched a naked girl through her windows. I don't think I really grasped the whole thing back then--I think I'll go back and reread it. I remember, at the time, one of my best friends was also reading this book, and we found it dirty and scandalous. We giggled, and read the pages like we were about to get yelled at by our teachers.

This book was sure diffe More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 14, 2011

Jalilah rated it:

I got this book for my son but ending up reading it myself so we could talk about it. It is a very well written book. My son is enjoying it a lot too. I wish Judy Blume would write more boy books. My son loved the Fudge books when he was younger, but most of her YA books are for girls. Her characters are real and believable. So many children’s and teen books nowadays are fantasy which is fine, but not all children like it. My son often does not, so it was great to find a book that takes plac More...

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Feb 23, 2010

Sarah rated it:

Tony Miglione enjoys his life - good friends and lots of basketball. But then his father gets a new job in a different city and his family moves. Now Tony has to deal with making new friends. And there's also the matter of the girl next door...

The thing about Judy Blume is that her books are still relevant today. The only way this story dates itself is that Tony's older brother died in Vietnam. But otherwise, the story could be pretty much anytime. Enjoyable. The issues are the same More...

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May 23, 2010

Vanessa rated it:

Like many readers, I stumbled on this as part of a boxed set, bought for me buy my nice Grandma after I convinced her to read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. I suspect she would have been a little nonplussed to learn the story dealt with topics like wet dreams, voyeurism and intricate planning of how to hide erections. Most of that of course went completely over my head (although I did have the sense or lack of courage to not inquire from the nearest adult what those things might be) and I ther More...

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Sep 12, 2008

Melissa rated it:

Tony Miglione is a thirteen-year-old boy who's life just got turned upside down. His father recently sold an invention, and the family now has money, something they didn't have before. They move from comfortable Jersey City to a wealthy neighborhood on Long Island. Tony finds that his family starts to act differently than they did before, and it confuses him more than his new surroundings. The only one who seems to long for the past is Tony's Grandma, who spends her time locked in her room with More...

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Feb 04, 2010

Jason rated it:

(I now maintain a blog just for my kid-lit reviews. Find it at http://kidlit4adults.blogspot.com .)

A friend has convinced me to try my hand this year for the first time at writing children's literature; but I don't actually know anything about children's literature, so am starting the process among other ways by first re-reading a selection of books I myself enjoyed as a kid, to see if I can figure out as an adult why I liked them so much. And being a child of the '70s, of course my More...

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Jul 12, 2010

David rated it:

Judy Blume has been one of my favorite authors growing up. The text allows me to enter a world where the protagonist faces problems instead of me. Blume is also humorous in conveying her stories.
An excerpt I like:
Tony: We were just an ordinary family living in Jersey City. I was happy. My family was happy. I played with my friends’ everyday, I got a job as delivering the daily news to everyone, and my life was perfect.
Then it came. My brother, Ralph had a kid. Our family was to More...

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Mar 09, 2008

Polly rated it:

Tony Miglione was born into a family that was not very poor or rich. But when he was 12, his father got rich from an invention. From then on he moved to Long Island and live like the rich. But he doesn't like it at all, he wish to have the old life back because her mother is trying to look down at poors, his brothers give up his signicant teacher job to join the business like his father. His grandmother who can't speak were told to rest and no need to cook for the family no more but she loves t More...

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Jul 22, 2009

Jen B rated it:

The boy version of Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. I enjoyed this one (though not as much as Margaret). I never read this as a kid, but reading it as an adult makes me appreciate how much of a pioneer Judy Blume really was. She's not afraid to write about anything, no matter how taboo the subject. I'll definitely be sharing this one with my son when he's a bit older. Even though it's a bit dated now, Tony's teenage problems are universal and still very much relevant.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Aldean rated it:

I would not presume to blame a book for any of my own foibles, but I do sometimes wonder if reading this particular book when I did had any influence at all on my now-lifelong fondness for voyeurism. Not that I have ever been out in the bushes peeping through windows. But hey, if the neighbor across the courtyard wants to bake cookies topless at 3am, I am going to take it all in. Or then again, maybe I won't.

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Jun 16, 2008

george rated it:

Tony Miglione is confused. He's lived all his life in an average New Jersey neighborhood with an average family. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, his father announces that they are rich because of an invention he developed and are moving to Long Island. Tony's not so sure about this--what's wrong with New Jersey? And what's suddenly wrong with Dad's old work trucke? And why can't Grandma cook anymore? Everything is changing and Tony doesn't like the look of most of it--his mother's trying to be a More...

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Aug 03, 2011

Sadaf rated it:

I read this when I was about 8 or 9 so yeah, it scared the heck out of me. There I was, a little girl, reading about a boy who watched a naked girl through her windows! I did not grasp the whole thing back then, until recently I reread it. It really talks about some sensitive adolescent male subjects, though I think it does not resolve a lot of problems. I found it quite an average read, maybe guys would enjoy it more.

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Aug 06, 2009

Mary rated it:

Ever since his parents became rish from a invention, Tony; the protagonist family moved to a more wealthy neighborhood in Long Island. He met new friends; such as Joel; who shoplifts, and Joels sixteen year-old sister Lisa who gets undressed every night. Based on Tony's new life, he is confused about growing up and have always quesetioned why couldn't things have stayed the same.

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Aug 25, 2008

Talia rated it:

Tony is a 12 year old boy perfectly happy with his life in Jersey until his father strikes it rich with an invention that places his family on Long Island. There, Tony sees his family changing, and he doesn't feel for the better! Unfortunately, Tony has a problem expressing how he feels, which results in terrible stomachaches. With family issues, friends that steal, a hot female neighbor, and other male growing up issues, Tony's poor stomach can't handle any more!

This is one of the More...

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Mar 22, 2010

Michelle286 rated it:

I read this book when I was a kid and remembered learning a little from it because I didn't have anyone really telling me anything. I re-read it recently wondering if I should let my son read it. And probably not yet, although maybe in another year or so. He's just still too into legos and pretend fighting bad guys to introduce anything he may not be thinking about yet.

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May 16, 2009

Victoria rated it:

I read this when I was 12-13. I don't remember anything about it at all except that I read it over and over so I must have liked it! I remember hiding the book, thinking I shouldn't be reading it - maybe because it has a lot about growing up and contains a lot of stuff that 'mum and dad' would rather not talk about. Because of this I think it must a good young adult book.

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Jul 28, 2011

Carolee rated it:

Had to read it (just like most of my other 'Judy Blume junkie' friends) even with its masculine storyline. I think it actually helped me understand boys better. Now, let's see a pre-pubescent lad pick up "Are you there God, it's me Margaret" ... might make "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" unnecessary later on...just a thought.

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Dec 27, 2009

Mell rated it:

Came across this title recently on a "banned book list." I remember reading this (maybe in 4th or 5th grade?) and learning about wet dreams- tee hee. And he spies on a neighbor girl or something, hence the binoculars he hold on the cover. Knowing it was a banned book back then it would have seemed even more interesting!

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