The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us

by Rachelle Bergstein

“My mother used to say, ‘We never have to punish Judy… if you look at her wrong, she cries,’ ” Blume wrote in Letters to Judy. “Well, yes… but I wish I had been able to risk showing my anger now and then. I wish I had felt secure enough to know that once I had gotten it all out I would still be loved.”

Kids are allowed to blow off steam in Judy Blume’s books, even if the fallout is ugly.

And it’s not just the children in Blume’s stories who act out—the moms and dads have their moments of gross humanity, too.