WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 Welcome to the Deep Dive. We're the place you 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:05.580 come to get the essential, maybe surprising, 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:07.980 definitely important nuggets from some pretty 00:00:07.980 --> 00:00:10.019 complex source material. That's right. We sift 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:13.580 through it so you don't have to. And today we 00:00:13.580 --> 00:00:16.579 are taking a really comprehensive look at someone 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:20.519 many of you probably grew up with. Judith, Judy 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:25.079 Blume. Her life, her amazing career, and well... 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.739 Her complicated legacy. Complicated is definitely 00:00:27.739 --> 00:00:29.699 the word. I mean, if you've ever read one of 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:32.340 her books, and let's be honest, who hasn't? You 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:34.520 know the name. The numbers are just staggering. 00:00:34.780 --> 00:00:39.119 She sold over 82 million copies globally. 82 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:42.840 million. And it's not just sales. Her influence. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.219 Time magazine just last year in 2023 named her 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:48.299 one of the 100 most influential people in the 00:00:48.299 --> 00:00:50.539 world. That's that's generational reach global. 00:00:50.859 --> 00:00:53.060 Absolutely. But and this is the core paradox 00:00:53.060 --> 00:00:55.259 our source material brings up right away. Judy 00:00:55.259 --> 00:00:57.700 Blume is also simultaneously one of the most 00:00:57.700 --> 00:01:00.100 frequently challenged authors. Yeah. Challenge 00:01:00.100 --> 00:01:03.020 censored outright banned. particularly in U .S. 00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:05.400 schools and public libraries. It's wild. It really 00:01:05.400 --> 00:01:08.359 is. So you have this massive global influence 00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:11.239 on one hand and this intense, often very local, 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:13.780 pushback on the other. So our mission today, 00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:16.719 our deep dive, is to unpack that. We're digging 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:20.260 into her dedicated biographical sources to figure 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:25.340 out how she became this literary force, you know, 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.859 someone who basically defined adolescence for 00:01:27.859 --> 00:01:30.379 so many people starting way back in 1969 right 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:33.469 through to 2020. And specifically why the kinds 00:01:33.469 --> 00:01:35.769 of realistic topics she tackled, the stuff nobody 00:01:35.769 --> 00:01:38.769 else was touching, led directly to these decades, 00:01:39.090 --> 00:01:41.129 literally decades of censorship battles. Okay, 00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:43.209 let's unpack this then. Right. How does someone 00:01:43.209 --> 00:01:45.969 rack up that kind of acclaim, sell tens of millions 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:48.409 of books, become a Time 100 influencer? Right. 00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.200 And still be a constant target for censorship. 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:53.519 That tension, that paradox, that's really the 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:55.099 heart of what we're digging into today. And I 00:01:55.099 --> 00:01:57.420 think the answer lies squarely in the power and 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:00.200 maybe the perceived danger of her subject matter. 00:02:00.340 --> 00:02:02.379 Her main area, yeah, it's often called realist 00:02:02.379 --> 00:02:04.799 young adult novels. YA, basically. Right, YA. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:07.299 But it's so important to see her versatility, 00:02:07.420 --> 00:02:11.039 too. She wrote and continued to write these incredibly 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:13.139 beloved children's books. Think of the Fudge 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:15.240 series. Oh, yeah. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:19.400 Classic. Exactly. Hugely popular. And she also 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:21.599 wrote for adults later on and successfully to 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.039 multiple New York Times bestsellers. OK. But 00:02:24.039 --> 00:02:26.520 her real like indelible mark that was definitely 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:28.580 made in children's and young adult literature. 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.580 She just she transformed the whole landscape, 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.560 changed the conversation about what was OK or 00:02:33.560 --> 00:02:36.379 even possible to talk about with young readers. 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:38.379 So to really get a handle on this revolution 00:02:38.379 --> 00:02:40.599 she started, we need to go back, back to the 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:42.699 beginning. Sure. Her foundations. Makes sense. 00:02:42.840 --> 00:02:45.199 So she was born Judith Sussman, Elizabeth, New 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:49.479 Jersey, 1938. Grew up in a Jewish family. Education 00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:51.259 -wise, it was kind of typical for her time and 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:54.060 place. Brief stint at Boston University. And 00:02:54.060 --> 00:02:56.280 finished up at NYU New York University. Graduated 00:02:56.280 --> 00:02:59.789 61. Bachelor's degree in education. And the timing 00:02:59.789 --> 00:03:02.349 here, the early 60s context, it's really crucial. 00:03:02.530 --> 00:03:05.030 She married her first husband, John M. Bloom. 00:03:05.210 --> 00:03:07.990 He was a lawyer back in 1959. Then her daughter, 00:03:08.150 --> 00:03:11.110 Randy Lee, was born in 61. And following that, 00:03:11.349 --> 00:03:14.310 Judy basically stepped into the expected role 00:03:14.310 --> 00:03:16.849 of a suburban homemaker. Right. So Lawrence came 00:03:16.849 --> 00:03:18.530 along a couple of years later. Yep, exactly. 00:03:18.889 --> 00:03:21.789 So by the mid -60s, picture it. She's in that 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:25.090 domestic sphere raising two young kids. And this 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:26.629 is where it gets interesting for her writing 00:03:26.629 --> 00:03:30.099 career, right? The aha. Totally. She apparently 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:32.939 always had this habit, kind of an internal thing, 00:03:33.139 --> 00:03:36.400 of making up stories in her head. Like just daydreaming? 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:39.370 Sort of, yeah. But she hadn't really pursued 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:41.629 writing like as a thing. It was specifically 00:03:41.629 --> 00:03:43.629 during those hours when her kids were off at 00:03:43.629 --> 00:03:46.650 preschool or nursery school. Exactly. She felt 00:03:46.650 --> 00:03:49.590 this maybe creative vacuum and need to do something 00:03:49.590 --> 00:03:52.250 for herself. So she started writing stories down. 00:03:52.349 --> 00:03:55.310 And she actually said it was partly just to entertain 00:03:55.310 --> 00:03:57.909 herself to fill that time. Wow. So it wasn't 00:03:57.909 --> 00:04:00.789 some grand plan initially. Doesn't sound like 00:04:00.789 --> 00:04:03.719 it. More like a personal need. But she did build 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:06.879 on those education courses she took at NYU. It 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:09.099 was a conscious effort turning what could have 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:12.199 been, you know, isolating time, the 60s suburban 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:14.960 housewife stereotype into this period of like 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:18.399 intense creativity. That's amazing. Turning that 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:21.480 circumstance into fuel. Yeah. And that drive, 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:24.240 that need to express things. It was also shaped 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.060 by some pretty heavy stuff in her childhood. 00:04:26.300 --> 00:04:28.779 Our sources mentioned several hardships that 00:04:28.779 --> 00:04:31.939 clearly left a mark, often in ways that didn't. 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:34.100 really come out until much much later like what 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:36.300 well for instance when she was in third grade 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:38.800 her older brother david got really sick a kidney 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.759 infection he needed a two -year recovery period 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:44.620 two years yeah and it meant this complicated 00:04:44.620 --> 00:04:48.009 family situation Judy, her brother and her mom 00:04:48.009 --> 00:04:50.389 had to temporarily move down to Miami Beach for 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:52.509 his recovery. While her dad stayed back home. 00:04:52.629 --> 00:04:55.110 Right. Stayed in Jersey to keep his dental practice 00:04:55.110 --> 00:04:58.569 running. So you've got separation, illness, being 00:04:58.569 --> 00:05:00.850 displaced. That kind of experience definitely 00:05:00.850 --> 00:05:02.889 teaches you something about childhood anxiety, 00:05:03.069 --> 00:05:05.410 you know. Absolutely. Yeah. But you said some 00:05:05.410 --> 00:05:07.290 things didn't surface until later. Yeah. The 00:05:07.290 --> 00:05:09.490 really stunning example, the one that draws this 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:12.750 incredibly direct line between this like. Buried 00:05:12.750 --> 00:05:14.990 childhood trauma and her later adult fiction 00:05:14.990 --> 00:05:18.129 is the Elizabeth plane crashes. Oh, I read about 00:05:18.129 --> 00:05:20.189 this. This was in her hometown. Yes. Elizabeth, 00:05:20.310 --> 00:05:24.050 New Jersey. Between 1951 and 52, three separate 00:05:24.050 --> 00:05:27.029 planes crashed there. In rapid succession. Three. 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:30.250 That's terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. Major 00:05:30.250 --> 00:05:33.949 disasters. 121 people died in total. The whole 00:05:33.949 --> 00:05:36.850 community was just gripped by fear. And she lived 00:05:36.850 --> 00:05:39.029 through that as a kid. As a young teenager, yeah. 00:05:39.209 --> 00:05:42.029 And what's just fascinating, almost unbelievable, 00:05:42.089 --> 00:05:44.670 is how these memories, which she said she literally 00:05:44.670 --> 00:05:48.310 buried, became the absolute core plot for her 00:05:48.310 --> 00:05:51.750 2015 adult novel, In the Unlikely Event. decades 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:54.149 later. And her father was involved somehow. Her 00:05:54.149 --> 00:05:56.490 father, Rudolph Sussman, he was a dentist, and 00:05:56.490 --> 00:05:58.370 he was one of the people called upon to help 00:05:58.370 --> 00:06:00.610 identify the victim's remains, some of which 00:06:00.610 --> 00:06:03.730 were, well, unrecognizable. Oh, my God. Imagine 00:06:03.730 --> 00:06:05.970 carrying that. It's a kid. Knowing your dad is 00:06:05.970 --> 00:06:08.290 doing that work, seeing your pound go through 00:06:08.290 --> 00:06:11.250 that. Exactly. The weight of that experience. 00:06:11.550 --> 00:06:13.009 It just adds this whole other layer, doesn't 00:06:13.009 --> 00:06:16.370 it? The author famous for dealing with the immediate 00:06:16.370 --> 00:06:19.350 anxieties of growing up periods, first crushes, 00:06:19.350 --> 00:06:22.360 all that. was also holding on to this massive, 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:27.600 unprocessed community trauma for decades. It 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:29.459 really speaks to how long it can take for art 00:06:29.459 --> 00:06:32.100 to process life. It really does. It took her, 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:34.699 what, nearly 60 years to write about that specific 00:06:34.699 --> 00:06:37.279 New Jersey trauma. But the writing career itself, 00:06:37.379 --> 00:06:40.040 that got going much faster, relatively speaking. 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:42.660 Right, after the kids were in school. Yeah. Though 00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:45.220 it wasn't instant success, she apparently went 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:48.220 through about two years of constant rejections 00:06:48.220 --> 00:06:50.500 from publishers. Two years. Yeah. That takes 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:53.540 persistence. It does. But then finally, her first 00:06:53.540 --> 00:06:56.660 book got published in 1969, A Children's Story. 00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.160 The one in the middle is The Green Kangaroo. 00:06:59.259 --> 00:07:01.860 The Green Kangaroo. Then book number two, Iggy's 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:04.860 House, came out the next year, 1970. That one 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:07.139 was actually a rewrite of a story she'd published 00:07:07.139 --> 00:07:09.639 earlier in a magazine called Trailblazer. So 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:11.399 she was already reworking things, finding her 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:15.459 voice. seems like it but the real i mean the 00:07:15.459 --> 00:07:18.199 seismic shift the breakthrough moment happened 00:07:18.199 --> 00:07:21.620 later that same year 1970 her third book let 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:24.699 me guess margaret bingo are you there god it's 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:26.680 me margaret that was it the one everyone knows 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:30.180 instant classic it wasn't just a popular book 00:07:30.180 --> 00:07:32.019 it immediately established her put her right 00:07:32.019 --> 00:07:34.180 at the forefront of this emerging thing called 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:38.870 young adult literature it felt necessary. Like 00:07:38.870 --> 00:07:40.810 it was speaking direct role to kids who were 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:43.870 tired of the old kind of preachy books. OK, so 00:07:43.870 --> 00:07:46.430 Margaret's success, that basically kicks off 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:49.149 what we can pretty accurately call the Judy Blume 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:51.430 YA revolution, right? Absolutely. Revolution 00:07:51.430 --> 00:07:53.389 is the right word. She didn't just write good 00:07:53.389 --> 00:07:56.569 YA novels. She fundamentally reshaped the entire 00:07:56.569 --> 00:07:59.089 genre. How so? Well, she was one of the very 00:07:59.089 --> 00:08:01.410 first major authors, especially for that age 00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:04.370 group, to build entire novels around topics that 00:08:04.370 --> 00:08:06.899 were, well, Controversial, realistic things that 00:08:06.899 --> 00:08:08.779 kids and teens were definitely thinking about, 00:08:08.860 --> 00:08:11.259 worrying about. That were totally off limits 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:13.899 in books. Exactly. Strictly taboo in the literary 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:15.920 world for young people at that time. We need 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:18.500 to remember what YA was like before her. in the 00:08:18.500 --> 00:08:21.639 early 70s yeah the context is key a lot of books 00:08:21.639 --> 00:08:24.060 for kids back then were really didactic they 00:08:24.060 --> 00:08:27.139 were meant to teach a lesson you know instill 00:08:27.139 --> 00:08:30.100 virtue provide this neat moral road map that 00:08:30.100 --> 00:08:33.139 often just ignored how messy real life actually 00:08:33.139 --> 00:08:35.980 is and bloom just threw that out pretty much 00:08:35.980 --> 00:08:38.539 rejected it completely her openness was just 00:08:38.539 --> 00:08:41.620 unprecedented think about the subjects she tackled 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:46.149 head -on masturbation menstruation actual teen 00:08:46.149 --> 00:08:50.470 sex, birth control, serious family fights, brutal 00:08:50.470 --> 00:08:54.139 bullying, body image stuff, even death. That's 00:08:54.139 --> 00:08:56.299 a list. And she always said she wrote about these 00:08:56.299 --> 00:08:58.759 things for two main reasons. One, she believed 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:01.200 kids needed honest information about them. And 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.299 two, because these were the exact things she 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:04.799 wondered about constantly when she was a kid 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:06.480 growing up in Jersey and there were just no books 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.879 talking about it. So it was filling a void she 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:11.139 felt herself. Totally. It was a shift from like, 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:14.320 here's your lesson fiction to I see you. This 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:17.139 is real fiction. Pure connection. And how did 00:09:17.139 --> 00:09:19.019 she make that connection so strong? Was it just 00:09:19.019 --> 00:09:21.370 the topics? The topics were huge, obviously, 00:09:21.610 --> 00:09:23.929 but her technique was just as revolutionary. 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:27.009 Her mastery of the first -person narrative. Ah, 00:09:27.269 --> 00:09:29.190 writing from the kid's point of view. Exactly. 00:09:29.409 --> 00:09:32.169 It wasn't just what she said, it was how. By 00:09:32.169 --> 00:09:34.509 putting the reader right inside the head, the 00:09:34.509 --> 00:09:37.110 internal monologue of characters like Margaret 00:09:37.110 --> 00:09:40.590 or Dini later on, she basically got rid of that 00:09:40.590 --> 00:09:43.870 judging adult voice that usually policed YA stories. 00:09:44.370 --> 00:09:47.519 So the worries felt real. Universal. Universal, 00:09:47.860 --> 00:09:50.679 yeah. And maybe most importantly, normal. Not 00:09:50.679 --> 00:09:52.519 something to be ashamed of. Okay, let's tick 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:54.379 off some of the key books and what they did. 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:57.840 Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. 1970, 00:09:58.220 --> 00:10:00.379 obviously the big one. Focused on puberty anxiety. 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:02.840 Yeah, waiting for your period, worrying about 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:04.820 breast development, questioning religion and 00:10:04.820 --> 00:10:07.440 identity. All of it. Still the gold standard 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.100 for that experience. And she just kept pushing 00:10:09.100 --> 00:10:11.830 the envelope. Oh, yeah. She released this wave 00:10:11.830 --> 00:10:14.090 of books tackling specific things nobody talked 00:10:14.090 --> 00:10:18.070 about. Dini in 1973. That was huge because it 00:10:18.070 --> 00:10:19.649 talked about masturbation. Right. How does she 00:10:19.649 --> 00:10:22.049 handle that? Clinically, but not judgmentally. 00:10:22.070 --> 00:10:24.389 It wasn't presented as like a sin or dangerous, 00:10:24.470 --> 00:10:27.190 just a part of life, part of self -discovery. 00:10:27.610 --> 00:10:30.190 That might seem small now, but back then it was 00:10:30.190 --> 00:10:32.809 like breaking down a massive cultural wall. And 00:10:32.809 --> 00:10:34.470 she didn't shy away from the tough social stuff 00:10:34.470 --> 00:10:37.059 either, right? Like bullying. Not at all. Blubber 00:10:37.059 --> 00:10:41.159 1974. That was a really raw, unflinching look 00:10:41.159 --> 00:10:44.659 at how cruel kids can be. Peer pressure, exclusion, 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:47.980 humiliation. Did that get pushed back, too? Oh, 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:50.860 yeah. Blubber got its own special kind of criticism. 00:10:51.539 --> 00:10:54.039 Some people, especially more conservative readers, 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:57.059 argued it sent the wrong message because the 00:10:57.059 --> 00:11:00.620 bullies. particularly the main one, Linda, don't 00:11:00.620 --> 00:11:02.720 really face serious consequences in the story. 00:11:02.899 --> 00:11:05.159 There's no neat, tidy punishment from adults. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:07.320 Critics felt that showed kids they could get 00:11:07.320 --> 00:11:09.419 away with being awful. Interesting. So they wanted 00:11:09.419 --> 00:11:11.519 a moral hammer to come down. Exactly. They wanted 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.740 that didactic ending and Bloom just wasn't giving 00:11:13.740 --> 00:11:15.779 it to them. She showed the messiness. What about 00:11:15.779 --> 00:11:18.960 family issues like divorce? It's not the end 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:22.860 of the world. 1972. That book was praised, widely 00:11:22.860 --> 00:11:26.120 praised as almost like. Literary therapy for 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:28.159 kids going through their parents' divorce. Which 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.500 was becoming more common then. Increasingly common, 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:32.559 yeah, but still pretty absent from children's 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:35.139 literature. Bloom provided this really genuine 00:11:35.139 --> 00:11:37.299 sympathetic guide through that confusion and 00:11:37.299 --> 00:11:40.419 pain. Okay, but the one book that really cemented 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:46.120 her place on banned book lists forever. Oh. The 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:48.480 one that was maybe the most revolutionary. Has 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:51.740 to be forever. Forever. Published in 1975. Yeah. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:55.000 Forever. Was it just groundbreaking for YA? A 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.419 lot of critics consider it the first major young 00:11:57.419 --> 00:12:00.240 adult novel to portray a consensual teenage sexual 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:02.379 relationship between Catherine and Michael as, 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:05.860 well, normal. Normal. How so? Normal in the sense 00:12:05.860 --> 00:12:08.259 that it was positive, healthy, and crucially, 00:12:08.299 --> 00:12:10.700 it didn't end in some kind of obligatory tragedy. 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:13.389 You know, the usual tropes, unwanted pregnancy, 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:16.470 STDs, maybe even death, that often showed up 00:12:16.470 --> 00:12:19.029 if a book even dared touch teen sex before them. 00:12:19.129 --> 00:12:20.929 Right, the punishment for having sex. Exactly. 00:12:21.269 --> 00:12:23.389 Bloom rejected that narrative. And there's a 00:12:23.389 --> 00:12:25.649 story behind why she wrote it, isn't there? About 00:12:25.649 --> 00:12:27.909 her daughter. Yeah, it's such a telling anecdote. 00:12:28.149 --> 00:12:30.690 Apparently her daughter, Randy, who was 13 at 00:12:30.690 --> 00:12:32.830 the time, told her she wanted to read a book 00:12:32.830 --> 00:12:35.110 where the characters have sex, but, and this 00:12:35.110 --> 00:12:38.480 is the quote, don't die afterward. Wow. Just 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:41.700 don't die. That's a low bar. But it says everything 00:12:41.700 --> 00:12:44.600 about what was available. Doesn't it? That simple 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:47.600 desire for normalcy, for survival in a narrative, 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.519 was actually radical. And Bloom delivered. She 00:12:50.519 --> 00:12:52.740 made the characters feel real, gave them believable 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:54.980 personalities. Catherine and Michael. Right. 00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.379 And she included frank, detailed descriptions 00:12:57.379 --> 00:13:00.320 of them using birth control. She emphasized consent. 00:13:00.379 --> 00:13:03.159 And she depicted a relationship that, well, it 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:06.450 just... ran its natural course. It ended, but 00:13:06.450 --> 00:13:08.970 not because of some external moral judgment or 00:13:08.970 --> 00:13:10.690 divine intervention. Right. Here's where I think 00:13:10.690 --> 00:13:12.950 it gets really interesting. This idea that her 00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:15.990 books became this kind of roadmap for readers, 00:13:16.149 --> 00:13:17.850 especially for young girls, right? Definitely. 00:13:17.870 --> 00:13:20.169 Who maybe felt totally alone dealing with their 00:13:20.169 --> 00:13:23.149 bodies, changing their feelings. She offered 00:13:23.149 --> 00:13:25.389 this powerful counter -narrative to a culture 00:13:25.389 --> 00:13:28.250 that, let's face it, often wrapped female sexuality 00:13:28.250 --> 00:13:31.409 and purity in so much shame and silence. Absolutely. 00:13:32.139 --> 00:13:35.059 By just normalizing these experiences, periods, 00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:39.299 bras, crushes, sex, she wasn't just giving information, 00:13:39.500 --> 00:13:41.840 she was giving validation. It was like her books 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:44.059 were saying, hey, it's okay, you're okay. And 00:13:44.059 --> 00:13:46.220 more than okay, maybe. I read somewhere that 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:49.620 her books made being a woman pretty cool, actually. 00:13:49.860 --> 00:13:52.039 Like suggesting there should be excitement and 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:55.279 curiosity about growing up, not just fear. Yes. 00:13:55.879 --> 00:13:57.919 That sense of excitement, of resilience, that's 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.500 key. Critics who understood her work saw that 00:14:00.500 --> 00:14:02.879 she gave her characters the freedom to be complicated, 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:05.740 to make mistakes, without needing to be saved 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:08.000 or condemned. She trusted the readers. She trusted 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:10.000 her readers, yeah. Trusted they were resilient 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.299 enough to handle disappointment, navigate regret, 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:14.759 without needing some heavy -handed moral lesson 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:16.559 from the author at the end. And that message 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:20.159 of agency, of survival, of trusting the reader's 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:22.600 intelligence, that's precisely why her work hit 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:24.860 so hard. And also why it became so threatening 00:14:24.860 --> 00:14:26.879 to people. who thought books should impose strict 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:29.399 moral boundaries. Exactly. It challenged that 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.899 control. Now, before we move on from YA, we absolutely 00:14:32.899 --> 00:14:34.799 have to give a shout out to her children's books 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:37.980 too. Because while we're focusing on the YA revolution, 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:40.840 the Fudge series was huge. Tales of a Fourth 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:43.519 Grade, nothing. Super Fudge, Double Fudge. Oh, 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:46.679 massive. Can't forget Fudge. Those books nailed 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:49.179 universal stuff like sibling rivalry, family 00:14:49.179 --> 00:14:53.110 life. Perfectly. It shows she could connect with 00:14:53.110 --> 00:14:55.549 really young readers, too. Her reach was just 00:14:55.549 --> 00:14:57.529 incredible across all of childhood, really. Yeah, 00:14:57.610 --> 00:15:00.350 totally. Peter and Fudge are iconic. Okay, so 00:15:00.350 --> 00:15:02.570 by the late 70s, Bloom is basically the queen 00:15:02.570 --> 00:15:05.370 of YA and disputed. But she didn't just stay 00:15:05.370 --> 00:15:08.269 there, did she? Nope, she kept evolving. In 1978, 00:15:08.610 --> 00:15:11.090 she made a pretty significant pivot, published 00:15:11.090 --> 00:15:14.070 her first novel explicitly for adults. Wifey. 00:15:14.070 --> 00:15:16.250 Wifey. And what was that about? Was it similar 00:15:16.250 --> 00:15:18.850 territory? In a way, yes. It was a very direct, 00:15:18.889 --> 00:15:21.889 very frank exploration of adult female sexuality, 00:15:22.250 --> 00:15:25.090 sure, but also marital dissatisfaction. That 00:15:25.090 --> 00:15:28.789 kind of existential boredom or dread that could 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:30.990 come with the suburban homemaker life she herself 00:15:30.990 --> 00:15:33.769 had known. Ah, interesting connection. Back to 00:15:33.769 --> 00:15:36.259 her own early writing days. Definitely. And the 00:15:36.259 --> 00:15:38.480 move paid off instantly, commercially speaking. 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:42.080 Wow. Wifey sold over four million copies. Wow. 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:45.340 Yeah. Huge seller. Hit the New York Times bestseller 00:15:45.340 --> 00:15:48.220 list hard. And you can see that thematic bridge, 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:50.740 right? She didn't really change her core subject. 00:15:50.860 --> 00:15:54.460 That frank look at female desire, self -discovery, 00:15:54.460 --> 00:15:56.799 maybe disillusionment. She just aged up the characters. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.419 Exactly. Wifey was about a woman rebelling against 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:03.240 feeling. you know, consumed by domesticity, a 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:05.840 pretty natural progression from the girls in 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:07.799 her YA books who were figuring out who they were 00:16:07.799 --> 00:16:09.720 going to be. Did you follow up with more adult 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:13.019 fiction? She did. In 1983, Smart Women came out, 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:15.299 another big success, also topped the Times list. 00:16:15.460 --> 00:16:18.519 But it was her third adult novel, Summer Sisters, 00:16:18.700 --> 00:16:21.840 in 1998, that really proved something interesting. 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.019 What was that? That the controversy would follow 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:26.059 her no matter who the intended audience was. 00:16:26.340 --> 00:16:29.139 Ah, so Summer Sisters got pushback too, even 00:16:29.139 --> 00:16:30.750 though it was for adults. Yep. It was another 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:33.110 huge commercial hit, sold over 3 million copies, 00:16:33.289 --> 00:16:35.289 got a lot of critical praise actually for how 00:16:35.289 --> 00:16:37.870 it depicted this really intense female friendship 00:16:37.870 --> 00:16:41.090 over decades. But... the familiar criticisms 00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:44.789 popped up again. It faced backlash for its sexual 00:16:44.789 --> 00:16:46.990 content, which, again, was just a more mature 00:16:46.990 --> 00:16:49.049 version of themes she'd always explored. Like 00:16:49.049 --> 00:16:51.990 in Forever. Kind of, yeah. And also specifically 00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:55.629 for including homosexual themes, it just showed 00:16:55.629 --> 00:16:58.370 that for her critics, any frank portrayal of 00:16:58.370 --> 00:17:01.289 sexuality, especially if it wasn't strictly traditional 00:17:01.289 --> 00:17:04.450 or heterosexual, was still seen as the problem. 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.079 Didn't matter if the readers were adults. So 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:09.140 the core issue remained the same for them. Pretty 00:17:09.140 --> 00:17:12.579 much. But commercially, her legacy was just untouchable 00:17:12.579 --> 00:17:15.220 by then. You mentioned the 82 million copies 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:18.500 globally. Right. Translated into 32 languages. 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:20.779 She's not just an American phenomenon. She's 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:23.519 a global literary figure, period. Let's touch 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:25.539 briefly on her personal life again because it 00:17:25.539 --> 00:17:27.960 weaves into this theme of resilience, doesn't 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:29.960 it? It does. We mentioned her first marriage 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:33.099 ended in divorce in 1975. She then married Thomas 00:17:33.099 --> 00:17:36.539 Kitchens, a physicist, in 76. Okay. That led 00:17:36.539 --> 00:17:39.000 to a brief move just a couple of years to Los 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.619 Alamos, New Mexico for his work. But they divorced 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:45.380 in 78. Then in 1987, she married George Cooper. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.299 He's a former law professor who became a nonfiction 00:17:48.299 --> 00:17:50.779 writer himself. And they're still together, living 00:17:50.779 --> 00:17:53.880 down in Key West, Florida. Key West, okay. And 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:55.680 there was a health challenge later on, too. Yes. 00:17:55.900 --> 00:17:58.940 In 2012, August 2012, she shared publicly that 00:17:58.940 --> 00:18:01.259 she'd been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:03.859 found during a routine ultrasound. Oh, wow. Yeah. 00:18:03.940 --> 00:18:07.039 She was very open about the experience, the quick 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:09.740 diagnosis, the decision for a mastectomy and 00:18:09.740 --> 00:18:12.210 reconstruction, and her recovery. Thankfully, 00:18:12.289 --> 00:18:15.009 she became cancer -free. But it was another instance 00:18:15.009 --> 00:18:17.470 where her real life showed that same kind of 00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:19.809 resilience you see in her characters, facing 00:18:19.809 --> 00:18:22.089 something huge and getting through it. That's 00:18:22.089 --> 00:18:23.890 really powerful. And the literary life continued 00:18:23.890 --> 00:18:25.690 within her family too, right, with her kids. 00:18:25.869 --> 00:18:28.230 Yeah, it's actually quite lovely. Her son, Lawrence 00:18:28.230 --> 00:18:30.930 Bloom, he's now a successful movie director, 00:18:31.210 --> 00:18:33.750 producer, writer, and they've actually collaborated 00:18:33.750 --> 00:18:36.430 quite a bit on adapting her work. Oh, cool. And 00:18:36.430 --> 00:18:38.869 her daughter, Randy Bloom, she's a therapist 00:18:38.869 --> 00:18:41.109 now, but she has this interesting subspecialty. 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:43.440 She helps writers work through blocks and actually 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:46.420 finish their projects. Wow, that's amazing. Supporting 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:49.039 the creative process directly. Exactly. And then 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:50.839 there's this charming little story about her 00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:53.960 grandson, Elliot Keffart. Apparently, he was 00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:55.759 the one who encouraged her to write the most 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:58.759 recent Fudge book, Double Fudge. No way. That's 00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:00.539 great. Isn't it? Shows she's still connected 00:19:00.539 --> 00:19:03.119 to that young reader perspective, even through 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:05.740 her own family. Okay, this brings us right back 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:09.539 to that central puzzle, the paradox. How does 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:12.539 the same writer, the same books, get showered 00:19:12.539 --> 00:19:15.460 with prestigious awards and constantly end up 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:18.420 on banned book lists? Let's break down that contrast. 00:19:18.700 --> 00:19:21.759 Start with the praise the reader loved. The praise 00:19:21.759 --> 00:19:24.579 always comes back to honesty. And validation. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:27.039 You hear it over and over from readers, especially 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:29.299 women who grew up with her books. They talk about 00:19:29.299 --> 00:19:32.839 the immense relief they felt. Relief. Yeah. Relief 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:35.160 at finally reading someone being honest about 00:19:35.160 --> 00:19:38.000 divorce, about how awkward puberty felt, about 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:40.279 being scared of death, confused about relationships. 00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:43.329 All of it, that first person voice we talked 00:19:43.329 --> 00:19:45.529 about, it made the books feel incredibly relatable, 00:19:45.630 --> 00:19:48.470 like she got it. Nonjudgmental too, right? Totally 00:19:48.470 --> 00:19:51.430 nonjudgmental. Readers felt seen, understood. 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:54.170 She got countless letters, especially from young 00:19:54.170 --> 00:19:56.990 girls, saying Margaret felt like them or that 00:19:56.990 --> 00:19:59.009 she was the first author who really understood 00:19:59.009 --> 00:20:01.450 their inner lives. So the books were seen as 00:20:01.450 --> 00:20:04.950 taboo trampling. But in a good way, like helpful. 00:20:05.069 --> 00:20:08.069 Exactly. Helpful, informative, made them feel 00:20:08.069 --> 00:20:10.369 less alone, maybe more prepared for what was 00:20:10.369 --> 00:20:12.849 coming. It was like this shared secret, this 00:20:12.849 --> 00:20:15.410 validation that your worries were normal. OK, 00:20:15.490 --> 00:20:20.230 so that's the love. Now, the backlash. The institutional 00:20:20.230 --> 00:20:22.609 opposition. Yeah. When did that really gear up? 00:20:22.809 --> 00:20:25.230 Well, there were murmurs early on, but it really 00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:27.829 started in earnest in the late 1970s and then 00:20:27.829 --> 00:20:30.490 just exploded in the 1980s. Coinciding with? 00:20:30.589 --> 00:20:33.109 Coinciding with a more organized and vocal conservative 00:20:33.109 --> 00:20:35.670 movement in the U .S. A lot of the challenges 00:20:35.670 --> 00:20:37.690 came from conservative parent groups, religious 00:20:37.690 --> 00:20:40.470 organizations, people wanting more control over 00:20:40.470 --> 00:20:42.130 what was available in schools and libraries. 00:20:42.549 --> 00:20:45.589 Since about 1980, her novels have just been ground 00:20:45.589 --> 00:20:48.210 zero for YA controversy. So what was the core 00:20:48.210 --> 00:20:50.089 argument against her? What was the main criticism? 00:20:50.589 --> 00:20:52.369 The main line of attack was usually that she 00:20:52.369 --> 00:20:55.009 put too much emphasis on the physical stuff, 00:20:55.130 --> 00:20:57.710 the sexual side of growing up. And that in doing 00:20:57.710 --> 00:21:00.670 so, she was neglecting, or some even argued, 00:21:00.950 --> 00:21:03.630 actively undermining the development of morals, 00:21:03.730 --> 00:21:06.130 of emotional maturity. So basically, it was a 00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:08.930 fight over the purpose of literature. Should 00:21:08.930 --> 00:21:11.349 it reflect messy reality, or should it impose 00:21:11.349 --> 00:21:13.849 a specific moral ideal? That's pretty much it. 00:21:13.890 --> 00:21:16.650 There was this fear that... Just by describing 00:21:16.650 --> 00:21:19.150 something like teen sex or questioning religion, 00:21:19.470 --> 00:21:21.950 she was automatically endorsing it, promoting 00:21:21.950 --> 00:21:24.069 it even. And this ties into something you mentioned 00:21:24.069 --> 00:21:27.190 earlier, the pushback against, what was it, the 00:21:27.190 --> 00:21:29.839 infantilization of women. Yeah, I think that's 00:21:29.839 --> 00:21:32.440 a really crucial lens here. Bloom treated the 00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:34.900 inner lives, the questions, the experiences of 00:21:34.900 --> 00:21:37.599 teenage girls as inherently important, significant, 00:21:37.900 --> 00:21:40.579 not silly or trivial. She respected their intelligence 00:21:40.579 --> 00:21:43.140 and curiosity. Exactly. And their resilience. 00:21:43.319 --> 00:21:46.680 The censors often seem to operate from this belief 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:49.559 that kids, especially girls, needed to be shielded 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:52.180 from reality. Protected from knowledge, almost, 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:55.099 until some vaguely defined appropriate age or 00:21:55.099 --> 00:21:57.559 until a parent or church approved. And Bloom's 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:00.140 work just blew past that boundary. Completely. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.720 Her books... basically said, hey, girls are curious. 00:22:03.779 --> 00:22:06.000 They're capable. They're even excited about growing 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.539 up, even with the bumps. They don't need you 00:22:08.539 --> 00:22:11.740 to filter reality for them. And that assertion, 00:22:11.740 --> 00:22:14.019 that was deeply threatening to the control narrative. 00:22:14.359 --> 00:22:16.759 The specific examples of censorship are pretty 00:22:16.759 --> 00:22:18.859 wild, aren't they? Even with Margaret. Oh, right 00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:21.420 from the start. Bloom herself tells the story. 00:22:21.579 --> 00:22:24.259 The principal of her own kid's elementary school 00:22:24.259 --> 00:22:27.279 refused to put, are you there, God? It's me, 00:22:27.460 --> 00:22:30.119 Margaret in the library. Why? Because it mentioned 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:32.279 menstruation. Because it mentioned menstruation. 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:35.759 A basic biological fact. And that specific fight, 00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:38.819 it's still going on today. Conservative and religious 00:22:38.819 --> 00:22:41.700 groups still try to ban it because the way it 00:22:41.700 --> 00:22:44.819 portrays puberty clashes with their views. Decades 00:22:44.819 --> 00:22:48.079 later. Wow. And then, of course, forever. That 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:51.119 book is just the permanent lightning rod. Because 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:53.619 of the sex and birth control. Because it depicted 00:22:53.619 --> 00:22:56.759 teen sex and birth control without condemning 00:22:56.759 --> 00:22:58.960 the characters. It was just relentlessly targeted. 00:22:59.240 --> 00:23:02.140 Its status was so notorious that the American 00:23:02.140 --> 00:23:06.019 Library Association ranked its seventh seventh. 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:11.180 on their list of the top 100 most banned books 00:23:11.180 --> 00:23:14.259 for the entire decade of the 1990s. The entire 00:23:14.259 --> 00:23:17.460 90s. That's incredible. It shows the battle wasn't 00:23:17.460 --> 00:23:20.019 just about protecting kids. It was about who 00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:23.059 gets to control information about sex and bodies. 00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:26.480 Should it be the library? The school? Or only 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:28.720 the parent, only the church. And even Blubber, 00:23:28.779 --> 00:23:31.019 the bullying book, got flagged. Yeah, interestingly, 00:23:31.259 --> 00:23:33.759 Blubber got criticized for that realistic, somewhat 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:36.299 ambiguous ending we talked about where the bully 00:23:36.299 --> 00:23:38.380 doesn't get a clear punishment. Critics felt 00:23:38.380 --> 00:23:40.960 that sent a bad message. Like, see, you can be 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:42.980 cruel and get away with it. They missed the point 00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:44.880 that, well, sometimes that is how things work 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.099 in childhood and exploring that ambiguity is 00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:49.680 valuable. But through all this, Bloom herself 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.529 didn't back down. Not even slightly. That's the 00:23:52.529 --> 00:23:54.569 remarkable part. When the controversies really 00:23:54.569 --> 00:23:56.630 heated up in the 80s, when the political pressure 00:23:56.630 --> 00:23:59.269 was mounting, she made a choice. She became an 00:23:59.269 --> 00:24:01.910 activist. She started actively reaching out. 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:03.839 connecting with other writers, with teachers, 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.500 with librarians, building a coalition, basically, 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:10.579 to fight back against censorship. It was like 00:24:10.579 --> 00:24:13.859 her career gained this whole second track focused 00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:16.460 on intellectual freedom. So she became a public 00:24:16.460 --> 00:24:19.380 advocate. A very public, very tireless advocate 00:24:19.380 --> 00:24:22.579 for the freedom to read. That led her to join 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:25.559 the National Coalition Against Censorship, the 00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:28.579 NCAC. She's still on their board today. Wow. 00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:31.380 Still fighting that fight. Absolutely. And her 00:24:31.380 --> 00:24:33.380 activism isn't just about her own books anymore. 00:24:33.579 --> 00:24:36.180 It's about the principle. Protecting free expression 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:38.640 for all authors and ensuring all young readers 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:42.079 have access to diverse ideas. She also co -founded 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:44.240 the Kids Fund, which is a foundation focused 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:46.440 on supporting kids' needs. And didn't she take 00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:48.619 this commitment even further, like into her business 00:24:48.619 --> 00:24:51.119 life? She did. It's really quite something. In 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:54.140 2018, she and her husband, George Cooper, opened 00:24:54.140 --> 00:24:56.680 a bookstore in Key West. But not just any bookstore, 00:24:56.859 --> 00:24:58.849 a nonprofit bookstore called Bookstore. and books. 00:24:58.970 --> 00:25:01.549 A non -profit bookstore. Yeah. It's like this 00:25:01.549 --> 00:25:03.809 statement, you know, reinforcing the idea that 00:25:03.809 --> 00:25:06.809 the physical space of a bookstore is vital. It's 00:25:06.809 --> 00:25:09.829 a protected zone for curiosity, for intellectual 00:25:09.829 --> 00:25:13.069 freedom. She literally took the fight from the 00:25:13.069 --> 00:25:15.589 often hostile school board meetings right onto 00:25:15.589 --> 00:25:18.430 the main street. Okay, so you have the decades 00:25:18.430 --> 00:25:22.289 of banning attempts on one side, but on the other, 00:25:22.410 --> 00:25:25.430 an absolutely incredible collection of honors 00:25:25.430 --> 00:25:28.519 and awards. That serves as the ultimate rebuttal, 00:25:28.539 --> 00:25:30.519 doesn't it? It really does. The sheer number 00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:33.940 is amazing. Over 90 literary awards, including 00:25:33.940 --> 00:25:36.339 three separate Lifetime Achievement Awards just 00:25:36.339 --> 00:25:39.359 in the U .S. The literary establishment has basically 00:25:39.359 --> 00:25:41.880 said loud and clear, yes, her contribution is 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:43.460 invaluable. What are some of the big ones, the 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:46.380 really high -profile honors? Well, in 1996, she 00:25:46.380 --> 00:25:48.779 got the Margaret A. Edwards Award from the ALA, 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:51.240 the American Library Association. That's specifically 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:53.759 for significant and lasting contributions to 00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:55.740 young adult literature. Okay. And what's really 00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:57.700 telling— is that the ala specifically mentioned 00:25:57.700 --> 00:25:59.900 forever when they gave her that award the most 00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:03.839 banned book exactly the very book that caused 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:06.460 so much controversy was explicitly recognized 00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:09.380 for its value by the library association itself 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:12.039 that's a statement definitely what else in 2000 00:26:12.039 --> 00:26:15.019 the library of congress named her a living legend 00:26:15.019 --> 00:26:18.569 in their writers and artists category Kind of 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:20.730 bumps her up from just being popular to being 00:26:20.730 --> 00:26:22.990 part of America's cultural heritage. Living Legend. 00:26:23.130 --> 00:26:26.309 Nice title. Isn't it? And then, maybe the biggest 00:26:26.309 --> 00:26:29.710 one, in 2004, she received the National Book 00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:31.950 Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution 00:26:31.950 --> 00:26:34.809 to American Letters. Okay, that's huge. That's 00:26:34.809 --> 00:26:37.589 like the literary world's highest honor, pretty 00:26:37.589 --> 00:26:39.869 much. It's right up there. It basically signals 00:26:39.869 --> 00:26:42.250 that her work, her creation of this realistic 00:26:42.250 --> 00:26:45.309 YA genre, is now seen as an essential, positive 00:26:45.309 --> 00:26:48.109 chapter in American literary history. Full stop. 00:26:48.210 --> 00:26:49.869 And she got awards for the activism, too. Oh, 00:26:49.890 --> 00:26:52.690 yeah. Numerous awards recognizing her fight for 00:26:52.690 --> 00:26:55.410 free speech, like the Carl Sandburg Freedom to 00:26:55.410 --> 00:26:58.109 Read Award way back in 84, an honor from the 00:26:58.109 --> 00:27:01.490 NCAC in 2009, acknowledging that her work as 00:27:01.490 --> 00:27:03.490 an advocate is just as important as her writing. 00:27:03.630 --> 00:27:06.230 It's just striking, isn't it? The nation honors 00:27:06.230 --> 00:27:08.829 her at the highest levels while local groups 00:27:08.829 --> 00:27:11.170 are still trying to ban her. The paradox continues. 00:27:11.900 --> 00:27:13.859 Let's shift to her cultural footprint beyond 00:27:13.859 --> 00:27:16.640 just the books and awards, media adaptations. 00:27:17.059 --> 00:27:19.200 Those really show enduring relevance, right? 00:27:19.259 --> 00:27:20.880 For sure. And the first one came pretty early. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:23.880 A TV movie based on Forever aired on CBS back 00:27:23.880 --> 00:27:27.559 in 1978. 78? Wow, that was quick. Yeah, starring 00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:30.039 Stephanie Zimbalist. Shows how quickly the material 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:32.180 resonated and seemed adaptable for the screen. 00:27:32.380 --> 00:27:33.940 And she worked with her son on some adaptations. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:38.019 She did. They collaborated early on on a TV version 00:27:38.019 --> 00:27:40.559 of otherwise known as Sheila the Great in 1988 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:43.900 for ABC. That partnership kind of set the stage 00:27:43.900 --> 00:27:46.359 for bigger things later. Were the kids books 00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:49.559 adapted to like Fudge? Oh, yeah. The Fudge TV 00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:52.839 series based on Fudgemania. It ran for two seasons, 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:56.500 95 to 97, started on ABC, then moved to CBS. 00:27:57.019 --> 00:28:00.140 Just proved again how timeless Peter and Fudge's 00:28:00.140 --> 00:28:02.400 dynamic was. Hilarious. But when did you make 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:05.119 the jump to like. Future films and theaters. 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:08.319 That came in 2012 with Tiger Eyes. Yeah. Based 00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:11.019 on her 1981 novel. The one about the girl dealing 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:13.220 with her father's death. That's the one. It was 00:28:13.220 --> 00:28:15.539 significant because it was her first book turned 00:28:15.539 --> 00:28:18.859 into a full theatrical movie. And she co -wrote 00:28:18.859 --> 00:28:20.900 the screenplay with her son, Lawrence, who also 00:28:20.900 --> 00:28:23.339 directed it. So keeping it in the family, ensuring 00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:25.019 it stayed true to the book. Seems like that was 00:28:25.019 --> 00:28:27.660 the goal. Yeah. And then just recently, 2023. 00:28:28.730 --> 00:28:30.950 That felt like a real Judy Blume moment, didn't 00:28:30.950 --> 00:28:33.349 it? Absolutely. A huge year for her visibility. 00:28:33.450 --> 00:28:36.289 You had the premiere of the documentary, Judy 00:28:36.289 --> 00:28:38.609 Blume Forever, which won a Peabody Award, by 00:28:38.609 --> 00:28:41.150 the way. Wow, Peabody. Yeah. And at the same 00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:44.309 time, the future film adaptation of Are You There, 00:28:44.329 --> 00:28:48.529 God? It's Me, Margaret, finally came out. Finally. 00:28:48.859 --> 00:28:50.599 People waited decades for that one. He really 00:28:50.599 --> 00:28:53.099 did. And the film got great reviews, especially 00:28:53.099 --> 00:28:55.200 for capturing the book's tone and honesty so 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.880 well. It just proved that story hadn't lost any 00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:00.180 of its relevance in over 50 years. And there's 00:29:00.180 --> 00:29:03.019 more coming. Looks like it. Her most controversial 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:05.660 book, Forever, is apparently being adapted into 00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:08.940 a series for Netflix, scheduled for 2025. Wow. 00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:11.500 Still pushing boundaries, even in adaptation. 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:14.240 Seems so. And her influence pops up in other 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:16.640 places too, right? Like music. Yeah, that Amanda 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:19.119 Palmer song from 2018, just called Judy Blume. 00:29:19.309 --> 00:29:21.289 Right. That song is like this perfect cultural 00:29:21.289 --> 00:29:24.289 artifact. The lyrics spell out exactly how Bloom's 00:29:24.289 --> 00:29:26.950 books were this crucial guide for Palmer growing 00:29:26.950 --> 00:29:30.250 up, helping her understand periods, sex, all 00:29:30.250 --> 00:29:32.589 the intimate stuff. But also the big universal 00:29:32.589 --> 00:29:35.549 things. Exactly. Like grief, poverty, parents 00:29:35.549 --> 00:29:38.430 divorcing. Palmer's song basically says Bloom 00:29:38.430 --> 00:29:40.950 gave her the language, the framework to understand 00:29:40.950 --> 00:29:43.609 life. She's just baked into the cultural psyche 00:29:43.609 --> 00:29:45.849 for so many people. Hashtag tag, hashtag outro. 00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:48.759 So wrapping up this deep dive, I mean, the big 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:50.480 takeaway has to be that duality, right? This 00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:53.599 constant tension in Judy Blume's career. Absolutely. 00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:55.980 On one side, you have the National Book Foundation 00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:58.140 honoring her for a distinguished contribution 00:29:58.140 --> 00:30:00.680 to American letters. Highest praise possible. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:02.500 And on the other side, she's still a lightning 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:05.180 rod. Still a target for censorship year after 00:30:05.180 --> 00:30:07.589 year. It's because she pioneered that frank, 00:30:07.750 --> 00:30:10.329 honest, nonjudgmental talk about what adolescence 00:30:10.329 --> 00:30:13.250 is really like. Sexuality, puberty, death, divorce. 00:30:13.549 --> 00:30:16.009 All the messy stuff that society, especially 00:30:16.009 --> 00:30:17.769 back then, really wanted to keep hidden from 00:30:17.769 --> 00:30:20.430 kids. She just refused to hide it. So what does 00:30:20.430 --> 00:30:22.869 it all mean, looking at it now? What's a lasting 00:30:22.869 --> 00:30:25.549 impact? I think her body of work stands as this 00:30:25.549 --> 00:30:29.309 powerful, ongoing argument against... that tendency 00:30:29.309 --> 00:30:32.289 to infantilize young people, especially young 00:30:32.289 --> 00:30:34.130 women. Treating them like they can't handle the 00:30:34.130 --> 00:30:36.609 truth. Exactly. Her novels insisted that teenage 00:30:36.609 --> 00:30:38.589 feelings, teenage problems, teenage questions 00:30:38.589 --> 00:30:41.799 are important, that teens are resilient. She 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:44.480 proved readers could handle honesty and the fact 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:46.539 that kids kept demanding her books, kept reading 00:30:46.539 --> 00:30:48.440 them secretly if they had to, despite all the 00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:51.180 efforts to ban them. That just confirms she met 00:30:51.180 --> 00:30:54.859 this deep, fundamental need. A need for literary 00:30:54.859 --> 00:30:57.579 honesty that just wasn't being met anywhere else 00:30:57.579 --> 00:30:59.920 at the time. Okay, so here's a final thought 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:02.180 for you, our listeners, to chew on. Something 00:31:02.180 --> 00:31:04.799 provocative. Judy Blume built this incredible, 00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:07.619 decades -long career focusing on the immediate 00:31:07.619 --> 00:31:11.819 stuff of growing up. Puberty, first love. Social 00:31:11.819 --> 00:31:15.480 anxieties. The right now feelings. The very present 00:31:15.480 --> 00:31:18.759 tense of adolescence. Right. But then her 2015 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:21.680 novel In the Unlikely Event, the one based on 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:23.880 the plane crashes, it reveals that this author, 00:31:23.980 --> 00:31:26.960 known for tackling the immediate, actually held 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:29.180 on to her own deepest, most traumatic childhood 00:31:29.180 --> 00:31:31.900 experience, those plane crashes from the 50s, 00:31:31.900 --> 00:31:35.299 for almost 60 years and saved that story for 00:31:35.299 --> 00:31:38.440 her mature later work. Huh. That's a really interesting 00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:40.599 point. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, how often 00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:42.680 the really profound traumas, the deep wounds, 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:45.720 have to wait. Wait until an artist feels secure, 00:31:45.900 --> 00:31:47.619 maybe feels like their voice is established, 00:31:47.900 --> 00:31:50.140 before they can finally unearth them and shape 00:31:50.140 --> 00:31:52.140 them into art. Something to think about.