Chapter Three

Pre-Teen Girls

“Always in love”: William Leith, “Teen Spirit,” The Independent, July 18, 1999, pp. 11–13. Accessed through the New York Public Library.

Letters to Jackson from 1969 reveal: Box 115 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 28, 2022.

“In Margaret, I decided I’m going to write about”: Beverly Solochek, “Plotting the Real Teen Scene,” Daily News, September 3, 1976, p. C9.

Judy thought of him as a natural philosopher: Box 34 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 28, 2022.

Blume described it in her 1977 autobiographical novel: Judy Blume, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Bradbury Press, 1977). I worked from the 2014 reprint published by Simon & Schuster, p. 57.

“Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret,” she begins: Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Bradbury Press, 1970). I worked from the 2014 reprint published by Simon & Schuster, p. 1.

Sally has the same fear in Sally J. Freedman: Blume, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, pp. 147–48.

“I made bargains with God”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy: What Kids Wish They Could Tell You (New York: Pocket Books, 1986), p. 134.

once, he got sent home from kindergarten: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 35.

“a lovely, gay, blissful society almost untouched by war”: Maureen Kudlik, “Teen-Age Girls: They Live in a Wonderful World of Their Own,” Life, December 11, 1944, pp. 91–99.

“Loafers, but no socks,” Nancy says solemnly: Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, pp. 14–15.

“Well then, I’ll just have to suffer”: Ibid., p. 29.

In sixth grade, she also belonged to a club, called the Pre-Teen Kittens: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 26.

with the members adopting feline identities: Box 110 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 29, 2022.

“We must—we must—we must increase our bust!”: Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, p. 85.

“But it doesn’t work,” Blume joked: Interview with Huff Post Live, June 10, 2013. Accessed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgTIUa2y7gY.

“I pretended to be really busy reading a book”: Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, pp. 45–46.

“It’s not so much that I like him as a person, God”: Ibid., p. 74.

“A really fast kiss!”: Ibid., p. 106.

“make-out parties… you invited a group of boys and girls”: William Leith, “Teen Spirit,” The Independent, July 18, 1999, pp. 11–13. Accessed through the New York Public Library.

“When you’re that age, everything is still there in front of you”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 62.

which she plunked out on her typewriter in a wildly creative six-week burst: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 69.

“I ripped the card into tiny shreds and ran to my room”: Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, p. 116.

Instead, he wondered—is Nancy telling the truth?: Box 115 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 28, 2022.

“It was the voice, the absence of adult regret, instruction or nostalgia”: Pat Scales, “Natural Born Editor,” School Library Journal, May 2001, pp. 50–53.

“He told me, ‘This is the reason I got into doing children’s books’ ”: PS to RB, May 27, 2022.

Chapter Four

Menstruation

“Someday, it will happen to you”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 164.

which took its iconic name from a typist: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 63.

Kirkus gave Are You There God? a mixed review: Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1970. Accessed through the New York Public Library.

New York Times described it as a “funny, warm and loving book”: Dorothy Broderick, “The Young Teen Scene,” New York Times, November 8, 1970.

That same day, the Times included Are You There God?: “Outstanding Books of the Year,” New York Times, November 8, 1970.

“That was the first time I felt ‘I can really do this’ ”: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 70.

“Communist!” the voice shrieked: Judy Blume in conversation with Samantha Bee at an event at the 92nd Street Y on June 2, 2015. Accessed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7svP4zqCc0.

“When I was 17 I discovered one of my younger siblings”: Mr Malky (@MrMalky) on X (Twitter), April 16, 2023: https://twitter.com/MrMalky/status/1647740739978244099.

“looking at the problem [of unwanted pregnancy] from the wrong end of the telescope”: Zoom interview with Jonathan Zimmerman, May 31, 2022.

“Mary Calderone, despite what her enemies said”: Ibid., May 31, 2022.

“The plants and animals stuff was a way to try to teach”: Ibid., May 31, 2022.

“The sperm, which come from the father’s testicles”: Andrew C. Andry and Steven Schapp, How Babies Are Made (New York: Time-Life Books, 1968), no page numbers.

“destroy the traditional moral fiber of America”: As quoted in Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century by Jeffrey P. Moran (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 182; see also Gordon V. Drake, Sex Education in the Schools (Tulsa, OK: Christian Crusade Publications, 1968), pp. 16–18.

“You’ll find out when you’re thirteen”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 163.

“There was something about eggs dropping down”: Ibid., pp. 163–64.

“that I once put a pin in my finger to draw blood”: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 28.

“Today I was feeling brave”: Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, p. 156.

in a change originally suggested by Blume’s British editor: Judy Blume in conversation with Samantha Bee at an event at the 92nd Street Y on June 2, 2015. Accessed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7svP4zqCc0.

“I wanted to find out how it would feel”: Judy Blume, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, p. 158.

“You were never allowed to talk about [menstruation]”: Telephone interview with Arlene LaVerde, October 12, 2022.