The “housewife’s syndrome” or “housewife’s blight”: Ibid., pp. 20–21.
“If you want to know about my illnesses, read Wifey”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 118.
“It was another side of my life that I wanted to share”: Ibid., p. 117.
“Ten days later it returned, but much worse”: Judy Blume, Wifey (New York: Berkley Books, 1978). I worked from the 2004 reprint, p. 12.
made fun of her for being jumpy: Lee, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 4.
volunteered in town as an air-raid warden: Ibid., p. 5.
Bloomingdale’s agreed to stock them and they sold for $9 apiece: John Neary, “The ‘Jacqueline Susann of Kids’ Books,’ Judy Blume, Grows Up with an Adult Novel,” People, October 16, 1978. Accessed online: https://people.com/archive/the-jacqueline-susann-of-kids-books-judy-blume-grows-up-with-an-adult-novel-vol-10-no-16.
She wrote one story, called “You Mom, You?”: Box 116 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 28, 2022.
She started carrying around a green-gray three-ring binder: Box 121 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed May 10, 2022.
Wyndham likely empathized with Judy: “Lecturer Reveals Secrets of Writing Stories—Even Her Own ‘Lucky Break,’ ” Post-Standard, Syracuse, New York, August 21, 1981, p. 9.
For another story, called “The Ooh Ooh Ahh Ahh Bird”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 10.
“He thought it was better than shopping”: Ibid., p. 13.
“All I have to do is buy Judy some paper and pencils and she’s happy!”: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 64.
At one point, John sent a few of her drafts to his friend: Box 118 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed May 10, 2022.
“Larry’s mother is crazy!”: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 65.
the pair danced across the lawn together: Ibid.
The publisher matched Judy with an artist: Hannah Torain, “Mom Keeps Busy Writing Books for Little Children,” Courier News, Central New Jersey, October 10, 1969, p. 15.
“The more I write, the more controversial I’m getting”: Ibid.
Chapter Two
Kiddie Lit
“It was the best $5,000 we ever spent”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 11.
When he moved to New York and his acting career flopped: Neil Genzlinger, “Richard Jackson, Who Had an Ear for Children’s Books, Dies at 84,” New York Times, October 13, 2019. Accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/books/richard-jackson-dead.html.
“These two guys sort of considered themselves pirates”: Interview with Peter Silsbee in Brooklyn, New York, May 27, 2022.
“Books about real kids for real kids”: Ibid., May 27, 2022.
the original manuscript for Iggie’s House “wasn’t very good”: Ibid., May 27, 2022.
“The day he called and said he’d like to meet me”: Diane Roback, “Dick Jackson Remembered,” Publishers Weekly, October 17, 2019. Accessed online: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/81494-dick-jackson-remembered.html.
She took a pill to try to settle it: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 66.
he was “a stunningly beautiful man”: Sarah Larson, “Judy Blume’s Unfinished Endings,” The New Yorker, April 25, 2023. Accessed online: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/judy-blumes-unfinished-endings.
Jackson confessed he wasn’t sure about publishing Iggie’s House yet: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 67.
“Don’t be so bugged about being a greaser”: S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders (New York: Viking Press, 1967). Accessed electronically via New York Public Library.
“Harriet the Spy was transgressing all over the place”: Telephone interview with Roger Sutton, June 10, 2022.
Shyly, Beth Ellen confesses that she doesn’t “want to be anything at all”: Louise Fitzhugh, The Long Secret (New York: Harper & Row, 1965). I worked from the March 2002 reprint from Yearling Books, pp. 44–45.
Later in The Long Secret, Beth Ellen is acting grumpy: Ibid., p. 94.
“Now, you know the baby grows inside a woman, in her womb, in her uterus?”: Ibid., p. 97–98.
one popular Victorian-era nickname for the uterus was “mother room”: Joan Jacobs Brumberg, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls (New York: Vintage Books, 1997), p. 36.
“The Long Secret, moreover, observes in so many words”: Carolyn Heilbrun, “And More for Young Readers,” New York Times, November 21, 1965, sec. B, p. 56.
the finished book still “wasn’t up to what became her standard”: PS to RB, May 27, 2022.
“the bumbling, besieged liberal at age eleven”: Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 1970. Accessed through the New York Public Library.
In an afterword to a recent edition of the novel: Judy Blume, Iggie’s House (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014). The afterword is called “Judy Blume Talks About Writing Iggie’s House.” The original book was published by Bradbury Press in 1970.
“Judy was in my office one day”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 63.
