The paper of record’s review of Forever: “Forever,” New York Times, December 28, 1975.

Obviously it’s not a quality book: Review by Regina Minudri, School Library Journal, November 1975, p. 95.

Kirkus was also dismissive: Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 1975. Accessed through the New York Public Library.

with whom Judy would eventually develop a warm relationship: Box 26 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed April 1, 2022, over email.

Pollack did not include Forever in her story: Pamela D. Pollack, “Sex in Children’s Fiction: Freedom to Frighten?,” SIECUS Report 5, no. 5 (May 1977).

“Being Black, I always assumed that Deenie was white”: Telephone interview with Julia Loving, November 8, 2022.

“There was a copy of Forever that was passed around in fifth grade”: LH to RB, October 25, 2022.

Maynard went to the “pretty, mostly white, upper-middle-class community”: Joyce Maynard, “Coming of Age with Judy Blume,” New York Times, December 3, 1978.

“I read that book so many times,” Silverberg said: CS to RB, October 26, 2022.

“I was fourteen and I remember reading [ Forever]”: JZ to RB, May 31, 2022.

Chapter Thirteen

Rebellion

“He had married this little girl, and he was happy that way”: Peter Gorner, “Tempo: The Giddy/Sad, Flighty/Solid Life of Judy Blume,” Chicago Tribune, March 15, 1985, p. D1.

She was holding his hand when he lost consciousness: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, pp. 58–59.

Before Judy and John told them, Judy had consulted a family counselor: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, pp. 90–91.

“It was a nice marriage,” Blume later said: Lee, Judy Blume’s Story, p. 73.

“I wasn’t terrible. I was responsible”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 16.

John blamed Fear of Flying: V.C. Chickering, “A Judy Blume Interview from the Bust Archives,” Bust, February 12, 2015, originally published in the 1997 Spring/Summer issue. Accessed online: https://bust.com/tbt-a-very-special-judy-blume-exclusive-from-our-bust-vault/.

“What was marriage anyway?”: Erica Jong, Fear of Flying (Fort Worth, TX: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1973). I worked from the 2003 reprint from New American Library, p. 14.

“Was I going to be just a housewife who wrote in her spare time?”: Ibid., p. 193.

“Leaving Bennett was my first really independent action”: Ibid., p. 390.

“I was afraid of being a woman,” she says: Ibid., p. 407.

“Why should I be disturbed by the sado-masochistic aspects of that relationship”: Sue Kaufman, Diary of a Mad Housewife (New York: Bantam Books, 1967), p. 191.

“Without a cent of my own, without a checking account”: Ibid., p. 272.

in which she has to be the “submissive woman”: Ibid., p. 207.

“Did Lisbeth think she was a mad housewife too?”: Judy Blume, Wifey, (New York: Berkley Books, 1978), p. 79.

“Have you been reading that book again?”: Ibid., p. 188.

“Just getting through the day was a real struggle for me”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 92.

“That’s what divorced women on TV always turn out to be—cocktail waitresses”: Judy Blume, It’s Not the End of the World (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Bradbury Press, 1972), p. 101.

“If I divorced him, I’d have to give up the house”: Judy Blume, Wifey, p. 201.

“He entertained them lavishly”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 94.

Chapter Fourteen

Mistakes

“From the beginning, we fought”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 99.

“My son and daughter thought he was a kid”: 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.

“I could have had affairs, but instead I got married”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 18.

“I would say, ‘Isn’t he wonderful?’ ”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 107.

Larry was having a particularly hard time: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 17.

“It was very hard for me to get married again”: John Neary, “The ‘Jacqueline Susann of Kids’ Books,’ Judy Blume, Grows Up with an Adult Novel.”

“In spite of my vow to respect her privacy”: Judy Blume, Letters to Judy, p. 151.

“It is a town with very frustrated, resentful, talented women”: Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 18.

“You’re the one who’s making the bombs”: Judy Blume, Tiger Eyes (New York: Bradbury Press, 1981). I worked from the 2014 reprint from Simon & Schuster, p. 163.

Judy had two abortions during that time: Nicole Sperling, “How Judy Blume Finally Got a ‘Yes’ from Hollywood,” New York Times, March 7, 2023. Accessed online: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/07/business/media/judy-blume-hollywood.html.

The Career, as she called it: John Neary, “The ‘Jacqueline Susann of Kids’ Books,’ Judy Blume, Grows Up with an Adult Novel.”

“I think I know who you are”: Judy Blume, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Bradbury Press, 1977), p. 117.

“They had to change cars,” her mom explains: Ibid., p. 69.

“What would your mothers say if they knew what you’d been doing?”: Ibid., p. 194.

“While Ms. Blume’s book is teeming with social value”: Julia Whedon, “The Forties Revisited,” New York Times, May 1, 1977.

“Blume’s approach will be resented as frivolous by many readers”: As quoted in Weidt, Presenting Judy Blume, p. 67.

Chapter Fifteen