Last night the Toronto Reference Library hosted Judy Blume as she tours to promote her latest adult book In the Unlikely Event.  Yes, Judy Blume was in town and I met her !

Tickets sold out online in minutes a month ago. About a thousand people came, some in the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon and some in the main library watching on screen.

Attendees were as diverse as Toronto is multicultural, with the exception of a primarily female audience of all adult ages. We were all just thrilled to be in the same room with Judy Blume. We whistled, clapped, and stood when she was introduced.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kc0-2CfEA5w%3Frel%3D0frameborder%3D0allowfullscreen

The conversation was moderated by journalist Rachel Giese who clearly had grown up on Judy Blume and asked all kinds of questions that helped us get to know Judy – yes, including asking about the sexuality in her books. Judy was very forthright in her answers.

She gave examples of letters she has received over the years from parents who were not pleased with her books (like Then Again Maybe I Won’t and Deenie). Libraries even banned some of her books, which is why Judy speaks out against censorship. She mentioned that her mother never said anything to her about sexuality.

I think secretly most parents today are grateful for Judy Blume books in that sense!

What struck me most about Judy’s responses was how much her writing comes from her imagination and how stories brew in her mind for a while before they come out. Judy feels she is writing about events that may have happened in the period she set them in, but that we all can still identify with the characters’ struggles and triumphs.

That is why I love her books so much – an element of nostalgia for the period in which they are written, but nevertheless a timeless emotional connection to the characters of another era.

With so many fans, Judy could not speak to all of us personally, but if she could, here is what I would have told her:

Dear Judy Blume,

You are one of my first and favorite authors. I grew up in Saudi Arabia, in an American compound, and did not travel to the US until I was 15. By that time, in the early ‘80s, I had read more books by you than by any other author. The US was a dream for me, an imagined place in my mind that was awakened by every neighborhood, family, school, and character you described.

My favorite book is Starring Sally J Friedman as Herself, probably because of Sally’s brother and I had two brothers. You consider it to be your most autobiographical book. It was also set in Miami, and I grew up in a warm climate going to the beach. Two weeks ago I went to Miami for the first time. Walking on the beach, I specifically remembered your book and how Sally’s brother Douglas needed the Florida warmth.

This weekend we went to a wedding in New Jersey. We spent two days in New York and, on the drive to Short Hills, we drove past signs for Elizabeth. The town’s name had a familiarity to me, again from my childhood, but only last night did I remember the name from your books and as your childhood town. We flew out of Newark yesterday. In the Unlikely Event is set in Elizabeth and covers three plane crashes out of Newark in the ‘50s. Coincidence?

It is more than just a coincidence to have heard you speak: it is a return to my childhood, my 5th to 7th Grade years when I read most of your books. It is also a return to a happy, carefree period of my life when being a kid and having dreams was so much fun. Any mention of your books for this age group, Deenie, Then Again Maybe I Won’t, Blubber, takes me right back to being 10, 11, and 12. Please do not write about Margaret in menopause, as some fans have suggested. I like her just the age she is!

You spoke about how all of us have an age that defines us and for me, like you, it is these years. It will always be these seemingly innocent years. Admittedly, reading Forever at a friend’s 12^th birthday party does not count as innocence, but it sure was fun.

You also spoke about how your books cover trauma from human observation, not research. And, that your books are meant to show how life goes on and that good things happen.

That’s what I remember about reading your books: things were okay, life continued, and the characters moved on. You are an optimist and that is what your books clearly gave me during those tween years. Thank you for Sally, Deenie, Fudge, and Tony – and thank you for all the childhood memories!

Sincerely,

A fond reader, writing from Middle School memory lane

Dear readers: please share your favorite Judy Blume book and why

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