Deenie

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The book wins because it's not focusing on a certain condition, but an unchangeable event that will make a kid feel even more different than they already do. It touches briefly upon (and it was amusing really) masturbation and questions about this as well. It shows how some people stand out as different due to conditions, but that everyone is still the same and to be treated well.

Deenie by Judy Blume | Goodreads

Margaret, 11 going on 12, moves to New Jersey from Manhattan and falls in with a group of girls. They call themselves the PTS’s – for Pre-Teen Sensations – and do rigorous exercises they think will help them grow breasts. (When Blume was on the film set – she is a producer – she corrected the way the actors were doing the “We must – We must – We must increase our bust!” exercise, according to The Atlantic. They were doing it praying style, palms together; it’s in fact an elbows-to-the-side pumping motion.) Traumatic Haircut: Deenie gives herself one out of intense self-loathing upon first getting her brace, leaving literally only a few uneven strands, and refuses to let anyone else touch or fix it. The girl in Deenie's class who idolizes Deenie and copies her at every turn gets her own hair cut in the exact same way, much to Deenie's chagrin.This is the craziest, scariest time. It makes the eighties look like nothing compared to what’s going on now, because it’s coming from the government, it’s coming from legislators,” Blume says. “We live in a state with a governor who is just making everything really dreadful,” she says, when asked what she might say to the people in power. “I have a lot to say about this governor. I don’t know that saying it to him would make any difference at all.” She adds that it’s not just Ron DeSantis, but a wider U.S. problem. “Elected officials who are drunk with power and using their power in an evil way.”

Judy Blume Forever review – inspiring portrait of a fearless Judy Blume Forever review – inspiring portrait of a fearless

When I arrived, breathless, late on a Sunday after that long scenic drive, I learned the dreadful news: Blume regularly works at the bookstore on Sundays and yes, she had been in that day. I had missed her. I would never have ambushed her for an interview, but it would have been great to just say hello. When I finally got to interview her – a month later, over Zoom – and told her a (very condensed) version of this story – she seemed genuinely dismayed. “Oh I’m so sorry!” she said. “Did I know you were coming?”Judy received a B.S. in education from New York University in 1961, which named her a Distinguished Alumna in 1996, the same year the American Library Association honored her with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement. Other recognitions include the Library of Congress Living Legends Award and the 2004 National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. I get frustrated when writers don't “assign” the right ages to their protagonists, and the 7th graders in this story were a lot more like 9th graders, and my 6th grader is a lot more like a 4th grader, so this was a read-aloud that required this mom to make a few detours. Alpha Bitch: While not a total bully, Deenie exhibits fairly strong tendencies of this early on in the story. She looks down a lot at the "handicapped" kids and treats Barbara Curtis, a girl in her class, like her eczema or "creeping crud" is actually a form of leprosy. As she winds up getting diagnosed with scoliosis and fitted for a brace, Deenie grows out of this mindset fast and starts becoming more empathetic to the point where she even becomes friends with Barbara. Despite this issue, which I found quite difficult to overlook, Deenie does have something to offer. The description of Deenie’s diagnosis and subsequent treatment is impressively detailed. Although the bracing method used on Deenie is no longer popular, her experience still resonates.