Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Blubber by Judy Blume

When the mean girl in Jill’s class targets another girl, nicknaming her “Blubber” and playing all kinds of mean pranks, Jill goes along with it, but what will happen when things go too far?

Man, children can be little monsters. Blume captures that in this book; she doesn’t pull any punches (and neither do some of the characters). Protagonist Jill isn’t particularly likable, but she’s a great study of how one can be drawn into bullying behavior even without specific negative intentions. I noted with interest all of the changes in the sorts of freedoms kids had at the time the book was written as compared to now. I’m not sure what modern-day kids would make of this story. I thought I had read it long ago, but maybe I missed this one? I don’t know if I’d recommend it to kids, but I can see it being useful in an anti-bullying discussion, maybe paired with a more recent text.

(Reviewed from a copy borrowed through my library system.)



3 comments:

  1. It's getting so that I am very loathe to keep really old titles. Even John Bellairs has conversations with overweight characters that just don't stand up today. Things change. While I was reading books from the 1950s in the 1970s, I wasn't reading books from the 1920s!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point! I think it's hard for those of us who grew up reading these books to accept that they've aged -- and in some cases, not gracefully. This one isn't bed, but I do question whether kids now could relate to certain aspects of the book. But maybe I'm not giving kids enough credit.

      Delete
  2. I distinctly remember reading this book when I was a teen. I bet I'd find something things appalling or questionable if I read it now!

    ReplyDelete