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Stephanie's relationship with her best friend, Rachel, changes during her first year in junior high as she tries to conceal a family problem and meets a new girl from California.Tags
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I've recently been revisiting Blumes work, and something that is just consistently holding them back for me (even if I remembering loving the book as a kid) is the constant fatphobia. I didn't remember it being so bad in this one but at one point it just ramps up and develops a really shitty narrative on 12-13 year-old girls bodies. Like, part of the "happy ever after" aspect is tied to Stephanie losing weight she gained? Her mom sends her with a boiled egg and carrots for lunch while trying to make her do exercise videos? Honestly the other topics and discussions in here are pretty solid, but I definitely wouldn't love putting this in the hands of the target age reader because of the body image aspects.
Judy Blume is the teen whisperer. Personally, I would have been much worse off in my early teen years if I had not had the comforting voice and guidance of the characters that she brought into existence. Stephanie Hirsch is just entering junior high school with her best friend Rachel. These two have grown up together and know each other inside and out. When Stephanie meets Alison on the eve of the first day of school, she realizes that she can make room in her life for more than one friend. We get to walk through the 7th grade school year with Steph, Rachel, Alison and their families as they deal with first crushes, first periods, divorce, friendship ups and downs, secrets, and betrayals. This book reads like your own 7th grade best show more friend is telling you about their days in the halls of their junior high. It is a book that I have come back to again and again in my life, just so I can feel the hug of familiar characters and experiences. show less
One of my favorite books as a preteen. And re-reading it, I felt all the heartbreak and frustration that comes with that time in one's life. How hard it is to tell people what's going on, how you're feeling, how it seems like no one would listen to you even if you could express it. Sad, but heartwarming. I'm looking forward to re-reading the sequel.
This is probably the first book I ever read that made friendship seem like a sort of sisterhood. It isn't identical to books like "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" or "Bass Ackwards and Belly Up" - it differs in that it is told from one point of view, the narrator is in junior high, and the love isn't felt all around. But it is still an awesome story about the essence of friendship. In the story, Steph's old friendship with Rachel clashes with her new friendship with Alison. Rachel is jealous of Alison because she seems to be stealing her best friend. Alison is the interesting new kid and she just wants to be accepted and liked by her peers. Steph wants the three of them to be best friends, but that's not easy when two of the show more girls don't feel very comfortable with each other. This plot line, mixed well with sub-plots revolving around family issues and first loves, is unique in today's literature. The story is very well told, and it's wide range of themes and humorous narrator make the book a great read. I highly recommend it to kids in junior high. show less
This book and its followup, Here's To You Rachel Robinson are the only two Young Adult books by Judy Blume that I had not read as a young adult (they were published after my time). I saw them both at a Free Little Library and thought, why not?
It's good, but I don't know if I'm missing something reading it for the first time as an adult; some small essence of teen that can be recalled but not brought up fresh, or if this just isn't as good as Blume's other YA books. I enjoyed it but it failed to click with me on any deep level.
The girls' friendship is flawed from the beginning; secret keeping is a big part of the plot here, but of all the secrets kept and revealed, the biggest one
thatRachel knew about Steph's parents' separation show more before she did
was never confronted or discussed. How do you know something like that and not bring it up with your friend? Keeping secrets about your own self is your prerogative, but keeping secrets that affect your bff seems inexcusable.
Who knows though, I might have missed some subtle hint that Steph knew and was just not facing it. Or maybe that just isn't a big deal to teens and I don't remember that far back as clearly as I'd like to. Either way, it was still a good read, even if it wasn't a classic Blume. show less
It's good, but I don't know if I'm missing something reading it for the first time as an adult; some small essence of teen that can be recalled but not brought up fresh, or if this just isn't as good as Blume's other YA books. I enjoyed it but it failed to click with me on any deep level.
The girls' friendship is flawed from the beginning; secret keeping is a big part of the plot here, but of all the secrets kept and revealed, the biggest one
that
was never confronted or discussed. How do you know something like that and not bring it up with your friend? Keeping secrets about your own self is your prerogative, but keeping secrets that affect your bff seems inexcusable.
Who knows though, I might have missed some subtle hint that Steph knew and was just not facing it. Or maybe that just isn't a big deal to teens and I don't remember that far back as clearly as I'd like to. Either way, it was still a good read, even if it wasn't a classic Blume. show less
Narrated by Rebecca Soler. Stephanie begins junior high with best friend Rachel and new friend Allison. Life is typical for Stephanie, hanging out with her friends, checking out the cute boy Jeremy, doing her schoolwork. If only her father didn’t have to go on business trips so often and for so long...until she learns they really aren't business trips. The audio has a just-right tone for telling the story of a regular girl finding herself coping with an irregular situation. Soler’s interpretation has the youthfulness of the young teen characters, at times putting in a giggle or sarcastic twist that captures the typical teen voice.
There's something about this book that I connected to more than any of Judy Blume's other books. Maybe it was how exactly I related to the age and situations, maybe it was better-written...I don't know. Any time I was home sick from school between fourth and sixth grade, I'd spend the day re-reading this. Boys! Periods! Friends! It was all too relevant. This is my favorite Judy Blume book.
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Old teen fiction book, coming of age for girls, might have had best friend in the title, probably fr in Name that Book (April 2013)
Author Information
87+ Works 103,300 Members
Judy Blume was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on February 12, 1938. She received a bachelor's degree in education from New York University in 1961. Her first book, The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo, was published in 1969. Her other books include Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret; Then Again, Maybe I Won't; Tales of a Fourth Grade show more Nothing; Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great; and Blubber. Her adult titles include Wifey, Smart Women, Summer Sisters, and In the Unlikely Event. In 1996, she received the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2004, she received the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1987
- People/Characters
- Stephanie Hirsch; Rachel Robinson; Alison Monceau; Jeremy Dragon
- Important places
- Connecticut, USA
- Dedication
- To my friend, STEPHEN MURPHY who touched my life with his courage, dignity and never-ending sense of humor
Lola will always remember . . . - First words
- "Stephanie is into hunks," my mother said to my aunt on a Sunday afternoon. They were in the kitchen making potato salad and I was stretched out on the grass in our yard, reading. But the kitchen window was wide open so I c... (show all)ould hear every word my mother and aunt were saying.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)I saw a bee buzzing around the forsythia bush in front of Alison's house. I'll have to start wearing my bee-sting necklace., I thought. I wonder what Alison will say when I tell her Rachel and I are speaking again, that maybe we are even friends. Probably she'll be glad. I broke off a sprig of forsythia and rang Alison's bell.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
- Genres
- Kids, Fiction and Literature, Children's Books, Tween
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PZ7 .B6265 .J — Language and Literature Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Fiction and juvenile belles lettres Juvenile belles lettres
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 1,916
- Popularity
- 11,068
- Reviews
- 24
- Rating
- (3.82)
- Languages
- English, Greek, Croatian, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 41
- ASINs
- 19