Deenie

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Case in point: did I remember, from my first read, about Deenie's “special place” on her body, and how she loves to rub it and rub it, until she gets that good feeling? An unmistakable coming of age story by the all-time best-selling children’s author, Judy Blume. Since the 1970’s, Judy Blume has been exploring controversial subjects such as; personal development, teenage sexuality and religion. Proving the spirit of adolescence hasn’t changed in over 30 years, bravely giving answers to some of their greatest questions. Showing the development from an uncaring child to one that understands pain is a useful tactic, but Deenie takes this so far as to be unbelievable. Her biting commentary and treatment of all those she sees as less than perfect left me squirming. Taken alone, Deenie’s comment that Old Lady Murray is “so ugly she makes me want to vomit” because of her curved spine could at least be dismissed as childish ignorance. It at least foreshadows her own condition.

Judy Blume Books By Age and Reading Level | Time The Best Judy Blume Books By Age and Reading Level | Time

Scoliosis twists Deenie’s plans for seventh grade in this classic Judy Blume novel with a fresh new look. At some point, I did acquire a copy of Deenie. In that novel, Blume wrote about Deenie touching her special place. Where was this place, I wondered. On her leg? Her shoulder? When Deenie finds out that she has scoliosis, she’s scared. When she sees the brace for the first time, she wants to scream." In 2015, Blume published what appears may be her final book. In the Unlikely Event, a novel for adults, is based on real events – three plane crashes in less than two months, very close to where Blume – then young Judy Sussman – lived. Because she remembered so little about these tragedies, it turned into a massive research project. That week] I touched my special place practically every night. It was the only way I could fall asleep and besides, it felt good" [p.79 in the 2005 Laurel-Leaf edition] and "Usually I take showers and get in and out as fast as possible. But the hot water [in the bathtub] was very relaxing and soon I began to enjoy it. I reached down and touched my special place with the washcloth. I rubbed and rubbed until I got that good feeling" [p.129].Not as dramatic as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, but still a sweet and easy read. Good to share with your preteen. And sometimes I caught her reading on her own, forcing me to catch up with her at night. She gave it 3.7 stars, me, a little less. A failed cheerleading audition gets Deenie sent to the doctor, where she's eventually diagnosed with scoliosis, doomed to wear a brace for the next four years. I say doomed, but it's mainly her mother getting needlessly excited over it, not that her ignorance isn't utterly painful and enraging to watch. At the same time, beyond Deenie's immediate bonus of getting to drop the modelling auditions, is the uncomfortable revelation that she is now one of the handicapped kids, that she's been avoiding all these years. Never My Fault: Thelma thinks she knows what's best in regards to her daughters (i.e. what she wants them to be) and will point fingers at everyone else when things don't go her way, from her husband to her daughters themselves. When Deenie gets diagnosed with scoliosis and Helen has a crush on the young man working at her father's garage, she goes hysterical and wails that all she wanted was the best for her daughters. I too had the same diagnosis although mine was not severe enough to warrant a brace. I wonder though how I'd have felt if it had.

DEENIE | Kirkus Reviews

My Beloved Smother: Thelma, hands down. She monitors everything that Deenie eats as well as criticizing her posture while making sure both Deenie and Helen are how she wants them to be ("Deenie's the beauty and Helen's the brain"). When Helen mentions trying out for the cheerleading squad, Thelma scolds her for the very notion, saying that Helen didn't need to be jumping around yelling cheers because of her brain. When Deenie is revealed to have tried out for cheerleading, Thelma scolds her for doing so as well, saying that if Deenie had made the team, she wouldn't have time for a modeling career. Took a Level in Kindness: Deenie is quite popular at the start of the book because she's pretty, however she exhibits minor Alpha Bitch tendencies and looks down on the "handicapped kids" quite a bit. After she gets the brace and people start treating her differently, she grows to empathize with them much more, even if her condition is temporary and theirs is not. She also befriends Barbara, a girl in her grade who is ostracized because she has eczema. Blume, who speaks her mind, was criticized recently after a U.K. newspaper published an interview with her with the headline: “I’m behind JK Rowling 100 per cent.” Blume clarified with a tweet that her words were taken out of context; her point was that she can empathize with a person who has been harassed online. “I stand with the trans community and vehemently disagree with anyone who does not fully support equality and acceptance for LGBTQIA+ people.” Like most adolescents, Deenie has questions related to sex and sexuality. Mrs. Rappoport has a box where the girls put their questions. How is her willingness to be honest and open help the girls realize that their curiosity is normal? Later Deenie asks Helen what sexual intercourse feels like. Why does she think Helen will know? How is she surprised by Helen’s answer? If you had 15 minutes with Judy Blume, what would you ask her? If those 15 minutes were cut to 10 minutes the morning of your Zoom interview, what would you cut from that list? I fantasized about asking: Is there any chance of you writing a novel from the perspective of a 50-something-year-old woman about midlife – menopause, divorce, grief, aging in general? Or if you got a letter from such a (hypothetical) person, what inspirational words might you share?I was recently watching Judy Blume interview, and it made me miss her books. I needed a light reading after Troubled Blood, and this was a perfect choice. Though masturbation and sexual intercourse are mentioned, the novel isn’t really about these topics. What is the central theme of the book? How would you explain this to adults who want to deny adolescents access to the book? Wilmadeenie (a.k.a. Deenie) Fenner is your everyday pretty and entitled 13-year-old, plagued by the usual problems of the popular: friends, boys, cheerleadimg, and of course, outsiders to avoid. But most importantly, finally pass one of those damned modelling auditions, because all her mother's nagging is really annoying. Plus, she's weary of walking around with books on her head. Though initially upset at having to wear the body brace, Deenie eventually resigns herself to her fate. She finds herself at peace with the idea of not becoming a model, and, inspired by her experience, begins to ponder a future career as an orthopedist, concluding that she never really wanted to be a model anyway. Yes, I’m going to count the books I read with my daughter in my GR Challenge. They’re books, aren’t they? And you think I’m not learning anything, I’m not experiencing anything profound from a YA master about the lives of preteens? Huh. If anything, I’m being taken out of that comfort zone, learning a new culture. Even better, I get to share it with my daughter, reading it out loud while she squeezes play-slime in her hands. That’s a reading experience for you.

Judy Blume’s time has come. Again - The Globe and Mail Judy Blume’s time has come. Again - The Globe and Mail

Rachel McAdams as Barbara Simon and Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret Simon in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Dana Hawley/Lionsgate

Ages 5-8

While this review appears largely negative, there is one thing I must stress. In the 1970s, when Deenie was first published, it may well have been a positive representation of the experience of a child with scoliosis. I’m not able to judge that fairly, as I hadn’t yet been born in the ‘70s, but its portrayal hasn’t held up well. Here’s hoping modern novels like next year’s Braced will give today’s teens depictions of scoliosis that will resonate better than the one in Deenie. I was a good girl with a bad girl lurking inside,” Blume tells the film-makers. Born to a middle-class Jewish family, she toed a conventional line, wearing sweater sets and attending Sweet Sixteen parties and marrying her college sweetheart. It was while raising her own family in New Jersey that she began to write, a habit that did not earn the admiration of her neighbors or even her husband. He took a patronizing view of her efforts and appreciated that it was less expensive than a shopping habit. Good Parents: Frank Fenner is much more understanding and reasonable in regards to his daughters than Thelma is. While Thelma is emotionally manipulative and reacts to situations as if she were the victim or tries to even blame Deenie and Helen, Frank is very calm and doesn't hesitate to comfort his daughters when they need him and yet also firm in that Deenie needs to wear her brace which she eventually realizes is right of him to do. She is the founder and trustee of The Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation. She serves on the boards of the Author's Guild; the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators; the Key West Literary Seminar; and the National Coalition Against Censorship. Abusive Parents: Thelma is controlling and goes into downright bullying and victim blaming toward her daughters if they dare to try and go outside of what she wants for them (for Deenie to be a model and Helen to focus only on her studies). When Deenie's scoliosis is revealed and Helen is revealed to be attracted to their father's employee, Thelma blames Deenie for her condition and gets Joe fired because she's angry that they're "ruining" what she has planned for them. And in the end, she hasn't changed her mind at all (which is par for the course in most Blume novels).

Deenie | Book by Judy Blume | Official Publisher Page | Simon Deenie | Book by Judy Blume | Official Publisher Page | Simon

Film review: Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret is true to the book’s heart, but also its own (mostly) wonderful thing 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.Deenie' sales soar". The Galveston Daily News. 10 September 1985. p.9 . Retrieved 9 May 2017– via newspapers.com. Books written by Judy Blume, at her bookstore in Key West, Fla., Jan. 20, 2023. SAUL MARTINEZ/The New York Times News Service The brace looks like the one Dr. Kliner showed us three weeks earlier. It's the ugliest thing I ever saw.