"Once she came to terms with the idea of doing this adaptation and doing a documentary, it all kind of happened at the same time." She's been so incredibly busy creating this body of work … and then more recently running the bookstore. Pardo says: "I think that Judy wasn't ready to do it until very recently. I think I would have felt a lot better about myself had I read them." So why has there never been a documentary about this legend before? She told Stop Everything!: "We were not supposed to be reading books about a girl who was questioning God, or wanting to get her period or grow boobs … who was touching herself.
Judy Blume Forever co-director Leah Wolchok grew up in one of those states in the 80s, when Blume books were banned. No wonder her books became coveted items passed between friends.īut those themes were also why Blume novels were banned in libraries and schools in some southern states of the US. Wang says: "Looking back … the pre-internet era that she was writing in and the forthrightness of her putting that all in books for kids, that was incredibly radical, then and even now." Blume took the taboo - birth control, puberty, bullying, divorce - and made it mainstream. And she pours that empathy and that memory onto the page in a way that really resonates with kids." Why were these books so controversial?īefore Blume, young people rarely had a chance to read about the issues directly impacting them.
"She remembers what it feels like to be a kid, to feel like your parents don't understand you, or your sibling is driving you crazy, or your body is confusing … She's able to tap into those feelings seemingly so easily. " that memory extends to feelings," explains Pardo. How did Blume write through the eyes of young people so well?īlume has impressive powers of recall when it comes to her own childhood. "The powerful thing about Judy Blume is that she has this ability to really portray the interior lives of young people … and she describes their concerns and their desires without judgement," says Wang.ĭavina Pardo, who co-directed Judy Blume Forever, told Stop Everything!: "I got my period when I was 10 … to open up a book like Margaret and be inside the head of a girl who wanted this thing so desperately that I was so ashamed of … to be part of a conversation with Margaret and her friends that I wasn't having in my own life, was so incredibly comforting." Listen to Stop Everything!įor more pop culture coverage.
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