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Judy BlumeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Middle grade literature is still a relatively new genre of literature. At the close of the 1950s, birth rates in the United States dipped at the end of the baby boom. While young adult literature was already widely popular by then, this dip made room for middle grade literature to take the stage, as there were fewer teenagers around to fill the young adult market in the 1970s.
During the 1960s and 1970s, authors like Judy Blume, Madeleine L’Engle, and Robert C. O’Brien created works that are still loved and studied today and that remain relevant to the current cultural climate. Judy Blume’s characters, for example, are written to be relatable to readers from a variety of backgrounds. In Fudge-a-Mania, a family takes a three-week vacation to Maine, and wherever they go, chaos seems to follow. The story is multidimensional despite its short length, offering dynamic characters with deep problems stemming from sibling rivalry, friendships, first crushes, and other common issues for tweens and young teens. These relevant topics and characters, along with Blume’s use of timeless humor, is what allows her books to continue to resonate with middle grade readers. In Fudge-a-Mania, Blume also hints toward an appreciation of other middle grade authors of the 1980s and 1990s, such as when Peter enthusiastically thinks about how he “can finish [his] Gary Paulsen book” now that he has some free time (46).
By Judy Blume
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Judy Blume
Blubber
Judy Blume
Double Fudge
Judy Blume
Forever...
Judy Blume
Freckle Juice
Judy Blume
In The Unlikely Event
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It's Not the End of the World
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Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great
Judy Blume
Summer Sisters
Judy Blume
Superfudge
Judy Blume
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
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Tiger Eyes
Judy Blume