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[CCBC-Net] Judy Blume
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From: Jacqueline Woodson <jackiewoodsonfanmail>
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:09:35 -0400
Sorry y'all -- I messed up the subject line before due to a cutting and pasting error.
On Oct 3, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Jacqueline Woodson wrote:
>
> Wow -- talk about a life-altering author. As a sixth grader, the
> first thing I learned from Judy Blume was how to increase my chest
> size. (we must, we must) courtesy of"Are You There, God..." But
> that was only the beginning (okay, it didn't work but, whatever). I
> was growing up in a predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood on
> the edge of white flight (a few German families remained until their
> ships came in.) I thought Jews were some Old Testament people in our
> Christian bible and the closest I came to them was Charlton Heston
> parting the sea in The Ten Commandments. I didn't know what an all-
> white neighborhood looked like. I had no clue about suburbia. (Well,
> those two parts --I am Quite thankful for now!) But at the time,
> Judy showed me another world and a world I embraced simply because
> the teller in the story was just like me -- We were both flat-chested.
>
> I too read "Forever" under covers, savoring every word. With Iggy's
> House, I wanted Iggy's story and didn't like that suddenly I was more
> Iggy than (Winnie?). It broke my heart to suddenly feel outside of a
> story but it is another reason I am a writer today -- trying to write
> against that feeling for other kids.
>
> In so many ways, Judy saved my flat-chested butt from disappearing by
> giving voice to so much of what I was going through as a young
> person. And now, many years later, the mother of two half-Jewish
> kids, living in a very different place than the one I grew up in, I
> am so grateful for the timelessness of Judy's work - how even as we
> move forward and grow up into whoever we're becoming, we're becoming
> who we are because of these stories.
>
> -Jacqueline Woodson
>
> _______________________________________________
> CCBC-Net mailing list
> CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
> Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
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Received on Fri 03 Oct 2008 08:09:35 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:09:35 -0400
Sorry y'all -- I messed up the subject line before due to a cutting and pasting error.
On Oct 3, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Jacqueline Woodson wrote:
>
> Wow -- talk about a life-altering author. As a sixth grader, the
> first thing I learned from Judy Blume was how to increase my chest
> size. (we must, we must) courtesy of"Are You There, God..." But
> that was only the beginning (okay, it didn't work but, whatever). I
> was growing up in a predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood on
> the edge of white flight (a few German families remained until their
> ships came in.) I thought Jews were some Old Testament people in our
> Christian bible and the closest I came to them was Charlton Heston
> parting the sea in The Ten Commandments. I didn't know what an all-
> white neighborhood looked like. I had no clue about suburbia. (Well,
> those two parts --I am Quite thankful for now!) But at the time,
> Judy showed me another world and a world I embraced simply because
> the teller in the story was just like me -- We were both flat-chested.
>
> I too read "Forever" under covers, savoring every word. With Iggy's
> House, I wanted Iggy's story and didn't like that suddenly I was more
> Iggy than (Winnie?). It broke my heart to suddenly feel outside of a
> story but it is another reason I am a writer today -- trying to write
> against that feeling for other kids.
>
> In so many ways, Judy saved my flat-chested butt from disappearing by
> giving voice to so much of what I was going through as a young
> person. And now, many years later, the mother of two half-Jewish
> kids, living in a very different place than the one I grew up in, I
> am so grateful for the timelessness of Judy's work - how even as we
> move forward and grow up into whoever we're becoming, we're becoming
> who we are because of these stories.
>
> -Jacqueline Woodson
>
> _______________________________________________
> CCBC-Net mailing list
> CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
> Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe...
> http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Fri 03 Oct 2008 08:09:35 AM CDT
