Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer. Gale, 2026. Large print edition. Adult biography.Almost everyone in America can tell you that Judy Blume is an award-winning author of books for children and adults. Her children's books totally changed the publishing landscape to include issues that girls really wanted to read about...themselves! This biography delves into the life of Judy Blume, her complicated early family, her three marriages, her daughter and son, and other personal details. By the end, at age 86, Blume and her husband, George Cooper, have opened a bookstore in Key West, Florida and perhaps she is still writing. She is an advocate for free speech and other authors including many of the more contemporary ones who well remember reading Blume's books as children. Many of her works have been adapted into movies, television specials, and theatre productions.
Born February 12, 1938, Judith Marcia Sussman entered life in a Jewish family in Elizabeth, New Jersey. This became the nucleus for many of her early children's books, the most famous of which may be Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret.
Oppenheimer has extensively interviewed and researched Blume's life. He provides sources at the end of the book. This work does not gloss over the difficult parts but shows a very human author who cares about her readers, agents, publishers, as well as family and friends.
