Re-Visiting an Old Friend

I came across this old favorite today. Many women find solace and relaxation in reading things like "Twilight" and other romance novels. Not me. I prefer to re-visit old Judy Blume books. She was my favorite author when I was a tween.

I sat down to read this when kids were in bed tonight and I couldn't put it down. For the life of me I can't recall what happens to Stephanie or Rachel. And I don't know if she ever does get up the courage to talk to Jeremy Dragon. But I know that I loved this book and others like it. Judy Blume was the master at getting into the young reader's mind. No matter what age she was writing about- be it fourth, fifth, or sixth grade, she had a way of nailing every single detail and making you believe that the person narrating the story was in fact that age.

So right now I'm intrigued by twelve year old Stephanie Hirsch and I can't wait to find out if her dad actually makes it home for Thanksgiving. This book reminds me of a simpler time. Not just because I was in junior high and life was much easier, but because back then kids didn't have cell phones and not every kid had access to 300 TV channels first thing after school. We actually went to our friends houses and had silly clubs and wrote notes to stick in lockers the next day. We didn't text. We talked.

And I remember when cable TV wasn't even available in every neighborhood yet. If you had MTV you were something. And MTV was actually about music, not reality shows. Music was music, not noise (although I'm sure my parents will disagree). We brown bagged it and traded sandwiches. It was still legal to hold bake sales consisting of homemade food. None of this "packaged from the store" garbage. We rode bikes and stayed out 'til the street lights came on. It was safe to stand out at the bus stop and ride the thing to and from school. Simpler times.