Judy Blume is the author of many famous children's books, such as Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Superfudge and adult fiction, including Wifey and Smart Women.  

She talks with Don Swaim in this 1984 interview about the large amount of wisdom found within the pages of children's stories that can benefit both adults and children alike. The books she read as a child growing up in suburban New Jersey only told tales of happy families where everything always was fine. She wanted to read books that showed feelings and problems. She wanted characters she could identify with.

These feelings returned when she became an adult. Some of her topics include divorce, puberty, sexuality, money, humor and the pain of life.

"It’s real life," she said.

She says based on the letters from her readers, she knows she is not introducing these topics. Children already know about these topics, and that’s one of the reasons they love reading her books. For parents, it forces them back to a time when they felt the same things, and they realize life isn’t easy just because you are 10 years old.

But, not every adult was appreciative of her efforts. Several parent groups around the country have banned her books from school libraries claiming the content is too controversial. In one case in Colorado, however, a 12-year-old girl fought against the ban and won by getting students to sign a petition and attending to the school board in protest.

To hear more about this issue and about Blume’s other books, click on the link below.

Listen to the Judy Blume interview with Don Swaim, 1984
(20 min. 38 sec.)

Two years later, Blume returns to discuss KIDS Fund, a grant program founded in 1981 that supports children and adolescent programs dealing with a multitude of topics.

All of the proceeds of her latest book at the time, Letters to Judy: What your kids wished they could tell you, go to the fund. The book is a combination of letters from children and Blume’s reactions. Blume receives nearly 2,000 letters per month. She could never respond to each and every one, only a few. Some of her letter-writers have developed into pen pals. One in particular continued to write until she was in college. This particular reader used Blume as a diary and would send five- or ten-page letters at a time. Blume said readers such as this one seemed afraid to confide their feelings in anyone but found a confidant in Blume.

To hear how more about the Fund and about Blume’s struggles with censorship, click on the link below.

Listen to the Judy Blume interview with Don Swaim, 1986
(21 min. 14 sec.)

 

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For over a decade, many of the best writers of the English language found their way onto Don Swaim's daily two-minute CBS Radio show, Book Beat. His New York-based program was derived from longer interviews, sometimes 40-minutes in length. Found exclusively here, Wired for Books proudly webcasts these conversations in their entirety using RealAudio.