Judy Blume (born
February 12,
1938) is an American author. She wrote many extremely popular novels for children and young adults in the
1970s and
1980s. The "Fudge" trilogy features a hyperactive kindergarten boy and his bemused family. Her novels for teenagers were among the first to tackle such controversial matters as menstruation (
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret), divorce (
It's Not the End of the World), adult female relationships (
Summer Sisters), and teenage sexuality (
Forever). Fans of Blume's novels have praised her use of real-life settings, ambivalent endings and gentle humor. Her allegedly ambiguous treatment of moral issues made her at one time a regular target of school library censors and the religious right.