{"id":80,"date":"2026-05-23T15:08:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80"},"modified":"2026-05-23T15:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T15:08:20","slug":"are-you-there-judy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80","title":{"rendered":"Are You There, Judy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In 1978, People <\/em>magazine printed a risqu\u00e9 five-page feature on the best-selling author Judy Blume. Blume was already a superstar in children\u2019s publishing, but the People<\/em> article coincided with the release of her bawdy first adult novel, Wifey<\/em>, and it opened with a full-page photo of Blume reclining in a lacy negligee on her bed. In another, she had her legs entwined around her husband\u2019s waist with the caption, \u201cIn a playful moment, Judy tells husband Tom, \u2018I let you live out your fantasies. This is position No. 32.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more The Price of a Lost Russia: A Correspondent\u2019s Eulogy<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cauthor as sex kitten\u201d was a seemingly odd marketing ploy for a best-selling children\u2019s writer, albeit one who had built her reputation on tackling previously taboo subjects like puberty and sexuality in books aimed at a pre-teen audience. Blume\u2019s rise had been meteoric, fueled in part by her remarkable output. She published 10 books in a five-year span, from 1969 to 1974, including the iconic novels Are You There God? It\u2019s Me, Margaret<\/em>; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing<\/em>; Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great<\/em>; It\u2019s Not the End of the World<\/em>; Deenie<\/em>; and Blubber<\/em>. In 1979, the bookstore chain B. Dalton reported that its top seven best-selling books for children were all penned by Blume.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Mark Oppenheimer\u2019s breezy biography, Judy Blume: A Life<\/em>, the author argues that Blume is \u201cone of those celebrities\u2014like Barbra Streisand, say, or Elizabeth Taylor\u2014who was bigger than her body of work.\u201d A magazine like People<\/em> could essentially ignore Blume\u2019s new novel, he asserts, and instead \u201cfocus on the personal life of the woman who had created it because that<\/em> was what readers really wanted to know about.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oppenheimer notes that even today, 50 years after the publication of her most seminal works, Blume is revered\u2014even mythologized\u2014by women who came of age in the 1970s and \u201880s. While Blume wrote more than two dozen novels for audiences pre-school to adult, her iconic status arises from a handful of books that depicted with empathy the everyday concerns of adolescents, like menstruation, masturbation, bullying, romantic crushes, divorce, and depression. Oppenheimer understandably presumes that his readers, like Blume\u2019s own devoted fans, share a deep curiosity about the woman behind the novels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Indeed, for a generation of middle-aged women for whom the mantra \u201cI must, I must, I must increase my bust!\u201d and the mere mention of the name \u201cRalph\u201d still elicit giggles, this biography is a welcome sentimental journey and a chance to revisit their youthful devotion to Blume.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet, in this well-researched biography, Blume\u2019s life story lacks a certain sparkle. In comparison with Blume\u2019s own vivid fiction, there are surprisingly few splashy anecdotes or shocking reveals. She appears to be precisely as her readers might imagine her: a perky optimist, sexy and impetuous, smart and ambitious.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What is most striking about this biography is that Blume\u2019s frankness in her fiction writing and deep empathy with the commonplace problems of adolescents seem to coexist with an opacity about her own personal life. Oppenheimer never explicitly acknowledges this irony: His book is awash with mildly titillating anecdotes about trivial events but surprisingly lacking in genuine introspection. In a moment of self-effacing candor, Oppenheimer writes, \u201cWhat is frustrating, for the biographer, is the nagging sense that I am missing a lot.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

At first glance, Mark Oppenheimer, a professor who has penned six previous books primarily focused on the American Jewish experience, is a surprising choice to write the life story of Blume, whose fiction was squarely aimed at adolescent girls. Nonetheless, Oppenheimer is a longtime Blume fan who reread her books over and over as a child. In 1997, Oppenheimer wrote an essay for The<\/em> New York Times Book Review<\/em> praising Blume\u2019s work and analyzing her enduring influence. As in that essay, Judy Blume<\/em> is at its most successful when Oppenheimer puts aside questions of \u201cwho,\u201d and instead asks \u201cwhy\u201d\u2014departing from personal narrative to place Blume within her historical context, celebrate her contribution to the literary canon, and explore her lasting popularity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The broad details of Blume\u2019s life are widely known: She was born in 1938 to a secular Jewish middle-class family in suburban New Jersey. She trained to be a teacher but married young. As a bored housewife with two small children and a failing marriage, she tried her hand at various enterprises, including felt art and songwriting, before enrolling in a night school writing course. After two years churning out dead-end drafts\u2014she first styled herself after Dr. Seuss\u2014she published her first children\u2019s book in 1969. Blume\u2019s aggressive publication schedule, along with her accessibility to readers, helped fuel her success. Her release of 14 books in a decade \u201cmade reading Judy, for teenagers in the 1970s, not just a rite of passage but a habit,\u201d Oppenheimer writes, and it established \u201cJudy Blume books\u201d and Blume herself as a marketable brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The People <\/em>spread in 1978 marked a transition in Blume\u2019s career and in her private life. Although Blume denied that Wifey <\/em>was autobiographical, the novel, <\/em>which followed the sexual exploits of a bored suburban housewife, reflected transformations in her own relationships. Three years earlier she had left her 16-year marriage to wed a stranger she had flirted with while traveling with her adolescent children on a transcontinental flight. Blume\u2019s own sexual liberation fueled her writing. \u201cI was wild,\u201d she later recalled. \u201cMy fantasies were wild.\u201d Within a year, Wifey<\/em> had sold 2.7 million copies and she had divorced Tom, the man she\u2019d met on the plane, and moved in with George Cooper, who would become her third husband. Beginning in the 1980s, Blume concentrated on adult fiction and less controversial, humorous children\u2019s books aimed at a younger audience, moving away from the realistic adolescent fiction that had fueled her initial success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While professional accomplishments came relatively easily, Blume weathered ample turbulence in her private life: Her beloved father died less than a month before her first wedding; she suffered two unhappy marriages before meeting Cooper, her partner of 45 years; and both she and her husband battled cancer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blume\u2019s empathetic novels earned her the deep devotion of readers. For tween girls in the 1970s and \u201980s, Judy Blume was like a knowledgeable older sister or a cool mom, willing to discuss the mortifying facts of adolescence as natural parts of growing up. Interviewers often commented on Blume\u2019s petite stature and youthful appearance, as if she were somehow an adult in the body of a teen. Blume quipped that she had an \u201calmost total recall of [her] childhood,\u201d which she used to summon the awkward, confusing, and even shameful feelings of adolescence, and reflect those experiences back on her readers, allowing them to feel seen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blume\u2019s accessibility, both perceived and actual, was extraordinary. She tirelessly marketed her books and delighted in meeting her young readers, becoming one of the first children\u2019s authors to have a true fan following. At the peak of her popularity, Blume received more than 2,000 letters a month from young people, many of whom sought personal advice on issues ranging from the mundane concerns of adolescence to more grave problems such as drugs, depression, alcoholism, suicide, and incest. Oppenheimer notes that Blume came to believe she possessed a sort of \u201csuperpower: a kind of quasi-professional expertise in parent\/child communication.\u201d This is surprising considering the emotionally distant relationship Blume had with her mother, and, later, Blume\u2019s tensions with her own teenage children (dynamics that Oppenheimer alludes to but never fully explores in the biography).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over her long career, Blume wrote 29 books and sold more than 90 million worldwide, according to her website. Her banner sales benefited from two trends in publishing: the proliferation of chain bookstores in shopping malls like the now-defunct B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, and the creation of mass-market paperbacks, including new imprints designed for the children\u2019s market. Together, these developments made children\u2019s books more affordable and accessible to kids.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blume also benefited from the emergence of a new literary category, young adult (YA) fiction, and a new literary style, realism, pioneered in the 1960s and exemplified by S.E. Hinton\u2019s The Outsiders <\/em>and Paul Zindel\u2019s The Pigman<\/em>. Frank depictions of sexuality, abortion, addiction, and mental illness had long existed in adult fiction, but the expansion of these mature themes to an explicitly teenage audience was new.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more The Affordability Crisis Is a Wage Crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

Blume adapted the new realism to books aimed at a younger audience and tackled subject matter less gritty than that of YA authors. Librarians hailed the emergence of realism in literature for young people and praised Blume\u2019s books in particular. In comparison with the violence, nihilism, and explicit sexuality in the YA market, Oppenheimer writes, \u201cJudy\u2019s books were a safer, less radical alternative to what was out there.\u201d Even critics, who tended to be lukewarm in their reviews, often cited Blume\u2019s books\u2019 social value even as they decried their literary merit. Considering Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself<\/em>, a New York Times <\/em>reviewer wrote, \u201cIt\u2019s evident [Blume\u2019s] appeal goes beyond sexual frankness. She must be conveying a certain emotional reality that children recognize as true.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, the explicit sexuality in some of Blume\u2019s books\u2014particularly those aimed at teenage readers\u2014caused controversy (while simultaneously spurring sales). Astonishingly, more than 50 years after publication, Blume\u2019s iconic novel Forever\u2026<\/em>, with its frank depiction of sexually active teens, remains on PEN America\u2019s \u201cMost Banned Books\u201d list. Skirmishes surrounding Blume\u2019s books emboldened her to become an outspoken activist against censorship, a cause she continues to champion today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But while traditionalists attacked Blume for her depictions of teen sexuality, puberty, and amoral nihilism\u2014as her characters rarely faced consequences for behaviors ranging from lying to pre-marital sex\u2014she drew criticism from the left as well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blume\u2019s books are virtually free of political turmoil, despite having been written during an era of enormous social change. With the exception of her novel Iggie\u2019s House<\/em>, which explored racism from the viewpoint of a young white narrator, Blume\u2019s books make virtually no mention of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, feminism, Watergate, or the Cold War. Oppenheimer points out that her books contain few characters of color, or who are gay, religious, southern, or foreign.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s not surprising. In the formative years of her career, during the turbulent 1960s and \u201870s, Blume was writing in suburban New Jersey, far from the counterculture. But this perspective was more than just Blume\u2019s lack of exposure; it reflected her conviction that books need not teach lessons but could instead simply reflect readers\u2019 reality, and Blume\u2019s own. In Blume\u2019s novels, families are imperfect, and teenagers are casually cruel, occasionally delinquent, and sexually curious. Blume commented, \u201cTo me, not<\/em> all families are great, and not<\/em> all children grow up among families that are not sexist and not racist, so I am reflecting that as I knew it in my own life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

By 21st century standards, it is striking how limited her female characters are. The sexual revolution had spurred Blume to leave her first marriage (\u201cI wanted to be free. I wanted to sleep with whoever I wanted to sleep with. I wanted all those sixties things that I missed\u201d), and inspired her bawdy adult novels, Wifey<\/em> and Smart Women<\/em>. But the political aspect of the women\u2019s movement is largely absent in her writings. A 1976 editorial noted that of all her many heroines, \u201cnot one fights the feminist fight\u2014that is, struggles consciously to change the second-class status of her girlhood.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Judy Blume<\/em> is not an authorized biography, Oppenheimer had generous cooperation from his subject, now 88 years old and living in Key West, where she and her husband own an independent bookstore. Blume, her family members, colleagues, and friends sat for more than 100 interviews, and she shared her notes from an unfinished memoir. Oppenheimer also had access to Blume\u2019s voluminous archive.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet, even with such generous access, the biography feels curiously light. At times, it appears as though Oppenheimer may have deferred to his subject, omitting or eliding sensitive topics. For example, the author treats certain seemingly pivotal events only in passing, like Blume\u2019s brief period of infidelity at the end of her first marriage, and also her cancer diagnosis and mastectomy, dispensing with each in a single paragraph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in a biography with a living, cooperating subject, one must ask if the fault lies with Blume herself, whom her son once described to a journalist as \u201cthe least analytical person\u201d he had ever met. Tellingly, Blume described a foray into non-fiction, Letters to Judy: What Kids Wish They Could Tell You<\/em>,as \u201cthe most difficult writing experience\u201d of her life. Oppenheimer notes that the book is essentially a memoir, punctuated with readers\u2019 letters. \u201cYet as a memoir, Letters to Judy<\/em> pulls many punches,\u201d Oppenheimer opines, \u201cchanging names, foreshortening anecdotes, focusing on the upside, offering the kind of morality tales that she would never allow herself in her fiction.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reader wonders whether Blume herself is an unreliable narrator. Certainly there are honest, even startling disclosures in the biography, like Blume\u2019s recollections of mutual masturbation at childhood slumber parties, her bouts with sexually transmitted diseases, and a matter-of-fact mention of two abortions. Others\u2014like a particularly cringey passage Blume wrote for an early draft of Wifey<\/em> involving oral sex and a pet dog, which her editor asked her to remove\u2014seem to be included for sheer shock value. It is perhaps unsurprising that an author who built her reputation in part on her inclusion of socially taboo content for young readers should share similar disclosures from her own life. Nevertheless, the biography lacks the emotional depth and introspection readers might expect from Blume.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This tendency may stem from a childhood in which Blume\u2019s parents were comfortable speaking about sexuality and puberty, but not about feelings. Oppenheimer comments, \u201cJudy had a tendency to avoid her emotions, to keep the messiness at bay.\u201d In a particularly poignant passage, Blume recalled that her mother had warned her not to cry at her father\u2019s funeral: \u201cWe\u2019re not going to give anybody a show here.\u201d Blume does not remember her mother ever speaking of her father again after that day. \u201cShe was grieving,\u201d Blume recalled. \u201cBut she was a private person, she couldn\u2019t show it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result, perhaps, whole swaths of Blume\u2019s personal story feel underdeveloped. This is particularly so with respect to Blume\u2019s familial relationships. Oppenheimer reflects, \u201cJudy is a wife, mother, and a grandmother, but I do not, despite my best efforts, understand what kind of wife, mother, and grandmother she has been.\u201d It is not clear, for example, what caused the collapse of Blume\u2019s second marriage, the mere existence of which she rarely acknowledged in press interviews after it ended. \u201cEven today,\u201d Oppenheimer writes, \u201cJudy mostly refrains from speaking ill of her ex-husbands; she is conflicted about how to talk about them.\u201d Likewise, while Blume refers obliquely to challenging periods in her children\u2019s teenage years, few specific incidents are described. Despite the full cooperation of his subject, her husband, and her children, Oppenheimer rues, \u201ctheir internal family dynamics are opaque to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upon completion of this biography, Oppenheimer shared a draft with his subject. In response, Blume sent him over 100 pages of comments\u2014many of which Oppenheimer says he ignored\u2014prompting the author to ponder \u201cwhy she didn\u2019t just write an autobiography.\u201d The answer seems apparent: she couldn\u2019t. Ironically, the author who was able to channel the inner feelings of adolescents and write unflinchingly about their most awkward, mortifying experiences seemingly struggled to tell her own story.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Could Trump\u2019s Narcissism Save Ukraine?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even as she wrote with deep empathy about the trials of young girls, Judy Blume remained a mystery to herself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":79,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16,19,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-health-care","category-newsletter","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nAre You There, Judy? - USA Business Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are You There, Judy? - USA Business Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even as she wrote with deep empathy about the trials of young girls, Judy Blume remained a mystery to herself.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"USA Business Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T15:08:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"13 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366\"},\"headline\":\"Are You There, Judy?\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T15:08:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80\"},\"wordCount\":2653,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Health Care\",\"Newsletter\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80\",\"name\":\"Are You There, Judy? - USA Business Chronicle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T15:08:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2048},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?p=80#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are You There, Judy?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"USA Business Chronicle\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/usabusinesschronicle.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are You There, Judy? - USA Business Chronicle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are You There, Judy? - USA Business Chronicle","og_description":"Even as she wrote with deep empathy about the trials of young girls, Judy Blume remained a mystery to herself.","og_url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80","og_site_name":"USA Business Chronicle","article_published_time":"2026-05-23T15:08:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":2048,"url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"13 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366"},"headline":"Are You There, Judy?","datePublished":"2026-05-23T15:08:20+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80"},"wordCount":2653,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg","articleSection":["Books","Health Care","Newsletter","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80","url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80","name":"Are You There, Judy? - USA Business Chronicle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-23T15:08:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/fed28c20593245761295b39c6c18e2af.jpg","width":2560,"height":2048},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?p=80#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Are You There, Judy?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/","name":"USA Business Chronicle","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b63e0267c8881fa22972f2a01b50d366","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com"],"url":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usabusinesschronicle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}