If we get real about the books we read in the Gen X era, there might be one category that helped us the most -- the books we passed around our classrooms and hid under our mattresses because they brazenly talked about all the messiness of growing up (like bodies, babies, boobs and body odor). These were the guidebooks for our own coming of age journey. Join us as we dish about all those paperbacks from library shelves and drugstore spinners, the cautionary tales of drugs and unintended pregnancies, the portrayals of real kids (just like you) struggling with real problems (just like you), from authors like Norma Klein, Paul Zindel, and ANONYMOUS. But no conversation about coming of age is complete without the inclusion of Judy Blume; we top off this episode with an interview with Rachelle Bergstein, author of the new book The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Changed All of Our Childhoods. You might be surprised to find out just how big her contribution was and how much her work reflected a very unique moment in history.

Purchase “The Genius of Judy” at

Books and Books Key West (Judy Blume’s bookstore)

Amazon

Bookshop.org

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