I think I mentioned before that I'd never read a Judy Blume book until I started this challenge, but if I had, man, this wouldn't be the one. It's told by a pre-teen girl named Jill who is pretty much normal althought slightly lacking in the introspection/empathy department. The girls in her class get bored one day and tag the nickname Blubber on the dumpy girl with the potato-shaped head--Linda. Jill goes along as an active participant, partly because the ringleader is a bit of a bully but mostly because it's fun. The nickname sticks and the bullying explodes into near-torture.
If I suspected Ms. Blume of manipulating the reader, I'd say she wrote it to make kids cry in outrage and demand to know why the heroine didn't try to stop it. At first Jill was able to step back and feel a little empathy, or at least curiosity, about Linda's behavior and wonder why she put up with it. But after Jill gets herself into trouble by egging a neighbor's mailbox, she develops the paranoid suspicion that Linda was the one who told on her. Even her level-headed friend Tracy couldn't talk her out of it. The whole "blaming the victim" syndrome brought home in a very personal way.
In the afterword, Ms. Blume said she was inspired by her own daughter's experiences and that she wanted to tell the tale of bullying from the perspective of a normal girl, just trying to survive in the back-biting world of Fifth Grade girls. I've been there, for sure, and so has my daughter. It's an ugly time and if you don't have a best friend you might as well lock yourself in the closet for the duration.
It would be interesting to know if Ms. Blume was also relating her daughter's observations about the clueless indifference of the adults surrounding her. I should ask my daughter if she felt that adults were not to be trusted. At that age, I sure did. I know my parents cared--a lot--but they didn't know what I went through and I wouldn't tell them. Why? Partly because it was none of their business, but mainly because...I didn't want to hurt them.
The teachers stink, too. Classrooms have changed since the sixties and I hope for the better. There's no way a teacher in today's times could be as clueless as theirs was...or Ms. What's-her-name math teacher back in my fifth grade...or the science teacher in my sixth grade.
As painful as this book is to read, it's important in one more way. Lizzie Skunick cites it as the book that inspired a generation of woman authors, because--
What was Linda's story?
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