"She Talks to Us Just Like We're Real People"
When I was a teenager, I worked occasionally as a babysitter for three sisters. They were all so sweet and fun that it was hardly like a job at all. Amy, the oldest, especially loved hearing my stories about people at my high school and which boy had asked me out on a date and what I'd said and so on and so forth. Her dad told me that after one night of my stories, Amy told him she and her sisters liked me because, "She talks to us just like we're real people!"
I've always held that comment dear to my heart because that was the feeling I got when I discovered Judy Blume books. When I read Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, I remember thinking, "She gets it. She really gets what it's like to be this age." So when I began to write for tweens, I tried to keep in mind Amy's comments and how I'd felt about Blume's books.
Fast forward to many years later. My father-in-law was on a sailing adventure taking him through Key West. I asked him to stop in at Judy Blume's bookstore if he had the opportunity. He did. AND HE MET HER. Can you imagine?
And because he's the best FIL ever, he brought me back a very special present. Thirteen-year-old me never knew I'd hold such a treasure in my hands!
So here's to Amy, Judy, and Quinn (my father-in-law)...and to writing for kids just like they're real people...because they are.
Love this Ginger.Isn't it exciting when we meet the "kid lit rock stars" face to face?
ReplyDelete!! We have the same feelings about Blume.
ReplyDeleteJudy Blume’s books were so important to me as a teen that, years later, at the big SCBWI conference, I burst into tears when she came out on stage. A few years later, I met her in person at a book signing and told her I became a children’s book editor and agent in large part because of her books. We were buds with some of the same people—that blew my mind. If 13 year old me had known....
ReplyDeleteOh, wow! I love that!
ReplyDelete