I very rarely read biographies, preferring to learn about people through their own words. I wondered why Blume didn’t write her own story, but I learned that she prefers not to write nonfiction, and probably didn’t want to spend her limited writing time on a book about herself. I ended up learning a lot about Blume and appreciated her even more after reading this book.
I grew up reading Blume’s novels, which can probably be said about most girls growing up in the 70s and 80s. I didn’t read all of them, but I remember reading Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret; Blubber, Deenie, Tiger Eyes, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, and Forever. The one that stuck with me the most was Blubber. I found Blume’s story about middle grade bullying absolutely terrifying. The girls in this story are brutal, and even scarier was the way they seemed to change their prey mid-attack, so no one feels safe. While I wasn’t bullied as a girl, I was definitely made fun of, and the things that happened in this book made me afraid to stand out in any way. Oppenheimer explains that what makes Blubber unique is the lack of moral resolution to the story. The mean girls don’t get any kind of comeuppance, nor do they have a change of heart. It’s just the way kids are.
Blume didn’t always want to be a writer. She had two kids and started needing a creative outlet. She tried art, then picture books, before she settled on writing for middle grader kids. She became successful when she wrote Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret, because she wrote about sensitive subjects in a very real, down to earth way. She didn’t talk down to kids and didn’t tiptoe around issues like religion and menstruation, things kids deal with all the time. She’d go on to write about divorce, bullying, disabilities, and even death, in the same honest, practical way. She didn’t write about controversial topics for the sake of being controversial – she wrote about what she knew and experienced. Today, her books will seem to lack diversity, but she wrote about the people she knew.
She was often judged harshly by critics, but what she cared about most was the many letters she received from preteens and teens affected by her books. She tried to respond personally to as many as she could, but was overwhelmed by the volume and had to send most children a formulaic response rather than a personal one. She said that she was frequently distracted by the “business” of being a famous author – book tours, letters, appearances, awards — which kept her from writing as much as she wanted to.
I was interested to learn that Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself was her most autobiographical book, as it’s one I never read.
Oppenheimer covers Blume’s marriages and divorces in quite a bit of detail, and it was interesting to see how her times, her family and her views about sexuality and love were reflected in her books. In her later years, she became an active opponent of book banning, and worked with libraries around the country to make more books accessible.
One major difference between a biography and a memoir is that Oppenheimer interviewed many people who knew Blume, and he pointed out where people had memories that differed from Blume’s. These weren’t big factual differences but mainly perceptions of how things happened. Of course, our memories can always be faulty, especially during emotional times. I wouldn’t say Oppenheimer was completely objective, as he clearly admired Blume, but it was interesting to see his outside perspective on events and the perspectives of other people. It’s worth noting that Oppenheimer is a journalist rather than a biographer; his other books are about history and Jewish issues.
Another key difference with a biography is its comprehensive nature. A memoir might cover an author’s life during specific periods, but this biography, as its title suggests, describes Blume’s life from birth to the present day. This meant covering details like where Blume lived, what her family was doing at the time. While this means some parts of Blume’s life were more interesting than others, I still found the whole book insightful. I especially enjoyed learning about how Blume wrote her books and how her writing changed over the years. I also enjoyed learning about how she branched out, writing nonfiction (a book of responses to children’s letters), a historical work about a series of plane crashes in New Jersey, and her novels for adults.
Note: I received an advanced review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher GP Putnam’s Sons. This book was published March 10, 2026
