(You can listen to this episode here.)

Writer Alex Poppe joins us to talk about Deenie, Judy Blume’s 1973 novel about a girl, pigeonholed as the pretty one in her family, whose life is thrown off track when she’s diagnosed with scoliosis. Alex is the author most recently of the memoir Breakfast Wine.

Other books by Judy Blume:

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great

Forever

Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing

Then Again, Maybe I Won’t

It’s Not the End of the World

Blubber (this is the book Alex couldn’t remember the name of)

In the Unlikely Event (this is the adult novel we couldn’t remember the name of)

Also mentioned:

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, the 2023 movie (trailer here)

Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer

New Yorker review of Judy Blume: A Life by Katy Waldman

Otherwise Known as Judy the Great by Selina Alko, children’s biography of Judy Blume

Michigan Daily article about Deenie by Rebecca Smith, a student with scoliosis

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Recommended for fans of Deenie:

Alex: Fight Night by Miriam Toews; “The River Nemanus,” a short story by Anthony Doerr from the collection Memory Wall

Mary Grace: Karen and With Love from Karen by Marie Killilea (MG)

Deborah: Braced by Alison Gerber

Previous podcast episode:

Rereading Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.

You can find Alex at alexpoppeauthor.com, Deborah at deborahkalb.com and Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.