I'm Sorry Blubber, It's Me Not You

Blubber by Judy Blume
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I grew up on Judy Blume books, so I really wanted to like this one, but I didn't. There didn't seem to be a main story line or ending.

Yes, it's a book about bullying, which is something that needs to be stopped, but having parts talking about the fact that some of the parents don't care if their kids swear just seemed to have no real point. It also brought swearing into the book. Reading that, and knowing that the book is meant for children to read, made me uncomfortable.

I find it hard to believe that with all of the extreme things happening, no adults at all figured out there was even a small problem. With an entire class of kids, and sometimes even a bus full, no adult was ever told what happened or figured it out on their own? It may just be the decade in which the book takes place. The kids seemed to be alone a lot more than they are any more. So, maybe if this story were written today, an adult would have noticed and stopped it before it got completely out of hand.

The ending was the hardest thing for me to accept. After all the drama of the book, the end is pretty much like the beginning, just will people moved around a bit. Nothing was learned from the whole experience, nothing changed. The ending was just there, not bringing the story to a close or serving any real purpose at all.

I'm not a kid, parent, or teacher, so it is completely possible that events from the story happen in real life. If they do, then that is horrible and something needs to be done. From my point of view, it just seemed like a throw away novel. Like the publishers needed a new novel, and this is what was thrown together to fit the bill. I think if it had some type of ending that actually brought some closer, I would have liked the book.

Author: Judy Blume
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
First Publication: 1974

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