Blubber

Blubber

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Judy Blume Published 1974-??-?? Type Fiction Genre Comedy Themes Bullying, Childhood, Friendship Age Group Children

Blubber is a children's book written by Judy Blume and published in 1974. The book focuses primarily on bullying and friendship among children around the age of 10 and was inspired by grade school bullying witnessed by her daughter. Due to the nature of the book, it is frequently challenged in libraries around the USA.

The book follows Jill Brenner as she makes her way through the fifth grade. She and her friends do all the ordinary stuff that girls do, but, unbeknownst to their parents, they also spend time each school day severely bullying a soft-spoken girl named Linda because she looks different.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Yes.
Finished	Late 1980s.

I read Blubber with my class, I believe in fifth grade. Wanting to revisit more children's books so I'd have a better understanding of them for my daughters, I read it again and was surprised at how much I remembered.

Review

Overall:

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— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The book doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the topic of bullying. The worst bully, Wendy, is a very popular and pretty student and many other kids go along with her because they admire her. And the victim doesn't just have one bad experience and then everyone learns a lesson and becomes nice, she is tormented over and over again, and it keeps getting more sadistic.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Covers

The popularity of the book has led to it being released in many different languages across many different reprints. Some of the covers depict bullying, which is pretty accurate, while others simply have smiling girls on the cover, which is pretty deceptive (although, that may be the point). Most recent reprints have a cartoon whale which really doesn't do the book justice.

• 

  Hardcover - USA - 1974 - 1st edition
  
  A collage mostly focusing on Jill and Tracy. Doesn't really get the point across.

• 

  Mass Market - USA - 1978
  
  Girls mocking another student for not looking like them. Right on the nose.

• 

  Mass Market - UK - 1981
  
  Look just a couple of friends. Nothing cruel to see here.

• 

  Paperback - USA - 1986
  
  This is the book I read as a child. It's pretty clear that bullying is going on, but Linda doesn't look out of the ordinary.

• 

  Paperback - USA - 2016
  
  Most modern releases just have a whale. Completely meaningless.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Jill, although cruel at first, eventually learns an important lesson about bullying.
Bechdel test?	Pass	Many different girls speak to each other all the time.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Tracy Wu is Chinese-American, but is a minor character. A racial slur is used against her.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

The book has a lot of fat-shaming and various other forms of bullying.

Links