28 Best Judy Blume Books

Eleven-year-old Margaret Simon has just moved to New Jersey and wants two things: to grow up and to figure out what she believes. As she navigates bras, periods, crushes, and clashing grandparents, she pours her questions into private conversations with God.

In Jill Brenner's fifth-grade class, everyone joins in teasing Linda, the quiet girl nicknamed Blubber. When the jokes turn cruel, and the bullying finally swings back at Jill, she has to decide what kind of friend, and what kind of person, she wants to be.

Peter Hatcher thinks handling Fudge is hard enough, and then his parents announce a new baby and a move to Princeton. While Fudge stages tantrums and wild stunts, Peter navigates new friends, a new school, and what it means to grow up in a changing family.

Fourth grader Peter Hatcher just wants a normal life in New York, but his toddler brother Fudge eats, breaks, or ruins almost everything in sight. Through one wild episode after another, Peter learns what it means to be the older kid in the family.

Thirteen-year-old Deenie has always been told she is the 'beautiful one' destined to model, until a scoliosis diagnosis means wearing a back brace for years. Caught between her mother's dreams and her own, she must rebuild her sense of self from the inside.

Sheila Tubman acts confident and bossy, but she secretly fears dogs, spiders, the dark, and even the swimming pool. A summer in Tarrytown, complete with camp, a dog in the rental house, and a new best friend, forces her to face her fears.

After his family suddenly gets rich and moves to Long Island, twelve-year-old Tony Miglione is overwhelmed by fancy neighbors, a daring new friend, and confusing feelings about a girl next door. Panic attacks push him to face who he wants to be.

After her father is killed in a robbery, fifteen-year-old Davey Wexler is sent to relatives in New Mexico to recover. Hiking in the canyons, volunteering at a hospital, and befriending a mysterious boy called Wolf help her face grief and begin to heal.

Katherine and Michael are high-school seniors who fall deeply in love and decide to have sex, planning a future that feels permanent. The story follows their relationship with unusual honesty, from birth-control appointments to heartbreak, as Katherine learns that not everything lasts forever.

Second grader Andrew Marcus is convinced freckles would solve all his problems, especially envy of classmate Nicky's spotted face. When he buys a secret freckle recipe from a classmate, the disgusting mixture teaches him more about embarrassment and self-acceptance than he bargained for.

With her best friend gone, Winnie is thrilled when a new family moves into Iggie's house—until neighbors object because the Garbers are Black. Trying to be helpful, she stumbles and learns what it really means to be a friend.

In the early 1950s, three planes crash near Elizabeth, New Jersey, leaving a community stunned. Fifteen-year-old Miri Ammerman, her family, and their friends navigate fear, gossip, romance, and grief as they try to understand how life can keep going after such shocks.

Thirteen-year-old Stephanie Hirsch is juggling a new house, a new school, body changes, and her parents' secret separation. When she befriends shy newcomer Alison, her lifelong bond with best friend Rachel shifts, testing how three very different girls can stay close.

Middle child Freddy Dissel feels invisible between his older brother and little sister until a school play casts him as a green kangaroo. On stage, he finally gets the chance to stand out and see his family differently.

When five-year-old Fudge becomes obsessed with money, he starts printing his own 'Fudge Bucks' and planning to buy the world. A trip to Washington, D.C., unexpected cousins from Hawaii, and a second Farley Drexel Hatcher push Peter's patience and his sense of humor to the limit.

Peter is horrified when his family's Maine vacation means sharing a house with Sheila Tubman, his long-time nemesis. Fudge, however, is busy planning to marry Sheila. A summer of baseball, boating, and surprise family news makes everyone rethink what 'forever' family really means.

Overachieving Rachel Robinson seems to have everything under control—until her disruptive older brother moves back home and draws everyone's attention. Trying to manage school, music, crushes, and shifting friendships, she learns that perfection is not the same as being okay.

Sixth grader Karen Newman is sure her parents' separation means disaster, so she hatches schemes to keep them together. As the divorce moves forward anyway, she slowly discovers that families can change shape and still find a new kind of normal.

From their first summer on Martha's Vineyard, shy Vix Leonard is swept into dazzling Caitlin Somers's wealthy, chaotic world. Over decades of summers, their fierce friendship weaves together love, betrayal, ambition, and the hard truth that growing up can pull people apart.

In this picture-book story, eight-year-old Abigail and her six-year-old brother Jake each take a turn insisting their parents love the other child best. Their funny, exaggerated complaints show how sibling rivalry can hide a fierce, if grudging, affection.

Suburban New Jersey housewife Sandy Pressman seems to have the perfect life, yet feels restless and unseen. An impulsive affair jolts her into confronting desire, marriage, and the narrow expectations placed on 'good' wives in the 1970s.

Set mostly at school, these short chapters follow Jake and Abigail through lost teeth, Bring Your Pet to School Day, and a run-in with a playground bully who calls kids 'burnt toast'. Even when they argue, the two discover they are braver together.

In 1947, imaginative ten-year-old Sally moves with her family from New Jersey to Miami Beach for her brother's health. Between new friends, movie-star daydreams, and worries about the Holocaust, she turns everyday life into a story she can survive.

When Jake freezes during reading circle and Abigail suspects a best friend has betrayed her, both start wondering who counts as a friend and who feels like a fiend. Snow days, big cousins, and their cat Fluzzy help them sort out hurt feelings.

Jake and Abigail are on the move—from a county fair to the mall, the beach, and even the emergency room. Each adventure turns into a new argument, a new joke, and a fresh chance for these stubborn siblings to figure out how to stick together.

Drawn from thousands of letters children and teens wrote to her, this nonfiction book shares real voices talking about friendship, family trouble, puberty, abuse, and everyday worries. Blume adds brief commentary, giving adults a window into what kids often keep silent.

In seven linked stories, third-grader Abigail (the Great One) and first-grader Jake (the Pain) take turns describing haircuts, soccer games, sleepovers, and learning to ride a bike. Their bickering voices reveal both the aggravation and the comfort of having a sibling.

In Boulder, Colorado, architect Margo Sampson and her friend B.B. are rebuilding their lives after divorce—until B.B.'s ex-husband moves in next door. As loyalties tangle and teenage daughters watch closely, everyone must rethink what it means to be 'smart' about love.