Q & A with Judy Blume

By Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 8/7/2008

Over a span of four decades, Judy Blume’s many books for young readers and adults have sold more than 80 million copies worldwide and have garnered more than 90 awards. In September, Delacorte will release Going, Going Gone! with the Pain & the Great One, the third installment of her quartet of chapter books starring these squabbling siblings. One recent hot and hazy day, Bookshelf caught up with Blume on Martha’s Vineyard, where she spends summers.

The Pain and the Great One have obviously been with you a long time, since you first introduced them in your 1985 picture book, The Pain and the Great One. What was it like to resurrect these characters in this quartet?

Actually, I find that these characters have taken on a life of their own in these chapter books, to the point that they don’t have much to do with the protagonists of the original picture book—except they still like calling each other the Pain and the Great One. But by now they own their new selves.

You capture these siblings’ simultaneous rivalry and affection so realistically. How do you manage that?

I don’t really know, except my own children were the original inspiration for these characters. My daughter was eight and my son six when I wrote the picture book. I remember one rainy day when our house was full of kids and I sat there listening to all of them talking, laughing and bickering. I scribbled it all down and it just came spilling out.

Do you reach back to more of their childhood adventures while shaping the plots of the new Pain and the Great One stories?

There are certain things that these two do that remind me of my own children’s lives, but some of their adventures come from other parts of my life.

Such as?

Well, two of the stories in Going, Going, Gone! are actually based on adventures I had with my grandson, who is now 16, when he visited me here on the Vineyard when he was younger. And the story about the Great One refusing to take off her cowboy boots when she visits the Everglades is based directly on my own experience. On a camping trip there with my husband years ago, I kept my boots on for an entire week because I had heard that alligators won’t bite through leather.

Judy Blume. Photo: Sigrid Estrada.

Oh yes. We had a cat when the kids were young. And my daughter has one now, and when she comes to visit with him, I get to discuss ideas with him and talk about what Fluzzy will do next. In fact, I still have to write the last chapter of the final book in the quartet, so I’ll have to decide soon what last thoughts Fluzzy wants to share.

As you wrap up that final book, will you find it difficult to leave these characters behind? 

No, I can honestly say I’m not sorry to write the last of these books. The first one, Soupy Saturdays, was published just last summer and the final one, Friend or Fiend?,will be out next spring. So they have really come out boom, boom, boom. It was very concentrated writing and I’m not used to that kind of pressure. But I’ve become really good at wasting my creative time, so in a way it was very, very good for me to work on such tight deadlines. And writing so quickly does bring instant gratification.

And writing novels lets you work at a more leisurely pace?

Yes, I’d say so. I love novels because they can take you, over time, where you never anticipated you’d go. For me, they develop and grow in unexpected ways. Some people have outlines and know what will happen from the start, but I don’t write that way.

So writing these story collections was more of a challenge for you than creating a novel?

Definitely. I’d never written short stories before this. My strong point has never been story ideas. It has always been characters and dialogue that come more easily to me. For me to come up with 28 episodes—seven in each book—was something. When I think about it, I don’t know how I did it actually.

What was your reaction to James Stevenson’s illustrations for these books—do you think he shares your vision of the Pain and the Great One?

Oh yes! I love that his art gives these kids such movement. At one point he shows the Pain flying down an escalator and it is very funny. Jim seemed to know exactly what I wanted to do in these books. I’ve never before written a book with illustrations and I love, love, love having these stories illustrated, since the art adds so much humor to them. I recently met Jim for the first time and I realize that his art is just like him: witty and sharp and clever.

Speaking of clever folk, you had quite a nice nostalgic moment at BEA this year, when you spoke at the Children’s Book and Author Breakfast and flashed on the screen a photo of that same event 30 years ago, showing you sharing the stage with Dr. Seuss and Maurice Sendak. How did it feel to be back at that podium once again, three decades later?

It was nice to remember back and it was a very fun, heady experience to speak there again this year. I guess I don’t really dwell on the fact that so many years have passed, but sometimes I do stop and think, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been around so long.’ I turned 70 this year, which was quite a milestone. I feel as though I have more creative energy now than I had in my 20s. Everything is better for me now than then and I do feel very lucky about that.

On the subject of longevity, do you project that the Pain and the Great One will withstand the test of time?

Well, I hope so. These are books that should be able to stay out there. They are not topical. The characters and situations are universal and I hope the books will make it. It’s a tough world out there.

Obviously your publisher has high hopes for the Pain and the Great One, given Going, Going Gone!’s 250,000-copy first printing.

Yes, I suppose. But I just hope the books won’t get returned. I always worry about those things. And if I want to get more nervous, all I have to do is walk into a bookstore and see how many children’s books are out there. I know Margaret [from Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret] is almost 40 years old, but I still have my insecurities. But maybe that’s a good thing. It keeps me on my toes.

Going, Going Gone! with the Pain & the Great One by Judy Blume, illus. by James Stevenson. Delacorte, $12.99 978-0-385-73307-6