Banned Book Review: Blubber by Judy Blume

In honor of banned book week, I am participating in Sheila at Book Journey's banned book challenge. Visit her blog to discover posts from bloggers all over the blogosphere celebrating their freedom to choose what they read!

Blubber: Banned/Challenged: For language and because a bully did not get into trouble

Title: Blubber

Author: Judy Blume

Goodreads Summary:

Blubber is a good name for her, the note from Wendy says about Linda. Jill crumples it up and leaves it on the corner of her desk. She doesn't want to think about Linda or her dumb report on the whale just now. Jill wants to think about Halloween.

But Robby grabs the note, and before Linda stops talking it has gone halfway around the room.

That's where it all starts. There's something about Linda that makes a lot of kids in her fifth-grade class want to see how far they can go -- but nobody, least of all Jill, expects the fun to end where it does.

My thoughts:

Kids can be cruel and mean. There is no doubt about that, and the characters in this book, including the main character Jill, are no exception. Jill joins forces with her classmates to make one fellow student's life a living hell. They bully Linda mercilessly, calling her Blubber and fat and a smelly whale, and some of their stunts border on assault. Jill isn't just a jerk at school, she is at home as well. She picks on her brother, calling him dumb all the time, and on Halloween she and her best friend Tracy run around pulling mean pranks on people, such as breaking rotten eggs into the mailbox of the neighborhood curmudgeon, and of course, writing mean things on the sidewalk in front of Linda's house.  However, something happens that puts Jill on the other side of things, and she becomes the victim of bullying. Ultimately, Jill puts a stop to everything, but only after suffering herself, and learning what it is like when the shoe is on the other foot. 

This book is unpleasant to read as an adult. It is hard to read about the depths of the bullying that occurs at such a young age, but from working in an elementary school, you can see cliques start to form early, like first or second grade. The mechanics are already in place for someone to be the odd man out, the scapegoat. This book doesn't pull any punches, and there is never really retribution. The lead bully never gets into trouble, her life stays mainly the same. Does this suck? Yes, absolutely. We live in a world where we like to see the villain get their due. But in reality, that doesn't always happen. I read this in elementary school, and I wish I could remember what I thought of it. The definition of flenser stuck with me, but as far as how this book made me feel, that is lost to the years.

Judy Blume is no stranger to censorship. Her books are realistic, and are often challenged. Blubber has been challenged for the swearing it contains (there are few instances of bitch and damn, also some racial slurs) and because the bully gets away without punishment. Again, this is just another discussion point, that not everyone gets what they deserve. That statement, about getting what you deserve, is actually in the book. Jill and Tracy get into trouble for their Halloween stunts, and they are told that maybe now they will learn that they are not necessarily in charge of deciding what other people deserve, which obviously applies not just to their Halloween prank, but to what is going on with Linda.

Linda never tells anyone what is going on. The adults and teachers in the book seem either clueless or like they are turning a blind eye to what is going on. We all know bullying is a huge issue right now, especially as kids can go home and still be bullied through digital media and their phones. I would think this book would be a good entree to a classroom discussion about bullying, and what to do if you are being bullied, not a book that should be banned, or hidden away. It's a book that parents and children can read together, or if a student happens to pick it out from the library and read it on their own, maybe it will cause them to think about what happens, and to empathize with Linda. Maybe they will learn what it means to be a bully, to be bullied, and what they should do if bullied: Speak up.