Book Review: Superfudge
Does the children's classic still hold its ground in 2024?
A few weeks ago I found myself without some reading during my “usual reading time” (either it was Shabbat or I was trying to reduce my time on Facebook) so I strolled over to the kids’ bookshelf and picked up Superfudge, the Judy Blume classic everyone in my generation read at least two or three times as a child. First published in 1980 before just about anyone had cell phones or even cable television, I thought it would be interesting to see how childhoods compare between now and then.
In terms of the story, it is cute and still touches on a lot of family issues that are on the front burner today like divorce and family migration. Blume does a good job of conveying the emotions around these issues so for children who need a character to relate to when going through these things, this book might be a good place to start.
I also think she gets family dynamics down pretty tight, capturing how annoying having younger siblings can be and the fights they make to get attention. Fudge is clearly a gifted child who probably needs a better outlet than public school can provide for him. His antics are something every parent of kids this age has had to deal with and I feel like Blume was reaching into some of her own experiences with family life when writing this book.
The dad is also super-relatable reading the book as a dad. Maybe Blume got a little imaginative thinking that a man could actually leave his high-powered advertising position to spend a year pursuing a passion. But she definitely hit the mark when the father fails miserably at achieving his sabbatical goal. I see you, Warren!
The edition I had replaced what would have been anachronisms in a book in the 20s (that’s 2020s) such as a record with a CD (which is still kind of an anachronism (oy, so old), but otherwise I think the book is still a good read for kids in that difficult stage we now call the ‘tweens. Blume is still alive and well at 86, so maybe we’ll get one more installment in the series with cell phones and instant messages. Here’s hoping!
Buy Superfudge on Amazon (Kindle) (affiliate link)