Then Again, Maybe I Won't

A teacher at school decided that she was tired of just talking lesson plans & curriculum with us, her coworkers. Being a person of action, she got a book club together. Our inaugural book is Everything I Needed To Know About Being A Girl I Learned From Judy Blume. It's a collection of essays written by female (duh) authors. I've read about ½ of the essays and I've been quite surprised. I loved Judy Blume books. I have such fond memories of them. Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself was my absolute favorite, if my memory serves me correctly. I remember Forever... being risque and quite the talk of the school. I remember Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret talking about changes a girl goes through in her pre-teen years. But, I didn't remember Deenie or Then Again, Maybe I Won't having some, um, awkward paragraphs. Either I didn't understand what was being mentioned or they just didn't make an impression on me. I am one to forget a book once I've picked up another book to read.

I find it interesting that I read these books when I was around Lamb's age or younger. My mom had no idea what information I was reading. Working in a school, I read all sorts of young literature along with the adult books I enjoy. I like to know what the kids are reading or be able to recommend a good book to them. That might not always work in Lamb's favor. I don't read every single book Lamb reads. I don't have the desire to do that at all. But, there are times when I have read a young adult lit. book and decided that it wasn't appropriate for her. I picked up Gossip Girl when I heard it was being made into a t.v. show. I thought it might be fun for Lamb & me to read and then watch the show. I read the first page and knew that Lamb would not be reading it (after the fact, I happened to look on the back cover and in very fine print it says it's for ages 15 & up). She was disappointed but she has something to 'look forward to' reading when she's 25. ;) There are some cases where I introduce her to books she absolutely loves. Harry Potter comes to mind. And, recently, the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. She absolutely can't wait until the next book comes out next summer. Both books were not anything I thought we'd be remotely interested in until all the talk made me curious. Both books sat on my nightstand for MONTHS before curiosity got the best of me. Once started, I couldn't put them down. Same for Lamb.

I kinda lost my train of thought. My sinuses are winning the fight against my grey matter. I'm not sure where I meant to go with this. Other than I wonder if I would have been allowed to read those Judy Blume books if my mom had read them 1st or knew what was written between the covers of the books? And, then again, maybe I'm glad that she didn't.