Happy
BOOK Birthday,
MARKED Judy Blume!
‘The One and Only Ivan’
By Katherine Applegate
Illustrated by Patricia Castelao
This Newbury Medal-winner and No. 1
New York Times bestseller tells a story of
life-changing friendship, humane treat-
ment of animals and the power of art — all
from a gorilla’s perspective.

‘Raymie Nightingale’
By Kate DiCamillo
Three girls, each navigating her own
heartbreak, form a fierce, unlikely friend-
ship over the course of a summer in this
moving novel.

YOUNG ADULT
GETTY IMAGES/E+/PRESCHOOL: NICOLA KATIE; ELEMENTARY: LJUBAPHOTO;
MIDDLE SCHOOL: FANGXIANUO; ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS/YOUNG ADULT: ANTONIO_DIAZ
‘Counting by 7s’
By Holly Goldberg Sloan
After her parents’ death, Willow finds a
family of supportive friends who are as
quirky and idiosyncratic as she is in this
novel about resilience, community and
kids (and adults) who don’t fit neatly
into categories.

‘Sorta Like a Rockstar’
By Matthew Quick
Despite a tough life of uncertain
housing with her alcoholic mom, 17-year-
old Amber remains a self-proclaimed
“princess of hope” as she cares for her
rescue dog and grows deeply involved in
her community.

Each month we celebrate
a bithday of literary
significance. Judy Blume was born in Elizabeth,
New Jersey, on Feb. 12, 1938. As a
young child, she
enjoyed letting
her imagination
run wild but never
dreamed she’d
become a writer.

As an adult,
Blume continued
to make up stories in her head, and
when her kids were in preschool,
she decided to start writing
them down.

Some of her most popular titles
include “Are You There God? It’s
Me, Margaret,” “Blubber,” “Just as
Long as We’re Together,” and the
five-part “Fudge” series. Many of
her books are set in New Jersey,
where Blume grew up, as well as
locations where she has lived as
an adult, such as New Mexico
and Connecticut.

In addition to her beloved
children’s books, Blume has also
written bestselling novels for
adults. Her most recent, “In the
Unlikely Event,” was published
in 2015.

Throughout her career, Blume’s
books were frequently censored by
the American Library Association.

Because of that, she became a
champion for free speech, fighting
to keep challenged books on the
shelves and currently sits on the
board of the National Coalition
Against Censorship.

Today, Blume splits her time
between New York City and Key
West, Florida, where she and her
husband own an independent,
nonprofit bookstore. They
have three children and one
grandchild, whose first word was,
appropriately, “book!” ■
‘Marcelo in the Real World’
By Francisco X. Stork
A boy who falls on the high-functioning
end of the autism spectrum faces an eth-
ical challenge when he stumbles across
revealing evidence at his summer job at a
law firm. ■
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