Not the current cover, clearly, but the one I remember from yore.

I haven’t read much Judy Blume. I read Forever, of course (it wasn’t shelved in my local library – it was ‘under the counter’ and you had to ask for it), and a few years ago I read Deenie, but I feel like there’s a Judy Blume-shaped hole in my YA reading.

Since Ms Blume is going to be at YALC in July, I figured now would be a good time to, er, fill that hole. And because I don’t like to do anything on my own, I thought I’d host* a readalong.

It’s six weeks until YALC, so I asked for book nominations on Twitter, and have come up with a shortlist of six books. The readalong starts next Monday, the 8th June with, of course, Forever.

The full schedule:

08 June – Forever

15 June – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

22 June – Tiger Eyes

29 June – Blubber

06 July – Just As Long As We’re Together

13 July – Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself.

Everyone is welcome to join in and use the hashtag #readalongralph

* I don’t really know what this means and have no idea what hosting entails, so if I’m doing it wrong, let me know.