Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

by Judy Blume

When Sally's family moves to Miami Beach for the winter of 1947, she's excited and nervous at the same time. What will school be like in Florida? Will she make any friends? Will she fit in so far away from home?

But none of this stops Sally from having the most amazing adventures. One minute she's a famous movie star or a brilliant detective; the next she's found the Latin lover of her dreams- -her classmate Peter Hornstein. And what about the Freedmans' neighbor, old Mr. Zavodsky, who looks suspiciously like Hitler in disguise?

Sally's life is a movie played inside her head, and Miami Beach is her best setting yet. If only she didn't have so much to worry about. --back cover

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Classics, Juvenile

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 7, 1977

About the author

Judy Blume spent her childhood in Elizabeth, New Jersey, making up stories inside her head. She has spent her adult years in many places doing the same thing, only now she writes her stories down on paper. Adults as well as children will recognize such Blume titles as: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Blubber; Just as Long as We're Together; and the five book series about the irrepressible Fudge. She has also written three novels for adults, Summer Sisters; Smart Women; and Wifey, all of them New York Times bestsellers. More than 80 million copies of her books have been sold, and her work has been translated into thirty-one languages. She receives thousands of letters a year from readers of all ages who share their feelings and concerns with her.
Judy received a B.S. in education from New York University in 1961, which named her a Distinguished Alumna in 1996, the same year the American Library Association honored her with the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement. Other recognitions include the Library of Congress Living Legends Award and the 2004 National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
She is the founder and trustee of The Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation. She serves on the boards of the Author's Guild; the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators; the Key West Literary Seminar; and the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Judy is a longtime advocate of intellectual freedom. Finding herself at the center of an organized book banning campaign in the 1980's she began to reach out to other writers, as well as teachers and librarians, who were under fire. Since then, she has worked tirelessly with the National Coalition Against Censorship to protect the freedom to read. She is the editor of Places I Never Meant To Be, Original Stories by Censored Writers.
Judy has completed a series of four chapter books -- The Pain & the Great One -- illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist James Stevenson. She has co-written and produced a film adaptation of her book Tiger Eyes, and is currently writing a new novel.
Judy and her husband George Cooper live on islands up and down the east coast. They have three grown children and one grandchild.

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second favourite Judy Blume book from my childhood.

So I've decided to do a Personal Challenge for 2022. I will re-read one favourite book a month from my childhood and see how the book compares to my adult self.

I am happy to report I'd still rate this one 5 plus stars🌟

This Judy Blume classic was written in 1977 and I probably read it first in 1981 or 1982 when I was 11 or 12 years old. This is superbly written. It was probably one of my earliest historical fiction novels if not my first. The story takes place after WW II in 1947 when Sally Freeman must move from New Jersey to Miami Beach for the winter with her Mother, Grandmother and brother Douglas. Her brother suffers from nephritis and the doctors have prescribed a winter's stay in the sunny south for him to heal.

I just love Sally! She is an inquisitive 10 year old girl with a vivid imagination. A bit worrisome but always trying to overcome it. The book is all about her insecurities and touches on many childhood problems such as sibling rivalry, jealousy, problems with friends and bullies in school. Plus Sally is missing her father who had to stay in New Jersey to work. Her letters back and forth with him are ever so cute. I forgot she nicknamed him, Doey-Bird. So sweet!

Not only did Judy Blume pack in childhood issues but also social issues. Sally encounters a black family on the train to Florida who must leave and change trains because of segregation. She challenges this but the adults in her life always say, "That's just the way it is." Another big issue is Sally's family is Jewish and some of her cousins in Europe died in the holocaust so she is always thinking about that. She encounters a man in her building complex in Miami and she convinces herself it is Adolf Hitler and he has escaped to America to hide. She writes secret letters to him so he knows he's being watched (but she never sends them.)

Two things I remember from my childhood is one about Adolf Hitler. I think I read this just before we studied about the war in school so I was a bit confused about him. I always wondered if it was true and if he didn't really die and was living somewhere else. Perhaps Sally passed this on or maybe I just wondered because I had not really heard much about the War at that time. Another thing that stuck with me was how much Sally loved the movie star Esther Williams. I did not know much about her at my young age as she was before my time but I do know the nighttime soap, "Falcon Crest" was a popular show in our household. I remember thinking about this book when I found out that one of the actors on the show, Lorenzo Lamas was Esther Williams's step-son.

All in all this was a perfect trip down memory lane. Now, my adult self has learned that this was a sort of autobiographical portrayal of young Judy Blume's life. What a fantastic story!

[Julie G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judy Blume describes this work of historical fiction as her “most autobiographical novel," and writes,
“Sally is one of my favorite characters. I hope she'll become one of yours, too.”

Yeah, duh. So easy!

I've read a lot of Judy Blume's books throughout my life, but this one never made it on to my radar until I read it to my youngest child (my 12-year-old) this past week.

We loved it, loved it, loved it.

Like Sally Freedman, I was born in New Jersey, then relocated to the Miami Beach area with my family. I was familiar with so much here: the schools, the parks, the beaches, the shopping trips to Burdines.

Honestly, it was like I was chewing taffy or peanut M&Ms through the whole story and my daughter actually sighed in disappointment when we got to the last page (page 376, to be exact).

One note to parents: though this was most likely billed as a “middle grades read” when it was published in 1977, this is a much more mature novel, by today's standards (talk of Adolf Hitler and Holocaust murders, adult language, a creepy male neighbor and boys who inappropriately pull down the girls' bathing suits to “check” if they have breasts yet). It's not quite YA, as the protagonist is a fifth grader, but it comes awfully close to being so, so I'm going to shelve it both as “middle grades” and “coming of age.”

Beyond that, this is a delicious page turner, and I'd be lying if I told you that my daughter enjoyed it more than I did.

4.5

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought about giving this a five, and it might deserve one.

This is Judy Blume's best book. It's written for a younger crowd than her Puberty books, and Sally's concerns lie in the elementary school horrors of shame and embarrassment and trying to fit in. These are conveyed spectacularly well, as when she discovers upon moving to Florida that there are no doors on the bathroom stalls at her new school. Imagine!! The details in this book -- the social necessity of not wearing socks, the way the grass is different in Florida than New Jersey (NJ?) -- totally stuck with me, probably because I reread this book multiple times.

But what makes this book spectacular instead of just another kid-issue book is Sally J. Freedman's bizarre, vivid fantasy life, documented in riveting italic sections. The way Sally uses her family's actual experience of the Holocaust as melodramatic fodder for her imagination is dead brilliant: that's exactly the kind of thing kids do! Sally's fantasies were very entertaining, in part because they were so appropriately inappropriate, and were the reason I kept returning to this book. This book provoked a desire to watch an Esther Williams movie, which I have never got around to fulfilling.

I wonder if it's as great as I remember it.... did anyone else here like this one?

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Love and other indoor sports,”
― Judy Blume, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself



a favorite from childhood. Sally is such a fun character!

"Love and other indoor sports". Hilarious.

And who could forget when the girls were trying to compose that letter about forgetting to water the plants?

One of the best YA books out there.

[Emmkay · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Judy Blume reading continues. This one was different than the other Blumes I’ve read - about twice the length, historical (set in the 1940s, immediately after the war), and autobiographical, as Blume explains in her author’s note. Sally is dismayed when, after her big brother is very sick with nephritis, her parents announce that the children will be moving for his health to Florida for the winter with their mother and grandmother. The apartment isn’t as nice as her home in New Jersey, Sally misses her father, and the school is different - it’s much bigger, she hates the lunches, and the bathroom stalls have no doors so she refuses to pee at school. But her father encourages her to treat the experience as an adventure, and over time she finds much to enjoy.

I found a lot to enjoy too. Sally and her imagination are based on young Judy, and her inner story-telling runs riot, in ways that would make no sense to an adult but which may well be familiar to readers, as she fantasizes about various ways in which she’ll distinguish herself, becoming a famous movie star or capturing Hitler (who she is unreasonably convinced is living in disguise in Florida - her mother’s warnings against ‘stranger danger’ leading Sally to be certain that an elderly Jewish retiree in her building is really Hitler in disguise). I also liked how, in Judy Blume’s usual fashion, characters’ childlike thinking is applied to all the varied and often quite serious things children encounter, like Sally’s loss of relatives to the Holocaust, a neighbour’s teen pregnancy, and tensions in her parents’ marriage.

[Presley · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself" is my favorite book. It's about ten-year-old Sally who moves to Maimi Beach for the winter since her brother has a kidney infection and needs to stay in warmth. The book takes place in the post World War Two era. The book doesn't really have a main conflict, but you see Sally encounter world conflicts through naive eyes. She questions segregation a lot and she gets the same answers from adults: That's just the way things are. You also see Sally encounter everyday obstacles that continue today: sibling rivalry, problems with bullies, friendship jealousy, etc. That is probably my favorite thing about this book: it doesn't have some unrealistic main problem that the book is all about. It deals with small problems everyone has. I also like that it takes place in another time, to show that some things never change and to show the similarities between two very different times.

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know and realise that Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself supposedly is very much autobiographical in scope, and with this salient truth in mind, I do to a certain point very much applaud Judy Blume for not in any way sugar-coating or attempting to make light of the fact that once Sally (who is obviously based on the author herself), her mother and ailing older brother have moved to Florida (because of Douglas' nephritis), she absolutely despises her elderly neighbour Mr. Zavodsky and actually believes he is Adolf Hitler in disguise simply because of his Central European looks and likely heavy foreign accent (and even writes many poison-pen accusatory letters to him, which she fortunately does not mail).

But the above all having been said, and even though I am now as an older adult able to at least somewhat appreciate Judy Blume's honesty and candour, I do have to admit that I absolutely and totally hated (with every fibre of my being at that) Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself when I read this novel in 1977, in grade five, as a brand new hardcover library book (and only one year after our family's immigration to Canada from Germany, at the absolute height of me being constantly bullied and harassed by both students and even some of my teachers due to my German background and because I spoke English with a rather heavy accent). In fact, I despised Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself to such an extent I even ended up writing a letter to Judy Blume, an emotional epistle accusing her of using pretty much the same rhetoric regarding ALL Germans as the National Socialists had used towards Jews, Gypsies etc. (a letter that I also never mailed and in fact tore into tiny shreds because I was feeling very ashamed and angry at myself, but yes, the novel did majorly rub me the wrong way, or rather, I should say that certain parts of Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself majorly rubbed me the wrong way, totally upset and angered eleven year old me, and made me feel very small, insignificant and perhaps even deserving of being bullied because of my German culture and background).

And thus, when I was reading (or rather when I was attempting to peruse) Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself in grade five, I was most definitely focusing mainly on how Sally reacts (or rather how she so often strangely overreacts), and personally felt only absolute and utter sympathy for poor Mr. Zavodsky (and the unfounded, nasty and just plain silly accusations being cast at him) as well as rather intense (albeit also guilt-laden) anger at Sally, at her antics and attitudes (and yes, I absolutely did realise even then and totally understood the time and place, that Sally's aunt Rose and Rose's daughter Lila had been victims of the Holocaust, but that factoid did not and does NOT make me as a German automatically a potential Nazi and it does also NOT make Mr. Zavodsky automatically Hitler in disguise, even if he might have somewhat physically resembled him and spoken with a German accent). Furthermore, from the scenes at the beginning of Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (where Sally and her friends are often playacting WWII), I was forced to conclude (and perhaps even knew rather instinctively) that if I had been a member of Sally's group of friends, I probably would have (that is if Sally had even wanted a person of German background for a friend) ALWAYS been forced to assume the role of Adolf Hitler (or some other "evil" German character and that any and all refusal or argument on my part would more than likely have lead to at best a myriad of accusations).

And finally, while this reread of Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself has indeed made me a bit more appreciative of the fact that Judy Blume has been open with regard to her autobiography and that she has not shied away from depicting how truly nasty Sally often is towards Mr. Zadovsky (how she uses her overactive imagination to basically accuse him of being not only a potential National Socialist, but Adolf Hitler himself), I have still found Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself a very much and truly in many ways trying and painfully saddening reading experience (even for me as an older adult), bringing to me as flashbacks ALL of the personal discomfort, sadness and anger I experienced in 1977 (when I was reading Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself as an eleven year old recent German immigrant to Canada) and also strongly reminding me of the near constant bullying I was experiencing at that time from many of my "classmates" and some of my teachers simply because I just happened to be German.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

So my mother found a stack of book reviews I did in elementary school as part of my class competition for who could read the most books in one year. In her endless quest to clean out my paraphernalia from her house, they are now with me.

I guess there were shades of GR back then--I won. Here is a random book review from the middle of the pack. Warning, I was a terrible and still am a terrible speller. Thank goodness for spell check! Otherwise I probably would have had to become an engineer :)

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first books I truly considered a "favorite."

Judy Blume was in New York doing a reading my freshmen year of college -- not having my copy with me, I bought a new copy of this beloved favorite and had her sign it. I couldn't stop gushing about how much I loved this book :o)

Superb characters, this is a book that has always "stuck with me." I often think of and remember little bits and pieces from the story. One of those books that seems to get better and better every time you re-read it.

[Tatevik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Judy Blume, but not my favourite. As always, she talks about important stuff. However, something was missing. My impression was that it was a combination of all her other books, as if she didn't have nothing new to say. Well, blame me for that, I've read too much Blume.

[Alyssa Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Judy Blume for writing these wonderful books where the whole plot is just growing up and living life. This book is about Sally Freedman, a ten-year-old Jewish girl who is growing up just after the end of World War II; she moves to Florida with her mom and brother for her brother’s health and misses New York and her father a lot.

Blume has said that this is her most autobiographical work, and it shows in its full-colored, multi-layered portrayal of Sally’s life at ten years old. Sally is just in that stage where she’s starting to learn about some of life’s complexities, but she doesn’t quite understand everything perfectly and it is charming and heartwearming to read about her adventures and dreams. I especially loved how crushes and romance are handled in this story–at once sweet and hilarious.

Friendships are also handled wonderfully in this. Sally has to struggle with keeping in touch with old friends in New York, but also fitting in with her new school and trying to make new friends. It’s so relatable and reading it as an adult, I got a lot of nostalgia/enjoyment out of reading about the squabbles that turn into end-of-the-world, friendship-ending dramas. It’s all just so relatable.

This is a wonderful, fast, light read that is pure Judy Blume goodness.

[Jason Pettus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads 2019 Summer Reading Challenge
11. Past love: Reread a book you loved when you were younger

I have the distinct memory of this being my second least favorite Judy Blume book when I was a kid in the 1970s, and re-reading it again as an adult this week reminded me why -- because this is Blume's one and only historically autobiographical novel, set in the 1940s and concerning a Jewish girl in New Jersey whose family temporarily moves to Miami to help her brother recover from a kidney infection, such a huge disconnect from my own life at ten that I found it almost impossible to engage with it. As an adult I was actually quietly charmed by all the hopelessly dated references Blume fondly looks back on here (the protagonist's love of Esther Williams; her insistence that Hitler escaped at the end of World War Two and is now living disguised in her apartment building; the family's habit of preparing cow's tongue for dinners; confusion over why "colored people" need their own drinking fountains, etc); but all this was simply too much for me to deal with when I was a kid myself, a book I was never able to get fully into and a problem that your own kids might have too. Recommended for Blume completists; but if you're just dipping your toes into her work for the first time, you're better off with an undisputed classic like Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as part of the Judy Blume Read Through! Judy Blume is the most banned/challenged author in the United States so I've decided to read through her entire catalogue to see if any of these challenges have merit. (Spoiler: They don't).

Sally J. Freeman is the longest so far of Blume's books and the one she said is the most autobiographical. Taking place in the late 1940's, Sally and her family are learning how to live post-WW2 and Sally is afraid her neighbor is Hitler in disguise. Sally was an annoying heroine but not nearly on the level of Sheila. Again, I think I'm just too old for Sally. She's fine in the long run, loving to use her imagination and make up stories. Her brother is often surly and distant and Sally doesn't know what to do with that. There was just a brief touch on segregation when a stranger scolds Sally for accidentally using the "colors only" fountain in the store. But then it's not really mentioned afterwards.

From my research I didn't find anything about this book ever being banned/challenged. But I think it's harmless and young girls will delight in Sally's vivid stories and imaginations that lead to innocent enough antics.

[Wendy K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just re-read this 30+ years after my first read. Timeless. It's Judy Blume's most autobiographical novel & one of her best, I think.

[Mrs. Wegener · Rating 5 out of 5]

Judy Bloom writes the BEST books for young adults (mainly girls). She can really capture how a young girl thinks and acts. Sally is a hilarious character and one of my favorites!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sally J. Freedman is a 12-13 year old girl who can best be described as having a creative imagination that runs wild! The book is set in the late 1940s. Sally and her mother and brother move to Florida for the winter, and Sally has managed to convince herself that an elderly man who lives in her apartment building is actually Adolf Hitler in disguise and he has come to Florida to retire.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was recently reminded of this after a conversation about the rarity of children's books about Jews that aren't all Holocaust all the time. I remembered loving this as a kid and am pleased that it stands up well to a rereading as an adult. Blume really is a good writer.[return][return]This is the story of Sally, a ten-year-old girl who moves from New Jersey to Florida with her mom, brother, and grandma after World War II, because her brother has been ill and winters down south are recommended for people's health. The community they move to seems to be all Jewish and most of the other families are also down there for the winter due to illness.[return][return]Not only does Sally have to make new friends, but she also has to adjust to how different things are in the south, such as calling everyone ma'am and sir, and segregation (I love when she writes to her dad, confused about someone who scolded her and her friend for using the colored water fountain, and her dad says it's not that different up north, people are just quieter about it, and as an example asks her how many black kids were in her old school in New Jersey).[return][return]The other main thread is Sally's wild imagination (including her deciding a strange old man who lives in their apartment building is Hitler in disguise) and how she misunderstands things she hears grown-ups talking about (reading this as an adult, it's much more amusing to see the things that fly over Sally's head).[return][return]If you never read this as a kid, or even if you did, I highly recommend checking it out. It's definitely a fun (and very quick) read.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

2022 thoughts:
My copy (published in 1977) is finally starting to fall apart :( I still adore innocent Sally. Again my childhood favorite included a grandmother/granddaughter relationship, a WWII premise (book begins at the end of the war), and a paragraph that made me laugh out loud and may have been the seed that planted my curiosity for true crime! I am learning so much about myself during my personal re-read challenge.

2014 thoughts:
This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. I decided to re-read it the other day. Sally is such a loveable girl with an overactive imagination. I miss books like this for kids... believable characters, no vampires... Still thankful to Judy Blume, even after all these years.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you ever have the desire to go back to your younger days & reread some of the first books that ignited your passion of reading? For me, it was Judy Blume: from "Are You There God? It's me, Margaret" to "Forever". Judy Blume writes her books w/ a clarity & insight that always spoke to me & answered some of my own questions. Whether it's a 10yr old girl post WWII or a 15yr old boy struggling w/ an inner demon & how to navigate the teen years, Blume's books spoke to me & I'm having fun reading them again for the 5th, 6th, 7th...12th time.

[Linnea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy and funny book

[Bookwormkatie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this book countless times. It is the kind of book I pick up in between books. It is about a girl after World War II who moves to Florida for the winter. I really like this book because the main character makes a lot of mistakes, but then learns from them. She has all kinds of adventures, like going to a new school, making up stories in her head, and dreaming about her favorite movie star. This book just makes you smile. I don’t know how else to put it. 🙂

[Cindy aka "The Book Fairy"]

Read this in childhood so can't remember much now at all actually.

[Brianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining!! Sally is so funny and sweet.
Highly recommend and I can't wait to read more by Judy Blume!

[Alexis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child, and decided to comfort-read it this week. I picked up a copy at Salvation army for fifty cents a couple years ago, and it has been sitting on my shelf ever since. I always thought that the book was about Hawaii, but it's actually set in Miami. ;)

I like the way Blume writes and the way that she deals with hard topics in a children's/teen book. Relationships, sex, breasts, babies, death and Hitler are all mentioned in this book. This book is set in 1947, but in many ways, it's fairly progressive and feminist. But what I forgot about this book is how weird it actually is. Not much happens. There's one subplot where Sally becomes convinced that an old man living in her building is Hitler in disguise.

I can also credit this book with part of my love for old movie stars, because Sally's love for Esther Williams made me curious about old movie stars when I initially read this book as a kid.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giving this five stars just because I re-read this so often it's a story that stayed with me. It also fuelled my childhood obsession with Judaism and WWII. (That and my sister's GCSE textbook).

Things I learnt through this book:
- Who Esther Williams is.
- Numerous Yiddish expressions.

Things I didn't learn 'til later:
- None of my family would give me a decent response when I enquired what a 'bordello' was. And it wasn't in whatever sub-par dictionary I looked it up in.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my childhood favorite Blumes, this one kept coming to mind when I was reading What I Saw and How I Lied. I found, on this first re-reading since adulthood, that there was much in this book that went zooming over my head as a kid. I still thought it was a good read and it's always fun to see what scenes stay with you.

[L Y N N · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this was a YA book definitely written for the target audience, it was intriguing to read how Blume handled issues in the world of 1947: Hitler’s genocide of Jews; pregnancy out of wedlock; racism and prejudice against dark-skinned folks with separate water fountains, etc., in the southern US; sexual maturation; religion; and childhood crushes.

I was thrilled to realize a YA book originally published in 1977 had a Jewish family as the main characters and tackled such issues of everyday life! Good for Judy Blume! A good book for children to wonder about their own lives...

[Heather McC · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the final pages of the book, Blume admits that this is an autobiographical piece told as historical fiction in order to capture elements of her youth. Sally is a relatable and sympathetic character, full of adventure and imagination.

[Pumkin pie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this book a three-and-a-half star rating. It was a fun, enjoyable book, but it said some things that I do not totally agree with. However, it was still a very good book about a quirky, funny (one might even say naive) 10 year old girl named Sally. Her family moved from New Jersey to Miami, Florida for the winter. There, Sally meets new friends, learns new things, and even develops a crush on her classmate, Peter. Whatever happens, it is bound to be a year that Sally will never forget. I reccomend this book to people who enjoy books about growing up, friendship, and family.

[Juli Lightfoot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another one of those books that I like more for nostalgia purposes then the actual plot. Always a good book to kill time and maybe get a laugh in.