Otherwise Known as Judy the Great: A Poetic Ode to Judy Blume
by Selina Alko; illus. by the author
Primary    Ottaviano/Little, Brown    48 pp.
2/26    9780316570633    $18.99

A collection of poems introduces author Judy Blume (b. 1938) to readers who may not yet have encountered much of her work. The poems focus mainly on her younger years, bringing to life the family dynamics and sensory elements (“chopped liver with schmaltz / on crackers or rye”) of Judy’s childhood along with her love of reading (“be it cereal boxes / or serial stories”). Alko highlights difficult formative experiences—a brother’s illness, a year when her New Jersey hometown saw multiple plane crashes—and unanswered questions of Judy’s as she moves toward adolescence; “Are you there God?” is a frequent refrain. Poetic forms vary, and attempts at rhyme are at times somewhat forced. Alko’s illustrations in acrylic and collage on Bristol board are the highlight, incorporating fragments of book pages in images whose moods shift from the fancifulness of young Judy’s imagination to the mournfulness (and dreariness) of family shivas. A wordless spread depicts Blume climbing toward adulthood and marriage with open books as stepping-stones before the fitting final poem. “Judy Blooms” delineates her transition to professional writer and is accompanied by a hopeful illustration of a tree of books “blooming” from her typewriter. An author’s note, a timeline, sources, and several photos are appended, and see the endpapers for hints to the poems’ book-title references.

From the January/February 2026 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.