How Old Is Judy Blume?

Judy Blume was born on February 12, 1938.

As of October 03, 2023, she is 85 years old.

Technically.

February 12, 1938, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Hmmmmm.

That just doesn’t feel right and, really, it’s not right in any real sense.

I mean, Judy Blume is the hip author who taught a generation (generations!) of kids just a little more about how to grow up than we could ever learn from our friends or our adults.

In Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blume showed us how to weather the slings and arrows of our own awkwardness in the face of an overbearing younger sibling.

In Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, she taught us all about growing into a young woman. Even us unwitting young men who had reveled in Peter Hatcher’s misadventures.

Once we realized what was happening with Margaret, it was too late — we were into the story.

Blume also taught us a thing or two about bullying (Blubber) and exploring our bodies (Then Again, Maybe I Won’t) and all sorts of other stuff kids face every damn day.

And this is the lady who’s done rocketed through her 70s?

Well, then, it’s official — 70 is the new 16!

But, OK, let’s accept for the moment that Blume really is as old as the calendar says she is.

That’s fine.

It’s all well and good.

Because the other gentle woman who helped define my reading youth was Beverly Cleary, and she also rocketed through her 70s.

And her 80s.

And her 90s.

So, when you look at it that way, you gotta figure Blume has at least another 20 years to regale us with her stories.

And that’s just to keep up with the Joneses … er … The Cleary.

If she wants to take the longevity title, Classic YA Division, Blume better just keep the home fires burning and the coffee — or whatever her story fuel is — hot (or cold or iced or whatever).