Forever by Judy Blume

• ISBN: 978-1416934004
• Plot summary: Katherine meets Michael at a fondue party of a mutual friend. The next day, Michael calls her and asks her to hang out. Soon enough, their relationship becomes serious, both emotionally and physically. When Katherine and Michael decide to take the next step and go all the way, Katherine doesn't feel bad about it and definitely enjoys it enough to continue exploring this new part of their relationship. They can't get enough of each other and often confess their desires to maintain the relationship for a long time. Of course, their parents have different ideas. Katherine is set up with a job teaching tennis at a kid's summer camp while Michael has been drafted to work construction. Will their love make it through the long summer spent apart? Katherine learns a hard lesson on what love can be like when the other person isn't around all the time.
• Critical evaluation: This novel is a great representation of an average teenage experience. The feelings of taking an interest in someone, how quickly it evolves into something larger, and how sometimes the experimentation process is just that. A process. Not everyone who falls in love gets married and not everyone who has sex gets an STI or pregnant. What Judy Blume represents is very basic elements of experience one's first mature relationship and all the nuances that go with it. Having sex for the first time was such a pivotal experience for Katherine, but the next day at school, no one could tell--not even her best friend who she was sure could see it written all over her face. Showing Katherine wrestle with loving Michael but being attracted to other men at the end of novel was a great way to show how complex the feelings of attachment humans have for one another. Katherine believed the feelings she had for Michael would be forever, and what this novel shows is that no, probably not forever, and that's okay.
• Reader's annotation: Katherine meets Michael at a fondue party and
• About the author: Judy Blume writes for all age groups and has been honored by the ALA with the Margaret A. Edwards Award.
• Genre: Fiction/coming of age
• Curriculum ties, if any: Sexuality
• Booktalking ideas:
• Reading level/interest age: 15+
• Challenge issues: Sexuality, underage drinking and mentions of drugs
• Why was this item included? A quintessential young adult novel!