then again, maybe i won't. judy blume. (289)

growing up, i loved judy blume.  my mom for some reason, maybe the cover with the boy with the binoculars made her suspicious, decided to read then again, maybe i won't.  when she was done, i was told i couldn't read it.  i assumed it had something to do with puberty or sex (though i had no idea what was truly involved with the later), but listened to my mom and never read it . . . until now!

then again, maybe i won't told the story of tony, a extremely sensitive little

boy, i mean he got stomach pains when he saw his friend do something morally wrong.  his dad striked it rich when he sold an electronic cartridge and tony and his family moved on up like the jeffersons.  however, tony learned the truth behind mo' money, mo' problems.

the person that makes it difficult was tony's mom.  by the way, reading all of these books, i wonder what kind of relationship blume and with her mother.  all of her mother's are overbearing and worry too much, especially about what others will think of them.  this was the case with tony's mom, she tried to hard to fit in and doesn't realize that just because you have money, it doesn't make your moral.  this was demonstrated by tony's neighbor, joel.  his mother, impressed by the joel's family, thinks joel is an angel, but that kid is a klepto and gets drunk!!  what a bad egg!

but what upset me the most was how her mom gave grandma the boot in the kitchen because of that maid! it broken my heart to see the mom have no backbone and for the grandma to lock herself in the room.  i wish that storyline had a happier ending but it never got resolved.

i have to add, i kept on waiting for the other shoe to drop.  tony's family was spending that dough but luckily it still continued to come in!

so what was my mom all stressed about me reading?  well, tony is going through puberty and so there is talk about masturbation and wet dreams.  however, i am pretty sure all of that would have gone over my head (see:  deenie).  tony is also a total perv and spies on joel's sister, lisa, while she undresses, which also never really got resolved either.  other than he realized he should stop doing it!

i have to add, there was a scene in which tony gets a hard-on while demonstrating a math problem at school and hides it with his book.  as i read that, it sounded familiar but it's kind of a common thing for boys to do.  i feel like the same thing may have happened to a friend in high school and he shared his story with me.

all in all, a good read for boys.  i told my mom maybe she should have my little brother read it.  she said she should read it to know what he is going through. lol