Forever... by Judy Blume



The following book review contains spoilers.

Bibliography: Blume, J. (2024). Forever... Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9781665959179

Plot Summary: Forever follows Katherine, a seventeen year old girl, as she navigates life with her first love, Michael. Katherine and Michael are prepared to spend "forever" with each other, until she goes away for a summer and meets an older guy, Theo.

Critical Analysis: This book is centered around Katherine as she experiences a variation of firsts. One of the main themes that the book covers is first love. We see Katherine as she progresses through her relationship with Michael from first meeting him, to falling in love with him and wanting to build her life around him, to finally facing heartbreak by breaking up with Michael. Although Katherine and Michael both thought they would spend "forever" together, it only took a few weeks at a summer camp for Katherine to see that Michael may not be her "forever" love, and instead just her first love. Another major theme in this book explores is sexual consent and desires. The first sexual experience that Katherine and Michael have does not immediately end in sex, it ends in Katherine asking Michael to slow down and tells him she's not ready yet. As Katherine and Michael spend more time together, she gets more comfortable with her sexuality and the idea of trying to have sex with him. Blume writes their experiences together as something very clumsy and unfulfilling, a very realistic experience of teenage intimacy. 

Blume's writing is very straightforward and does not use euphemisms or water down any of her explanations. She does a good job at capturing voices of teenagers and presenting them to the reader, most of which fall into the young adult category. Due to the frankness and language used in the book in relation to the character's sexuality, this book has been banned in many school districts.

Awards:

  • Margaret A. Edwards Award, 1996
  • ALA Notable Children's Books, 1995

Connection:

  • Students can re-create key moments from the book using modern day technology like texting, social media, FaceTime.
  • Students can have an open discussion centered around "what would you do" situations from the book.

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