Monday, February 24, 2020

Forever ... by Judy Blume

Title: Forever ...
Author: Judy Blume
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers (originally Bradbury Press)
Publication Date: July 10, 2012 (originally 1975)

 Format: eBook
Price: $8.99
Page Count: 208 pages
ISBN-13: 9781442467804

Reading Level: Grades 9 and up (ages 14+)
Lexile: HL 590L
Interest Level: Grades 11 and up (ages 16+)

Annotation: Katherine has never been in love, at least not until she meets Michael. They believe their relationship will last forever, but how long does "forever" last?

Plot and Content Summary: Forever ... follows Katherine, a senior in high school, as she falls in love for the first time. After meeting Michael at a New Year’s Eve party, the two spend their weekends together getting to know each other. The more they learn, the more Katherine must think about whether she is physically, mentally, and emotionally ready to fall in love and have sex. It is a big thing in high school, and a topic that is often brought up. Her friend, Erica, wants to just “get it over with,” but in comparison, Katherine wants to make sure her first time is with someone she really loves and cares for.

Evaluation: For something meant to speak toward an older age group, Blume writes as if they are lacking in vocabulary. It is really written in such a boring way, no creativity whatsoever. There are no layers to this story, and it is written in a straight-forward manner. We do not get a lot of details about Michael, so it was difficult to care and root for the two of them.

However, Forever ... depicts a very realistic relationship between high school students. Michael pressures Katherine to have sex often, but respects her denial because she is not ready. We understand that it is something she wants to experience, but it is not something she is willing to give away just like that. They jump into holding hands and kissing so quickly, eager to experience physical contact and be fully encapsulated by someone who reciprocates the same feelings.

Similarly, Katherine’s parents were also very true to reality. Of course, they do not want her to be invested in a guy at such a young age. They want to protect her, both physically and emotionally. It does not seem like they are forbidding her to have sex, but they never explicitly talk about being intimate. It seems like that is the way it goes in most families, where parents may be embarrassed to talk about this subject. In that case, Forever ... would be a good book for them to read, if only to open up an opportunity to discuss this with their teens.

Forever ... may not be satisfying as a story, but Blume gets her point across. Just because you have sex with someone and fall out of love with them does not mean something bad will happen.

Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: At the end of Forever ..., Katherine ends up falling for another guy, Theo, from her summer camp. She is still with Michael, but is unable to come to terms with the way she is feeling. She knows she loves Michael, but she thinks she likes Theo, too. Teens may experience this same situation, and this could be a time of learning from Katherine’s perspective. It can also show them that they are not alone in thinking this way, that it does not necessarily make them a bad person. Of course, Katherine could have approached the situation in a different way. There is no scenario where cheating is okay.

Issues Present: Sexual content, talk of sex, attempted suicide, cheating

Teens may read this and be validated in thinking sex is okay outside of marriage, or outside of loving someone. Adults want to protect teenagers and keep them from doing things they view as “immoral.” But the fact is, some are going to have sex no matter how much others’ opinions are pushed onto them. I think Forever ... can help bring up conversations in families that teens may fear to have. Reading this can normalize feelings (i.e., teenage girls should not feel strange about having feelings like Katherine did!) and give teens a space to share their thoughts.\

Book Talk Ideas: This book talk would focus on Katherine and her internal monologues/thoughts. Discussions could be able how she describes what love means, how she feels about sex (in comparison to Erica, before and after experiencing it, etc.). Additionally, teens can also talk about how her feelings toward Michael developed and changed.

“… we look at sex differently … I see it as a physical thing and you see it as a way of expressing love.” (p. 30-31)

“How can you love one person and still be attracted to another?” (p. 190)

Genre/Subgenre: Realistic fiction; Contemporary romance

Readalikes: Summer Boys by Hailey Abbott, Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly, The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

References
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