Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Rating:
Summary: Sally J is a star!
Review: Excellent read. I enjoyed Sally and her overactive imagination. I learned a lot--I was quite young when I read this--about the time period. Blume handled Sally's fears well. The Yiddish of her grandmother added a nice touch to the book as well. Blume is excellent in this genre. A great book

Rating:
Summary: A great Judy Blume book.
Review: I used to read many of Judy Blume books as a teenager, but this book together with Blume's "Deenie" have remained dear to me till this day, around 20 years later. I think there is something about this book that is able, so I feel, to address young readers and adults alike. I will not write about the content as so many people have done so before me, just about my thoughts concerning this book.
Sally is looking at the adult world with open curious eyes, not always able to understand grown ups and the grown-up world. The adults in the book, on the other side, are so much better understood by me today, their characters (so well defined) and their efforts to try and raise their children according to the best of their knowledge and what they deem important in life.
This book is dear to me for many reasons. First of all - the characters are so Jewish I immediately feel its close to home. I am talking about the ever worried mother, the constant haunting of the holocaust, the conversations, the Yiddish expressions... and especially my favorite character in the book which is Ma Fanny, the lovely grandmother. I love this book because of the adults efforts to build a sheltered world for the kids who are, as the mother and grandmother say "all my life" and thus sometimes protect them too much from the outside world. Because of the good yet real family relationships ("you are worth a million...more even"...) and the accurate portrayal of the family life. Sally is such a funny lovable character and her inner portrayal is rich and trustworthy.

Rating:
Summary: One of My Favorite Judy Blume Books
Review: In the winter of 1947, 10-year-old Sally J. Freedman and her Jewish family (consisting of her parents; grandmother, Ma Fanny; and brother, Douglas) move to Miami Beach, Florida, from New Jersey because of her older brother's poor health. Here Sally's imagination runs wild--she believes one of her neighbors, Mr. Zavodsky, is really Adolf Hitler in disguise. She even creates numerous short stories in her head, including one where she confronts Hitler himself, as well as one in which she saves a distant relative named Lila from a grim fate in Dachau.

Being separated from her father, who she calls Doey-Bird, also makes it more difficult for Sally to adjust in Florida. Yet he tries to make time for her, even though he remains in New Jersey to work. Eventually, Sally does make friends with a few of her classmates and even fantasizes about dating her own "Latin lover", Peter Hornstein, who is in her class.

"Starring Sally J. Freedman As Herself" was one of the first books I ever read by Judy Blume, sometime in middle school I believe. It also happens to be one of my favorites by her. I reread this one constantly, so much that I had to purchase a second copy to replace my first. Highly recommended and ideal for girls 9 to 12-years-old.

Rating:
Summary: Maura's review
Review: This is a great book ! It was published in 1977 and I would give it a 10 out of 5 rating. The author is Judy Blume. The book takes place in 1945, right after the war.The main characters are Sally, Douglas,Ma Fanny and Sally's mother.When Sally and her family move to Florida Sally is excited and a little bit nervouse. After she gets to Florida she has no trouble making new friends.Sally loves to write! She writes stories about her being a great detective or being friends with her favorite movie star, Ester Williams. Sally also writes letters. She writes to Mr. Zavodsky who she thinks is Hitler under disguise, and she writes letters to her friends and her dad back home. I loved this book! Sally is someone I feel like I can relate to and is very funny. I think the moral of the story is that it is good to try new things and that it pays off to be curious!

Rating:
Summary: A great, after-WWII book that will win your heart
Review: To some Judy Blume has been called a controversial author. To others, she is merely another author who happens to have published many books. To those others, she is the author of the great book "Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself".

Most of us who have read this can see Sally in ourselves; she's the child that's still stuck inside us. Spirited, happy, and not afraid to try new things that much - she's Daddy's little "adventure girl" forever - and lovable. Her friends seem to be the best friends we had as children; and her brother, although going through changes, is that pesky older brother who we loved and teased back then.

Anything about "Sally" can bring back a flood of things we did as children: going to the beach and simply floating around in inner tubes, trying hard to get an A in penmannship, and playing old games with grandmothers and your parents. Sally seems to do it all with total grace. Playing the "initial game" and going out to go bike riding we haven't done for a long time.

Reading this book, I wished that Sally would be my best friend. I may have been only twelve and a half, but I wished Sally could be my best friend... Sally with her immigrant grandmother, Ma Fanny, her dentist father, her wary mother, and the irresistable older brother Douglas. If only we could now have the joys Sally has. We do. Thank you, Judy Blume, and thank YOU, Sally.