Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself (Yearling Book)

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: Starring Sally J Freedman As Herself -Judy Blume
Review: I bought this book when I had to give a presentation of a story book by a renowned author. When I read this book, I couldn't stop laughing and I just couldn't put it down. It was just so great and I could actually relate with young Sally. You see, even I have gone to Florida and have had my share of crushes. Anyways, I should get on with the synopsis of this evergreen story coupled with touches of humour.
When Sally's family moves to Miami Beach in the winter of 1947 after the World War 2, Sally is excited and nervous at the same time. It will be a new adventure, but she worries about how often she will see her father, who has to stay in New Jersey to work. She also worries about fitting in with the crowd at her new school. These worries don't stop Sally from creating her wonderful, imaginative stories. One minute she's a famous movie star like Esther Williams or a brilliant detective; the next she's kissing the Latin lover of her dreams- her classmate Peter Hornstein with dark flashing eyes. And what about the Freedmans' neighbor, old Mr. Zavodsky, who looks suspiciously like Adolf Hitler in disguise? Sally vows to take revenge as she believes that it is this man who killed her relatives Tante Rose and Lila in a gas oven. On top of this, she is in her "tweens" learning about breasts and pecularities of puberty.

There are so many things to worry and wonder about. But whatever happens, Sally accompanied by her friend Barbara will battle all odds. Her year will be absolutely unfogettable!!!


Rating:
Summary: Definitely not just a children's book
Review: I first read this book when I was about 10 years old and I've had it ever since (I'm now 34.) I just read it again the other day and it is still so fulfilling. It not only brings me back to my youth but also makes me look forward to life and its adventures. Blume has such a way of bringing me back in time and to a certain place - I feel as if I'm really living in the era of post WWII. As I read "Sally" I can smell the humid, sweet Florida air. I can hear Ma Fanny's Yiddish accent. I can feel her Daddy's kisses & hugs. I can sense her fear of war, Hitler and the unknown. Sally's innocent notions of war and Hitler are so true to a 10-year old mind, yet it's written in such a way as to not instill fear in the young reader. This book is very educational from a Christian's point of view (me.) I learned much about Jewish lifestyles and customs, and it carried on through to my adulthood. I can't think of another book that impacted me as a child, and as an adult it is one of my Top 10 favorite reads of all time. I highly recommend this book to ANY age group.

Rating:
Summary: This book was HORRIBLE!
Review: I first received this book when I was 9, it was a Christmas gift from my mother. I read that book so many times I destroyed it, but I never forgot it. Years later at 21, I purchased it again to drink in the words that I remembered as a child. The story is about about a young Jewish girl post WW2. Living in Jersery, she is moved with her mother, grandmother, and brother when it is decided that the sun is good for her brothers ongoing health problems. Their lives shift to Miami, when things are a lot different then Jersey. There Sally learns of the unfairness of prejudice. Away from her father, who stays behind to tend to business, she is accompanied by and active imangination that weilds tales of love, romance, adventure, and revenge for the man that brutally murdered her people, including family memebers. Above all it is about a 10 year old in her "tween" years. Still not into puberty, but is growing and learning in that diffult transition phase. It is an amazing book and a must have for a young and old who enjoy a great story!

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: 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: A Cute Book for the Younger Crowd....
Review: In this book,which I really liked, I really connected with the girl, Sally, who grows up in 1947. She is 12 years old and says the wrong things at the wrong time. Sally, her mom, her brother, moved to Florida while her dad stays in their homestate, New Jersey. So Sally has to make new friends and get a long with her new classmates. The funniest part of the book was when Sally daydreams and makes up stories about Hitler, Latin lover, Lila, and of course the famous Ester Williams of the 1940's. This is a really great book. I loved it!

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.