Born 1938. Author of extremely popular novels for children and young adults in the 1970s and 1980s. The "Fudge" trilogy features a wonderfully hyperactive kindergarten boy and his bemused family. Her novels for teenagers were among the first to tackle such controversial matters as menstruation ("Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"), divorce ("It's Not the End of the World") and teenage sexuality ("Forever"). A regular target of school library censors and the Relgious Right, Blume's novels are distinguished by real-life settings, ambivalent endings and gentle humor.