Then Again, Maybe I Won't

by Judy Blume

Ever since his dad got rich from an invention and his family moved to a wealthy neighborhood on Long Island, Tony Miglione's life has been tumed upside down. For starters, there's his new friend Joel, who shoplifts. Then there's Joel's sixteen-year-old sister, Lisa, who gets undressed every night without pulling down her shades. And there's Grandma, who won't come down from her bedroom. On top of all his other worries, Tony has questions about growing up.... Why couldn't things have stayed the same?

• ISBN10: 0440986591
• ISBN13: 9780440986591
• Publish Date: 15 December 1975 (first published 1 January 1971)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Laurel Leaf Library
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 192
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

...maybe that's the trouble.  Maybe kids don't always want you to give them everything."   What can I say?  I've been in the mood for Judy Blume and revisiting my childhood.     This book is more clearly dated, especially from a class-distinction POV; nowadays even 'posh' people don't look twice at owning a truck.  But I doubt very much that anything important has changed: Judy Blume nails what it means to be a confused teen with more questions than answers and no good place to ask them, and she so clearly illustrates that kids don't care about money; at least not until their parents have taught them to.     Then Again, Maybe I Won't is Blume's only YA book told from the POV of a boy and in typical Blume style she doesn't pull any punches.  Tony is a boy going through puberty with all potential for embarrassment that comes with it.  As a teen myself, I read it because it was scandalous, of course, but after reading it I also remember thinking "huh - girls aren't the only ones that got screwed".  It was a nicely equalising thought.   I'm guessing recent editions of this book have been updated to remove most of the anachronisms.  If so, I'd recommend it to anybody's teen - but only because I'd probably have no chance of getting them to read the "old fashioned" original.