Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

186 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 1992 by Heinemann.

ISBN:: 978-0-434-92886-6

(1 review)

When ten-year-old Sally and her family spend the winter of 1947 in Florida because her older brother is ill, everything looks very gloomy for her. Her beloved father has to stay in New Jersey to continue his job, the family live in a dingy, cramped flat, she is unhappy at school and ... Sally is sure that Adolf Hitler is alive and living in Miami Beach!

An imaginative girl, Sally is always dreaming up stories, particularly those which feature herself as star of great film spectaculars. She is also very worried about 'Hitler' and keeps a growing file of letters to the local police under her bed while she continues to watch him secretly.

With honesty and understanding, Judy Blume describes how deeply fölt is Sally's unhappiness when uprooted from her home and father. Eventually, Sally adjusts to her new situation, decides what to do about 'Hitler', and during that …

When ten-year-old Sally and her family spend the winter of 1947 in Florida because her older brother is ill, everything looks very gloomy for her. Her beloved father has to stay in New Jersey to continue his job, the family live in a dingy, cramped flat, she is unhappy at school and ... Sally is sure that Adolf Hitler is alive and living in Miami Beach!

An imaginative girl, Sally is always dreaming up stories, particularly those which feature herself as star of great film spectaculars. She is also very worried about 'Hitler' and keeps a growing file of letters to the local police under her bed while she continues to watch him secretly.

With honesty and understanding, Judy Blume describes how deeply fölt is Sally's unhappiness when uprooted from her home and father. Eventually, Sally adjusts to her new situation, decides what to do about 'Hitler', and during that winter learns a lot about herself and life in the process of growing up.

Cover illustration by Yvonne Gilbert

20 editions

crabbygirl reviewed Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume

Review of 'Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

read as part of the Girl Detective Summer Challenge (where readers are encouraged to read at least 1 of the 6-7 books featured in each chapter of Lizzie Skurnick’s Shelf Discovery: The Teenage Classics We Never Stopped Reading) (www.girldetective.net/?p=4506) it's weird to re-read a book from so long ago - i was shocked by some of the language. did i know what those words meant back then? and then there were plot points that made me gasp with adult shock that i doubt i paid much attention to as a twelve or thirteen year old.
the book is set after WW II and sally is certain she's found a retired adolph hitler in miami. but her conjecture is no different than all her other movie-type fantasies she plays in her mind (or out loud with friends) her ignorance is what allows a child to read the book - …

read as part of the Girl Detective Summer Challenge (where readers are encouraged to read at least 1 of the 6-7 books featured in each chapter of Lizzie Skurnick’s Shelf Discovery: The Teenage Classics We Never Stopped Reading) (www.girldetective.net/?p=4506) it's weird to re-read a book from so long ago - i was shocked by some of the language. did i know what those words meant back then? and then there were plot points that made me gasp with adult shock that i doubt i paid much attention to as a twelve or thirteen year old.
the book is set after WW II and sally is certain she's found a retired adolph hitler in miami. but her conjecture is no different than all her other movie-type fantasies she plays in her mind (or out loud with friends) her ignorance is what allows a child to read the book - an adult knows immediately the implications of the situation. for example, in sally's view we are told they've moved to miami for her brother's health, and perhaps the parents want to focus on that. but when douglas confesses to sally that he was chased by a likely pedophile, the mother's inflated worry over a broken bone and her absence at the hospital implies an entirely different worry