Fudge-a-Mania

Middle grade literature is still a relatively new genre of literature. At the close of the 1950s, birth rates in the United States dipped at the end of the baby boom. While young adult literature was already widely popular by then, this dip made room for middle grade literature to take the stage, as there were fewer teenagers around to fill the young adult market in the 1970s.

During the 1960s and 1970s, authors like Judy Blume, Madeleine L’Engle, and Robert C. O’Brien created works that are still loved and studied today and that remain relevant to the current cultural climate. Judy Blume’s characters, for example, are written to be relatable to readers from a variety of backgrounds. In Fudge-a-Mania, a family takes a three-week vacation to Maine, and wherever they go, chaos seems to follow. The story is multidimensional despite its short length, offering dynamic characters with deep problems stemming from sibling rivalry, friendships, first crushes, and other common issues for tweens and young teens. These relevant topics and characters, along with Blume’s use of timeless humor, is what allows her books to continue to resonate with middle grade readers. In Fudge-a-Mania, Blume also hints toward an appreciation of other middle grade authors of the 1980s and 1990s, such as when Peter enthusiastically thinks about how he “can finish [his] Gary Paulsen book” now that he has some free time (46).