Iggie's House Read online

  They ran to the dock at the lake, pooled all their money and rented a boat for half an hour. Glenn rowed first. Winnie and Tina sat in the back. Winnie leaned over the edge, letting her fingers skim the water. It felt good.

  When they were out in the middle of the lake, Tina announced, “I have to make.”

  Glenn groaned. “Couldn’t you have thought of that before?”

  “I didn’t have to before.”

  “Man! We’re out in the middle of the lake Tina!” Herbie reminded her.

  “What do you want me to do? Make in the boat?”

  “You can hold it, can’t you?” Winnie asked.

  Tina covered her face with her hands and stood up. The boat rocked from side to side.

  “For crying out loud, Tina! Sit down. I’ll row in.” Herbie changed places with Glenn and rowed in silently.

  After Winnie took Tina to the ladies’ room they decided to go home. They were out of money anyway and no one had brought a ball along. Somehow Tina and her complaints had spoiled the party mood. Herbie wasn’t bad today, Winnie thought. Tina was impossible, but Herbie was okay. He even pulled the wagon home … without anybody asking him to. They stopped in front of Winnie’s house.

  “See you tomorrow,” Herbie said.

  “No, not tomorrow,” Winnie told him. “Tomorrow, I’ve got to go shopping. I need new shoes for school.”

  “What do you need new school shoes for if you’re going to Tokyo?” Herbie asked.

  “Well, I need new shoes anyway. It doesn’t matter for what. My old ones are a mess.” Then she remembered about how she had asked them if their father looted stores to get shoes and her face reddened. But Herbie and Glenn laughed at her, and Winnie, feeling very foolish, laughed too.

  “See you Tuesday then,” Glenn said.

  “I don’t know about Tuesday. My brother’s coming home from camp and we’re going into the city to meet his train.”

  “Oh. Well, okay. Thanks for the picnic.” Herbie, Glenn and Tina started out for home.

  “Hey, you guys!” Winnie called. “I’ll see you on Wednesday, okay?”

  That night, after dinner, Winnie and her parents settled down in the den, in front of the T.V. After a while, Mr. Barringer put down the sports magazine he was reading and said, “We thought you’d want to know we’re not moving.”

  “We’re not?” Winnie asked. She had been so sure her mother would get her own way.

  “No. We decided this afternoon,” her father said.

  “Great!” Winnie jumped off the couch. “Then maybe we can have the Garbers over for dinner or something.”

  Mrs. Barringer put down the dress she was working on. It was Winnie’s last year’s plaid cotton and the hem had to be let down. “Now look Winnie … just because we aren’t moving away right now doesn’t mean that we’re going to be best friends with the Garbers. After all, Iggie’s family lived in that house for three years and Daddy and I never saw them socially.”

  “Oh.” Winnie pushed her hair away from her face. “I thought you changed your mind.”

  Mrs. Barringer threaded her needle. “Changed my mind about what?”

  “Well, we’re not moving so I thought you changed your mind about … you know.…”

  “Moving is just too much trouble,” Mrs. Barringer sighed. She put the thread in her mouth and bit it off.

  So, Winnie wouldn’t be going to Tokyo after all! She was half disappointed. All those plans … down the drain. But if they weren’t moving there wasn’t any reason to run away! Winnie watched her mother sew the new hem. Then she looked at her father. He had fallen asleep in his chair. His mouth was half open and he was snoring. Winnie looked back at her mother … then back at her father … they didn’t even notice.

  They just don’t care, Winnie thought. They don’t care enough one way or the other … about anything! Too much trouble … that’s what her mother said. It was too much trouble! They really took the easy way out.

  Winnie got up without a word and went into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and grabbed a handful of cherries. She was careful not to slam the back door on her way outside.

  She walked down the block, spitting cherry pits into the street. When she got to Iggie’s house she hid in the shadow of the tall elm tree. The house looked cozy and inviting. But it really wasn’t Iggie’s house anymore. It belonged to the Garbers. Winnie remembered how Glenn said it the day they met. “This is the Garber house now.”

  She spit out her last cherry pit and turned away from the house. There was Woozie, wandering down the street, sniffing at trees. He wasn’t supposed to be running around loose like that. Somebody might report him. “Here Woozie,” Winnie called softly as she walked toward him. Woozie ran to her and licked her leg. Winnie bent down, resting her head against his soft fur. “Go on home now, Woozie. Go on … Glenn will be looking for you.”

  On Tuesday morning Winnie finished her letter to Iggie.

  … And so the Landons are moving away but we’re going to stay and so are the Garbers. Sunday night I stood in front of your house (I mean their house) for a long time and I guess I don’t really know as much as I thought I did.

  I miss you a lot!!!

  Love,

  Winnie

  She licked the stamp and placed it upside down on the envelope. She wondered how long it would take to reach Tokyo. She jumped up onto her bed and studied her reflection in the dresser mirror. She threw her shoulders back and stood sideways. Still perfectly straight, but not really like a boy, she thought. She had given her mother the privilege of doing her hair. It wasn’t every day that Matthew came home from camp. Winnie had to admit, her hair looked kind of nice. She smoothed out her dress and hopped off the bed.

  “Winnie … are you ready? Daddy’s in the car waiting,” her mother called from downstairs.

  “I’m coming … I’m coming,” Winnie shouted back. She wondered how she would ever manage to tell Matthew everything that had happened this week. One week! Was that possible? It seemed like years. The Garbers should just see her now. They wouldn’t even know her, all dressed up. Next week when school started she’d have to wear a dress every day. Yick!

  Winnie spit the double wad of gum she was chewing into the waste basket and ran down the stairs.

  Judy Blume talks about writing Iggie’s House

  The late 1960s was a turbulent time in America. Racial tensions were high, especially after the assassination in 1968 of Martin Luther King, Jr. The ongoing fight for racial equality affected all of us one way or another. At the time, I was almost as naive as Winnie is in this book, wanting to make the world a better place but not knowing how.

  When Winnie refers to the race riots in Detroit and asks the Garber kids if their father was involved, the Garbers are offended, and who can blame them? I had neighbors in the New Jersey suburb where I lived at the time who talked about arming themselves in case the race riots in Newark spilled over to our street, which was as white as Grove Street, where Winnie lives. That kind of thinking makes it hard for kids to become friends.

  This book takes place during one week of summer. I’d like to believe that when summer ends, Winnie and the Garbers will get to know each other and become real friends.

  Are You There

  God? It’s Me,

  Margaret.

  Print ISBN: 978-0-385-73986-3

  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-307-81774-7

  Margaret Simon, almost twelve, likes long hair, tuna fish, the smell of rain, and things that are pink. She’s just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she’s anxious to fit in with her new friends, so when they form a secret club to talk about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret is happy to belong. But none of them can believe Margaret doesn’t have a religion. And Margaret can’t tell them the truth: that she can talk to God anyway, about everything that’s on her mind—including Philip Leroy, the best-looking boy in sixth grade.

  Margaret is funny and real. So are her most personal thought
s and feelings.

  Blubber

  Print ISBN: 978-0-440-40707-2

  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-307-81766-2

  Blubber is a good name for her, the note from Wendy says about Linda. Jill crumples it up and leaves it on the corner of her desk. She doesn’t want to think about Linda or her dumb report on whales just now. Jill wants to think about Halloween.

  But then Robby grabs the note, and before Linda is done talking it has gone halfway around the room.

  That’s where it all starts. There’s something about Linda that makes a lot of kids in her fifth-grade class want to see how far they can go—but nobody, least of all Jill, expects the fun to end where it does.

  Starring Sally J.

  Freedman as

  Herself

  Print ISBN: 978-0-440-48253-6

  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-307-81770-9

  When Sally’s family moves to Miami Beach for the winter of 1947, she’s excited and nervous at the same time. What will school be like in Florida? Will she make any friends? Will she fit in so far away from home?

  But none of this stops Sally from having the most amazing adventures. One minute she’s a famous movie star, the next she’s a brilliant detective, the next she’s found the Latin lover of her dreams—her classmate Peter Hornstein. And what about the Freedmans’ neighbor, old Mr. Zavodsky, who looks suspiciously like Hitler in disguise?

  Sally’s life is a movie played inside her head, and Miami Beach is her best setting yet. If only she didn’t have so much to worry about …