Then Again, Maybe I Won't

This book is about a thirteen-year-old boy who has had a recent interest in sex as puberty sets in. His friend who has recently started shop-lifting has been making Tony upset and causing him to constantly be thinking about everything in different ways than his peers.

This is a novel about a boy coming of age. Tony Miglione is learning how to deal with the changes that boys go through with new sexual interests.

I remember the thrill of reading this book as a young girl. It was like a secret window into the inner life of mysterious boys. I still feel that it

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gives me some insight into what goes on in the minds of adolescent boys.

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A traditional Judy Blume coming of age story. It features a like-able young boy, Tony, and the hardships of growing up. Tony just wants life back the way it used to be, which is something I think almost all of us can relate to. I have read many Judy Blume novels and they are all well written. Then

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Again, Maybe I Won't is no exception to her high standards.

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GREAT GREAT GREAT BOOK

A classic Judy Blume coming-of-age story.
The many changes in Tony Miglione's life from his twelfth year to his thirteenth are lovingly written by Ms. Blume.
Puberty, dad's new job, moving the family to a richer neighborhood, new friends, new niece, new thoughts about girls.
Well told story.

This chapter book from Judy Blume is about a young adolescent boy who moves away from his hometown when his father receives a new job. The story goes through his journey into adolescence and the emotions he experiences. The mature themes in this book would lead it to be appropriate for adolescent

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children, mainly boys as they will have an easier time relating to the main character Tony. The book is a wonderful story for adolescent boys who feel that they are going through puberty alone and no one understands what they are going through.

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The main character spies on his teenage neighbor as she undresses in front of a curtain-less window. He tells his parents the binoculars are for bird-watching. It's kind of disturbing, and it's what I remember most vividly from the book.

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

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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.

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In 1970, Judy Blume published the young readers classic, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" which was about a young girl coming into adolescence, both socially and sexually.
In 1971, she published "Then Again, Maybe I Won't" which is sort of a boy's version of the same idea. Tony Miglione is 12

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and 13 during the course of the book. At the same time he is coping with his family's sudden wealth and moving into a ritzy neighborhood, he's also dealing with a new friend who is a shoplifter, a sexy older girl next door who undresses with her curtains open at night (right across the yard from Tony's window), a girl at school who has a crush on him, but whom he doesn't particularly care for, his mother trying to keep up with the Jones' in their new neighborhood and social circles, getting his first erections and wet dreams, and having a stomach that causes him terrible pain anytime he is stressed out.
Though watching the girl next door undress day after day was something most 13-year-old boys would probably do in his situation, and the girl seemed to invite it, by never closing her curtains, that aspect of the story was still a little uncomfortable to me. The rest of the book I loved.

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