Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
2,046 global ratings
5 star
76%
4 star
13%
3 star
6%
2 star
1%
1 star
3%
How customer reviews and ratings work

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon
Reading age
9 - 11 years

Review this product

View Image Gallery
Customer image
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars
Images in this review

Reviews with images

See all photos
Previous page
  1. Customer Image
Next page

Submit a report

A few common reasons customers report reviews:
  • Harassment, profanity
  • Spam, advertisement, promotions
  • Given in exchange for cash, discounts
When we get your report, we'll check if the review meets our Community guidelines. If it doesn't, we'll remove it.
Report
Cancel
Sorry we couldn't load the review
Thank you for your feedback

Sorry, there was an error

Please try again later.
Close

Read reviews that mention

judy blume fifth grade main character real life blume books peer pressure even though middle school report on whales fifth grader must read become friends recommend this book year olds foul language mrs minish great book reading this book elementary school god margaret
  • Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Ann K. Werner
VINE VOICE
4.0 out of 5 stars The story flowed along well then ended abruptly.
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2023
Verified Purchase
Very realistic portrayal of middle school kids. Good adults for the most part.
I thought the changes that came about in friendships among key players was poorly developed in the last several chapters. They main character, Jill, and her antagonist, Wendy, we're true to form. There was good representation of culture and religion. One exception was the mixed use of the terms temple and synagogue. Each of these facilities serves distinct and separate purposes for a Jewish community.
Read more
Jill V
4.0 out of 5 stars Loved it as a kid, nostalgia as an adult but…
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
The bullying in this book is heavy duty and makes me cringe. What also makes me cringe though is the fact that this was normal behavior to me as a kid. When people say kids today are meaner than in the past, I have to laugh. Because… no. Still a very entertaining read, though!
Read more
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars must read for all kids
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2023
Verified Purchase
I have not read this since I was. A kid. It sure brought back memories. Some of those who bullied me. And sadly those few I was a bully to.
Read more
sd
5.0 out of 5 stars You have to read the book.
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
I have read some negative reviews about this book and can't quite understand what they are complaining about. This book gives you different views of a person being bullied. Wether your apart of it, quiet in a corner, being bullied or the one the table gets turned on. Wendy did get her due justice (not the way we may have wanted), she was called out in front of her minions. By calling her out, and making the others think for themselves, stopped the tirade of this little queen and her minions. This showed children that you can speak up, and yes there will be painful repercussions but you can surpass that too. What there afraid of will happen, but this is what you can do. Not so simple, but possible. As parents we need to at times be a friend and remember what it was like as children. Doing so will help us relate better and hopefully make our children trust and feel comfortable when coming to us. I had a Wendy, a teacher who didn't like Polynesian kids, and would not do anything to My Wendy because of her father's influence. Luckily for me my family that said (those against violence will not like this, but I don't care) "if someone causes trouble to you, tell the teacher,if the teacher does nothing tell the principal and if they still don't do nothing knock em out." Well I told the teacher, I was ignored and was punished. Sent to the principals office because I reported it again and was told "she accidently hit you with a fork, she's very sorry." Humm tell that to my cracked lip, or the scars from pencils being jabbed into my arm. Enough was enough and I clocked her, her friends and her stupid guy friends. Best part was, when our families were called to meet, my family stood behind me. I knew then I was safe, and as long as I stood up for what was right, I had nothing to fear. So if you still feel I acted like a barbarian, I'll send you a picture of a 4 prong scar that was given to me by My Wendy, because I wouldn't give her my homework. This book gives you avenues to approach bullying, and hopefully opens the eyes of those who see it or are doing it. To say you want this book banned or that your child is afraid now after reading this book. It's your job to reassure them, it's your job to make sure they are not a Wendy, it's your job to educate children and adults to stop this viciousness, but it's not your job to take away the choice to read this book. Your child do as you please, but butt out on the opportunity for others to have a choice/chance. If you are a child being bullied, or even an adult, speak up, screw them and live.
Read more
Maureen Gold
5.0 out of 5 stars Blubber
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2023
Verified Purchase
I bought the book for my granddaughter and she loves it. She is a reader and I love buying her books
Read more
Nichole Whitten
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2023
Verified Purchase
Read this book as a child and now I bought it for my oldest daughter to teach the value of bullying. She loved the book!
Read more
Angela Parks
5.0 out of 5 stars Love Judy Blume
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2023
Verified Purchase
My daughter is being bullied at school, I read this when I was probably her age maybe older. But I think she will be able to find some kind of lesson in this and all Judy Blume Books I can't wait to buy her more
Read more
Kristin
4.0 out of 5 stars Bullies are never punished
Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2022
Verified Purchase
The book, AWESOME! Afterword is bad. Bullied kids can't tell, nobody does anything about it. Wish Judy would study it.
Read more
See more reviews

Top reviews from other countries

SideshowJazz1
5.0 out of 5 stars Every child needs to read this...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2020
Verified Purchase
Bullying is a problem in both school and the workplace, and not reading about it won't make it go away. A lot of parents expressed concern over their children reading this, as the ten-year-old cast cusses and uses violence. The swearing is rather mild (although at one point the protagonist calls the teacher a "b**ch" at one point and if that bothers you as a parent you may want to skip this one), and the violence is important. Every child should read this around the age of ten or eleven. As a student teacher, if I'd had a chance to teach older kids, I would have liked to talk over bullying from this book, and get some insight.
Why is this book so important? It's a harsh, realistic look at how bullying works. Bullies target people who stand out, but then only continue if the victim doesn't know how to stand up for themselves. The book illustrates that you have to stand up for yourself and that telling adults often doesn't work if you don't put in any effort to stop it yourself. And every other kid will join in on the bullying in order to not get picked on. The narrator of this book pretends to think the bullying is funny and willingly joins in, but the minute she stands up to the leader, everyone turns on her instead. And she stands up for herself, refuses to let herself be a victim and the kids leave her alone after a few days.
An interesting point - the narrator's mother tells her to laugh off the taunts, but although that's good advice, this actually doesn't work. She tries it, and they just keep saying horrible things about her and keep calling her a baby. It's only when she sticks up for herself that the bullying stops by refusing to play the game the way the main bully wants.
Every child should read this because they need to know about the effect of bullying both on the victim and anyone else. Bullies often don't think of themselves as bullies - they just find pleasure in picking on people who can't or don't know how to stand up for themselves. We need people to discuss this, to give your child an insight into what it means and what you should do, whether you're a class leader, a victim, or a bystander.
A note - Judy Blume wrote this after her daughter experienced this. She was a bystander, who hated what was happening but was afraid to stand up to the bully. Even if this isn't happening on such a big scale everywhere, chances are it happens at some point in every school. We need to address it, and every child who gets a chance to talk about this book will be one step closer to ending it.
Read more
Mrs Helen S Leecy
3.0 out of 5 stars Trip down memory lane
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2020
Verified Purchase
I do like reading a Judy Blume book once in a while; it makes me feel young again! They are really geared for the younger audience, but there are no rules to say a 41-year-old woman can’t revisit her youth and read them and smile along at the silliness of how kids act.
I’m not sure how old Jill is in this as it doesn’t actually say. I’d guess between 10 and 12? She didn’t seem mature enough to be any older than this but did seem compos mentis enough with her own thoughts to be older than my niece who is 7. I’m open to being wrong about this guess though, as I’ve not had much experience with kids.
Anyway, my heart broke for Linda the whole way through the story. I was that chubby kid who did a boring talk at school. Fortunately, I didn’t choose to do it on anything that could be a direct correlation to my weight! Although that didn’t stop kids finding a random fat name for me! Ten Tonne Tess, my name is Helen, go figure that one out!?! Kid logic!
The protagonist, Jill, isn’t that likeable a character. She isn’t the main bully, but performs due to peer pressure and causes her to act in an unfavourable manner most of the time. She does get her comeuppance. For a book based at the younger audience, I think this would be an excellent gentle cautionary tale on bullying especially if you were one of the of the bullies that had the ability to be emphatic and not pure evil.
The book was really well written, and you could really feel the angst, the squeals, the naughtiness and the huffs coming from the kids off the pages. It is only a short read at 193 pages. So it didn’t take up too much of my reading time, but I did feel like it did suddenly come to an abrupt end. However, I suppose the story had run it’s course and had nowhere else to go. Overall, a pleasant read but was slightly uncomfortable in places due to the subject matter.
Read more
Nidhi
5.0 out of 5 stars Judy Blume's "Blubber" is nothing but honest and real.
Reviewed in India on March 9, 2016
Verified Purchase
The book came to me really nicely packed in bubble wrap and everything. I had ordered it on 2nd March and got it on 3rd March which made me really happy. Quality-5/5.
About the book, it's pretty thin as it is meant for, I think, fifth-sixth graders. The font was rather large which made it really easy to read. You can read it in 2-3 hours or less if you're a fast reader. I also really liked the cover, I find it cute though the book is far from cute.
I know it is clearly meant for younger readers and I'm in 9th grade right now, but I really wanted to read this book from a long time because, you know, the author is Judy Blume. She is a phenomenal writer and her books are amazing.
So, it is about Jill Brenner who is in 5th grade and how she and her friends Wendy,Tracy, Caroline and the whole class basically bully and torment their classmate Linda. Linda is overweight and they relentlessly tease her about her physique and call her " A Smelly Whale". They call her "Blubber" which is the fat that lies under the skin of whales. Not only this, but far, FAR worse things that you won't imagine kids would do. I felt really sorry for Linda who had to take all the humiliation and she is a scared little girl and I hated how she couldn't stand up for herself . Not that I blame her because the whole class was against her and overpowering her was pathetically easy.
At first, Jill is reluctant to join in the teasing, but afterwards she becomes a part of that bullying to 'fit in' with her classmates which saddened and angered me to no extent. It is the type of book that will make you hate the protagonist at some point.
It is indeed very easy and enjoyable to be the one who is bullying and laughing, but having the joke on you will make you question, "What did I do to deserve this?" So when the bullies' next target is Jill herself, she sort of understands how it's like to have a taste of the other side.
It contains a little profanity which some people say is inappropriate for children's books. But it is real, children in 5th-6th grade swear, I know it by experience. I don't mind it at all, rather it makes the book all the more realistic.
All in all, I think the book was a bit distressing but extremely honest, which is something that I can seldom say about the other books in this genre. I really liked the book. I would really like to recommend this books to pre-teens (if they are okay with the swear words, of course).
Judy Blume's books are very real, and fun to read. She is one of my favourite authors of all time and every reader should have her books on his/her bookshelf.
Read more
Zoe
3.0 out of 5 stars Hard reality of bullying!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2013
Verified Purchase
"It's very foolish to laugh if you don't know what's funny in the first place."

Jill Brenner joins the rest of the class in the bullying of a fellow classmate what she wasn't expecting to happen was for the table to turn.

This wasn't as good as I remember it being. I remember it being a book I could not put down, oh how times have changed.

The moral of the story is very subtle but it's there. There's no comeuppance for the ringleader, hell the girl being bullied doesn't even stand up for herself, she seems to accept the bullying. There's no adult interference - at times I thought their teacher was being a bit of a bully herself. Jill can't even sympathise with what Linda went through when she started getting bullied herself.

I loved the author note at the end explaining why she wrote the book going on to say that children very often not mention when they're being bullied or witness bullying. Overall this is a book that portrays the painfulness of bullying and like most real life bullying situations does not end up being tied with a neat little bow.
Read more
Avari Hidlebaugh
5.0 out of 5 stars #AMAZINGBOOKS.ORG
Reviewed in Canada on November 11, 2018
Verified Purchase
Blubber is one of judy blume's best books,it is an awesome novel for many chirdren,but most pupils under 9 might find the text confusing. Also there is a slight use of cursing so I suggest this book is only read from ages 9-14 other than that Blubber is a novel that will be passed on for generations and might someday become a classic because of it's heart-felt text and connections to real everyday life.

-Nicole Parker (check out my web cite at #AMAZINGBOOKS.ORG AND FOLLOWING ME ON FACEBOOK <3 (; (:!!!!!!!!!!
Read more
See more reviews