Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Blume, Judy. Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2000 (c.1977). Tr. $18.99  ISBN-10: 0689840896 ISBN-13: 978-0689840890

What’s it about? The year is 1947, and 10-year-old Sally J. Freedman is convinced that Hitler is alive—and in Miami Beach, masquerading as an old Jewish man named Mr. Zavodsky.

Find out more:

Sally is a ten-year-old Jewish girl from New Jersey who spends the school year away from her father in Miami Beach because of concerns about her older brother’s health. Sally has an active imagination, and loves to tell stories to herself, stories where she plays the lead role (usually as an actress or detective hunting Hitler). She misses her father, whom she nicknames “Doey Bird” and hates her new school, which has no bathroom doors, and a mean lunch monitor. Eventually, Sally adjusts and makes new friends. There is a dark shadow looming over Sally, though, and this is the specter of the Holocaust, which took the lives of her cousin Lila and aunt Rose.  Many of her fantasies feature the Holocaust, and when she suddenly realizes that her neighbor Mr. Zavodsky bears a resemblance to Hitler, she begins to believe he actually is Hitler in disguise, hiding in plain sight. 

This is a rich, often humorous novel with underlying dark tones. In many respects, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself is an even stronger offering from Blume than her better known Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. While Sally doesn’t go through the same soul searching as Margaret does, this book explores serious topics such as the Holocaust through the eyes of a child touched by loss, though in a removed way.  Sally’s understanding of adults is touchingly naïve. When the sixteen-year-old daughter of her neighbors, who are Orthodox Jews, becomes pregnant, Sally is confused. “Buts she’s not married,” she points out. The book her mother gave her to explain sex presented pregnancy as something that only occurred between married couples. There are plenty of moments when older readers will see more to the situation than Sally does, although younger tweens may also misunderstand things like paying under the table.

Another serious topic, though dealt with in a removed way as well, is segregation. Sally grew up in New Jersey, and doesn’t understand why there are two different drinking fountains. She took a drink from a “colored” drinking fountain and was yanked away by a strange woman. Sally writes to her father, asking if black and white people have different germs or something. He responds by saying that he thinks people have more similarities than differences, and that the North isn’t much better than the South. In the North segregation was just more subtle than in the South, which was very candid about its racism. 

One criticism I have about this book, which is otherwise amazing, is the non-stop overuse of ellipses in conversations. I understand that Blume is trying to convey conversational pauses on the page, but readers already do this mentally, don’t they? It’s a stylistic complaint. . . . but it drives me nuts! . . . . I adore this book . . . so I can overlook this flaw. . .  

Genre: Historical Fiction, Friendship Fiction, Humor

Reading level: 4^th-5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-7

Subjects: Jewish-Americans, Moving, Friendship, Story-telling, Imagination

Read-alikes:

Yee’s So Totally Emily Ebers

Cleary’s Emily’s Runaway Imagination

Characters:

Sally J. Freedman—the imaginative protagonist, a 10-year-old storyteller

Arnold Freedman, aka Doey-Bird—Sally’s beloved dentist father

Louise Freedman—Sally’s anxious and neurotic mother

Douglas Freedman—Sally’s genius, loner brother whose health is fragile

Ma Fanny—Sally’s witty grandmother

Andrea—Sally’s close friend who lives in the same apartment complex; she is in 6^th grade and acts as though she is light years older than Sally, who is just a year younger

Georgia Blue Eyes—Andrea’s crush

Peter Hornstein—Teases Sally mercilessly, but Sally eventually realizes she likes him

Mr Zavodsky—Sally thinks he is not a nice, older Jewish man, but Adolf Hitler in disguise