Then Again, Maybe I Won't

Judy Blume puts thirteen-year-old Tony Miglione through a lot at once: his family's sudden wealth, relocation to a suburb he didn't ask for, his grandmother's displacement, and the confusing landscape of male puberty. The class anxiety and family upheaval are handled with genuine psychological insight, and Tony's moral dilemma over whether to report his new friend Joel's shoplifting is one of Blume's better constructed ethical knots. Parents should preview this one: the book contains frank depictions of wet dreams, involuntary erections, and a voyeuristic subplot involving a neighbor girl. These are handled matter-of-factly rather than graphically, but they are central to the story and have prompted repeated library challenges. Recommended for middle-school readers 12 and up, with parental awareness.