-Our next guest is a beloved best-selling author
whose books have sold over 90 million copies
in 39 languages.
A film based on her breakthrough novel,
"Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret,"
opens in theaters Friday.
Everyone, please welcome Judy Blume!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-♪ She's the one ♪
♪ Who likes all our pretty songs ♪
♪ And she likes to sing along ♪
♪ And she likes to shoot her gun ♪
♪ But she don't know what it means ♪
♪ Don't know what it means ♪
-Welcome!
I am so excited to have the Judy Blume here! Yes!
I'm such a fan. -Thank you.
-When did it all start for you?
You were making picture books. Is that correct?
-Yeah, I was writing picture books.
You know, I had little kids. I was creative.
I needed creative excitement. -Yeah.
And so what kind of books?
What would your books be called, were about?
-Terrible rhyming picture books. [ Laughter ]
Really bad imitation Dr. Seuss.
-Really bad? -No. [ Laughs ]
-Oh, okay. Can you give me an example
of a book that you -- a picture book that you wrote?
-I could. -Yeah.
-You promise not to fall down? -Yeah, no.
-If you're laughing. -I would love it.
-Okay. Okay. So, this was called
"You, Mom, You." Not published.
I've told my kids, "If you ever publish it
after I'm gone, I'll haunt you."
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
No. It's called "You, Mom..."? -"You, Mom, You."
It's about a mother who's trying to explain to her little kids
that she was once a kid.
So it goes like this.
"You, Mom, you? You were a kid.
Tell us, tell us what you did.
Okay, okay. I'll tell you all
the things I did when I was small."
I think it's, "I suck my thumb, I loved a bear,
one time, I cut off all my hair."
[ Laughter ] -No. What are you --
Why is that -- Why are you embarrassed?
That's awesome. -It was terrible.
"You, Mom, You." -And not only that,
but I illustrated them myself.
And I really do not have any talent and...
-Yeah, and...
-And I put them together with brass fasteners,
you know, like we did in school.
-Of course. -Little brass fasteners.
And then I sent them off to publishing companies.
-And what was their response?
-I got rejections. -Yeah. Yeah, you did, yeah.
-My favorite rejection was,
"Does not win in competition with others,"
from "Highlight" magazine. -No!
-Yes! -"Highlight" magazine?
-I never let my kids read that magazine.
[ Laughter ] Never.
-Oh, my goodness. No way. -Yes.
-But then look at you now.
I mean, how many books have you done?
Twenty -- 29 books? -So I hear.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-"Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret."
"Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" --
my daughter's reading that now.
"Blubber," "Forever," "Superfudge."
These are legendary books.
I remember growing up. You were in a lot of trouble.
You were, like -- you were banned, I think.
-Were you growing up in the '80s?
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-You were banned. I think you were banned in my house.
My mom didn't let my sister read you.
-But she did. -She did.
-She did. -Oh, yeah.
-Of course she did. -Kids will get what they want.
I think she borrowed it --
-All you have to do is say, "I don't want you..."
Well, I tell parents, I say, "Don't tell them
these were the favorite books when you were a kid.
Don't tell them that. They will not want to read them
because mom is not cool. So this is what you do.
You put them on tables and, you know,
you let them look, and you say,
'Oh, well, I don't think you're ready for that.'"
-Oh! That's pretty great. See? Genius.
-Yeah. [ Applause ]
-There's a documentary about you, called
"Judy Blume Forever," that's out right now on Prime Video.
And I loved it.
And I'll tell you the part that I really -- really got me.
Not only you have a legendary career,
but you wrote back to your fan mail,
and you saved your fan mail.
-I did keep all my fan mail.
Yes. And I'm notoriously -- I throw away everything.
-Yeah. -Everybody knows
I throw away everything.
But I kept every one of those letters.
-And it's amazing to watch.
You wrote them back and have them.
I mean, you were getting 2,000 a month, fan letters --
-At one point, yeah. I didn't write everybody back.
-No, I understand that.
But you kept them, though. -The ones who needed me.
The ones who needed to hear from me I wrote back.
-Yeah, and then. And then there are two girls
who wrote you that are in the movie now.
They're in their 50s.
-And they have their own kids, teenage kids.
Yeah. -It's a beautiful thing.
You have to watch it.
It's just a great documentary.
But now let's talk about the main event.
Out this Friday, "Are you there, God? It's Me, Margaret"
is finally a movie. -I know, 53 years later.
But that's my fault. That's my fault.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Why is it your fault? -Because I wouldn't sell it.
-You didn't want -- You didn't want to sell it?
-I didn't want -- I didn't think that it should be a movie.
Not every book should be a movie,
and I was concerned about how it would be done
for all these years. And then suddenly, like,
from the sky, came the perfect team.
-Yeah. -And I knew it was.
-Who is the team?
-Kelly Fremon Craig, who wrote the letter to me and said --
And by the way, she said,
"I have written and directed a movie called
'The Edge of Seventeen,'" and I'm like, "What?!"
-I love that movie. -I love that movie.
I saw that movie. This is --
What a credential, right?
Nobody ever came to me before with such a credential.
And if that were not enough, she said,
"And my mentor is James L. Brooks."
-No, James L. Brooks, the legend.
So did they -- Did they try to woo you?
Did they -- Did they come to Key West?
-They did. They came to Key West very quickly.
And you know what I was most worried about?
What would I give them for lunch?
[ Laughter ] -Oh, my God.
Of course Judy Blume would worry about that.
-Right! -You are so funny.
You have such a great sense of humor.
And by the way, you got to be happy.
The movie turned out great.
-The movie is...
It's a dream come true. -You're getting great reviews.
-I never -- I never thought that we could do this,
that it could be done.
But Kelly and the actors are incredible.
-Yeah. You were telling me backstage,
you were saying that you -- "I think I'm the only author
that will say the movie's better than the book."
-Yeah, I am probably that... -That's impossible.
-...but it is in this case... -In this case.
-...because it's rounded out. The characters are all there.
-I'm so happy for you. I want to show everyone a clip.
Here is a scene from "Are you There, God?
It's Me, Margaret." Take a look.
-You hold your arms out like this, and you say, "I must,
I must, I must increase my bust!
I must, I must, I must increase my bust!"
-Does that really work?
-I'm living proof. Now, come on, get up.
Get up, get up, get up! You'll see.
Get up.
I must, I must, I must increase my bust!
-I must, I must increase my bust!
-Chin up. -We must, we must,
we must increase our bust!
We must, we must, we must increase our bust!
-"We must, we must, we must increase our bust!"
-Shut up! You're so stupid!
Shut up! -I feel it working!
-Mom!
-[ Laughing ] [ Cheers and applause ]
Come on!
Judy Blume, everybody!
"Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret"
hits theaters Friday.
More "Tonight Show" after the break.
Stick around. Thank you so much.