Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself

Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself 
By: Judy Blume


(Realistic Fiction)

Sally J. Freedman is moving from New Jersey to Miami with her brother, their mother and grandmother at the end of WWII. They moved because her brother Douglas caught nephritis from staying in wet clothes while it was cold. Sally meets a black woman traveling with her son and her infant daughter. The next day, Sally goes back to visit the black family and learns about the laws of racial segregation.  Sally is angry, but her mom wasn’t. Before beginning in her new school, she had a physical examination and the nurse found nits in Sally's hair. In her new school, she meets new friends.

Her first day at school was tough, but she later makes more friends. She meets Peter Hornstein.  He likes Sally and Sally likes him back.

Sally meets Mr. Zavodsky, who lives in her building in Miami. He offers Andrea and her candy. Sally refuses the candy, and Andrea accepts it. Sally, who is Jewishnotices that Mr. Zavodsky looks like Hitler and starts to believe that he actually is.  Sally is worried that her father may die in when he turns 42, because his brothers did.

Sally writes a lot of letters to Mr. Zavodsky, but never mails them.  She worries at one point Mr. Zavodsky killed her friend Shelby, and she believes the rock candy he offers is actually poisoned. In the end, Mr. Zavodsky dies of a heart attack.  At the end, Sally and her family return to New Jersey.