I read this one as a young girl, but it was completely new to me this time through. Of the two Judy Blume books I’ve read recently, this one seems much more fresh, and more mature. While Are You There God dealt with a sixth grader, Davey (a girl), the protagonist in Tiger Eyes, is fifteen. Although it was written about thirty years ago, the only thing that is conspicuously absent from this story that gives it away is technology. Otherwise, Davey could be living in Los Alamos today, going through the same issues and having the same emotions as back when the book was written.

The book gets its title from her nickname given to her by Wolf, a young man she encounters while out on a hike. They seem to have an instant connection and understanding, although each is keeping a secret.

I wonder if, when I read this the first time, I got anything out of it. If I related at all to Davey. She lost her father very suddenly and then was whisked away from her boyfriend and life in Atlantic City to go live with an aunt and uncle in Los Alamos. Having never lost a parent and never moving as a child, I may have not connected to the pain and frustration Davey expresses. But certainly I would have related to her desire to be independent, to live her life.

I think young girls today will still enjoy this decades-old novel written by the queen of YA before YA was cool. Judy Blume is a master at capturing the turmoil going on inside the head of a teenaged girl. Parents who are wary of sexual content might want to be advised – nothing too graphic – but there is some talk of sex, teen drinking, etc. And I’m sure it’s nothing your teenager hasn’t heard before.