Alicia Zuckerman first started doing research for The Sally J. Freedman Reality Tour when she was about 9 years old, making this her longest-running project. Judy Blume‘s 1977 young adult book, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, was Zuckerman’s introduction to Miami Beach, and one of her very favorite Blume books. When she found herself living in Sally’s neighborhood a few decades later, she was surprised by the ways in which the area felt familiar. And she wondered – would Judy Blume come take a walk with her through some of Sally’s old haunts? But what Zuckerman didn’t realize was that Sally’s Miami Beach was Judy’s Miami Beach.
“It is my most autobiographical book,” Blume told Zuckerman during that walk. “Those two years were the most important two years of my childhood.”
Come along as the beloved author walks us through her old neighborhood and talks about how her time in Miami Beach shaped not only Sally J. Freedman, but the beloved and fearless writer Blume would become.
