Religious Questioning in Katherine Paterson’s and Judy Blume’s Fiction

TRINA RUMFELT. Religious Questioning in Katherine Paterson’s and Judy Blume’s Fiction (Under Direction of DR. MARK I. WEST)Katherine Paterson and Judy Blume both began their careers as children’s authors in the late 1960s and achieved success in the 1970s, a period when the questioning of social norms was on the rise. Both Paterson and Blume were influenced by the societal changes that were swirling around them as they launched their writing careers. One of the ways in which the questioning spirit of the era is reflected in their work is tied to their portrayal of religion and religious institutions in their children’s books. Rather than simply present religion as an established given in their children’s books, Paterson and Blume wrote books in which the central characters question religion. This religious questioning is especially prevalent in Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved and in Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. Paterson and Blume drew on their own religious backgrounds when writing these books.