When Judy Blume gave Jenna Bush Hager a copy of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” — whose heroine shares the real name of her 13-year-old daughter, Mila — Jenna immediately knew what she wanted to do with it.
“I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to give that to Mila,” Jenna told Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang during a lively appearance on the Las Culturistas podcast. But Blume, 88, stopped her. “You can’t give that to Mila,” the author warned. “She doesn’t want a recommendation from her mother. Hide it somewhere and let her find it.”
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WATCH HEREJenna, laughing as she recalled the exchange, admitted the advice felt spot on: “Kids need to be empowered to find their own sort of way.”
The literary anecdote felt especially fitting given Jenna’s longstanding passion project of bringing “Summer Sisters” to the screen. Jenna is producing a new adaptation of Blume’s beloved coming-of-age novel set on Martha’s Vineyard.
For Blume, Jenna’s attachment to the book made her an easy choice to help shepherd it onscreen. In 2023, Jenna selected “Summer Sisters” as a Read With Jenna pick in celebration of the book’s 25th anniversary.
“I was thrilled to learn that Jenna read the book every summer, knows the story and characters so well and is bringing it to a wider audience,” Blume said during an appearance on TODAY.
Meanwhile, Mila appears to be just as much of a Blume fan as her mother. In a 2024 interview with People, Jenna recounted a Zoom call with Blume when her daughter wandered into the room.
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“I was like, ‘Mila, this is Judy Blume,’ Jenna said. Mila’s response immediately delighted her mom. “You wrote the first chapter book I ever read.” Jenna added, “How amazing is that?”
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