I’m delighted to chat with author/illustrator Selina Alko about her new picture book, released today, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS JUDY THE GREAT: A POETIC ODE TO JUDY BLUME (Christy Ottaviano Books, 2026). From the gorgeous cover to the end pages, the book is a celebration of Judy Blume’s early life told through poems. The text provides insight into Judy’s world before she became a literary icon and beloved author. The illustrations are full of heart – a mix of paint and collage perfectly pair with each poem. The depictions of Judy and her family are endearing, and the attention to detail warmly welcomes readers into Judy’s life. An author’s note, timeline, photos, and more are included in the back pages. Selina’s passion and dedication are evident on every page. Judy Blume’s story will inspire a new generation of young readers. I’m honored to learn more from Selina Alko.
Welcome, Selina!
Can you share a bit about how you developed the idea for Otherwise Known as Judy the Great: A Poetic Ode to Judy Blume?
I knew I would need to feel A LOT of passion for my next subject, since picture book biographies take me at least three years to write and illustrate. I was totally obsessed with Judy Blume books growing up. Who was this incredible woman who wrote all of my favorite childhood books? I needed to know more.
How did you marry the art and the poems? Did you work on both at the same time or did one come first?
I started with the text first. I thought a traditional biography would be boring for such a superstar! So I wrote the key aspects of her childhood in vignette style poetry. At times, this approach was meant to echo Judy’s confessional way of writing, like how Margaret asks questions in Are you there God? It’s Me, Margaret. When I was happy with the writing, I worked on the sketches–– eventually, combining the two.
Your collage illustrations are created on newspaper print with text peeking through. Can you tell me about this artistic choice?
I really enjoy mixing paint and collage together to create almost scrap-book-like illustrations. Sometimes I hide words that are meaningful to me in the artwork. These words (or images) add layers of dimension to the storytelling and may or may not be noticed by the reader. For example, the Unlikely Events poem is about one winter when there were three airplane crashes in Judy’s hometown of Elizabeth, NJ. The children were so frightened that they thought aliens might have invaded. On the art for this spread, I hid the following words within the collage: extraterrestrial, God, interstellar, catastrophe and fears.
Do you have a favorite spread in the book?
I really love Tales of a Fourth Grade Reader. The poem is about the stories Judy read when she was in fourth grade. The illustration shows young Judy propped up on a stack of her favorite books, with characters from the stories trailing behind her like a ‘band of best friends’. The stories are alive to Judy in her growing imagination. Nancy Drew is shining a flashlight ahead of the pack, perhaps signalling Judy’s future as a storyteller.
What was the research process like for the book? Did you discover anything about Judy Blume that surprised you? Or something interesting that didn’t make it into the final pages?
I began by reading everything I could about her life as well as re-reading many of her novels. After I had put together an initial dummy of poems and sketches, I had the good fortune of corresponding with Judy herself. She was every bit as warm and forthcoming as I could have imagined. I felt honored that she trusted me to tell her story this way, and was grateful she shared some important details about her life with me. For example, I had assumed she had a very difficult mother based on everything I had read, but Judy felt I was much too hard on her mother. She told me about some of the positive things in their relationship, like their fun tea parties and shopping trips to Manhattan.
How does it feel to create a beautiful work of art about a childhood hero?
Honestly, it’s been a dream come true! It feels full-circle in the best of ways. I almost feel like I’ve returned to my childhood self through the process of making this book.
What do you hope the new generation of young readers take away from the book?
Judy Blume was a regular child. She was Jewish girl who grew up in suburban New Jersey, who experienced ups and downs just like most kids do. Maybe readers will be inspired by certain events in Judy’s life, like how she was always an avid reader and writer. Or, maybe there are other ways they might see themselves in young Judy’s life, and realize that they, too, might have the courage to follow their dreams.
What is your favorite Judy Blume book?
It’s a hard call, but I’m going with Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. As a Jewish child about Sally’s age, I strongly identified with her creative imagination and rich interior life. The book takes place in Miami Beach, Florida post World War II. Judy Blume wrote about the Holocaust without really writing about the Holocaust––It was a brilliant way to introduce the fraught subject to North American kids like me (I grew up in Canada). The salty warm air conveyed in Blume’s pages put me right alongside Sally’s angst as she navigated making new friends, tricky family dynamics and the aftermath of the war. It turns out this book is Judy Blume’s most autobiographical. I think there is a reason why Sally J. Freedman stuck in my mind all these years.
Thank you, Selina!
Selina Alko is an award-winning author-illustrator of many books for young readers, including I Is for Immigrants, B Is for Brooklyn, Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama, and The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage — illustrated by Sean Qualls. She lives in Brooklyn with her family and invites you to visit her online at selinaalko.com.