I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago, join me as I share how the genre

began, their social impact, and why these stories endure. Listen, wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette. I'm Greta Johnson.

And I'm Trisha Bobito.

And this week on the show, we have the eminent, amazing, incredible, definitive Judy Bloom.

She's been writing books since the mid-70s.

She has books for kids like Super Fudge, books like Forever, which I remember I really loved in high school,

or maybe Summer Sisters. She has a new novel out for adults. It's called In the Unlikely Event.

This is the woman who has been shaping childhoods for the last like 50 years. She's the reason I know

not to eat a turtle. Don't eat tiny pet turtles. Do you want to elaborate on that at all or is

that that's what I learned from Superfudge? Don't eat a turtle.. Do you want to elaborate on that at all or is that... That's what I learned from Superfudge.

Don't eat a turtle.

Yes.

Okay.

What about like chocolate turtles, though, with the walnuts and the caramel?

Those are pretty good.

At that point, when I read that book, I didn't know that those were an option.

Oh, fair enough.

Fair enough.

...