If there is a name more synonymous with seventies-era YA than Judy Blume, I don’t know what it is. I read Forever when I was a teenager and it felt scandalous because of the sex. I didn’t know anyone who was actually having sex when I was a teenager, although I am pretty sure lots of people were.

Tiger Eyes came out in 1981, but I didn’t read it. I would have been in university at that point and probably elbows deep in reading for my English degree. So, I thought I would give it ago since it is another one of Blume’s well-known books for teens.

Davey Wexler is devastated by the death of her beloved father. When Tiger Eyes opens, she is about to attend his funeral with her mother and younger brother, Jason.

Coping in the aftermath of Mr. Wexler’s death is hard on the little family, and at the invitation of her dad’s older sister, Bitsy, and her husband, Walter, the Wexlers leave Atlantic City and head to New Mexico.

It is during her time in New Mexico, a landscape vastly different from her own, that Davey comes face to face with her life. When her mother decides they should stay longer, Davey enrolls in school, makes some friends, volunteers at the hospital as a candy striper, lands a part in the school musical, and confronts her own feelings of guilt and grief.

She also makes a friend while out hiking in the desert. “Wolf” gives her the name “Tiger Eyes” and the two meet occasionally to hike. It is not a romantic relationship, although perhaps Davey has a little crush on Wolf who, as it turns out, has a little more in common with her than she knows at the beginning.

I think I would have probably loved this book as a teenager, but as an adult it felt a little dated and boring. All the elements were there, but even Davey herself felt under developed. Still, it’s Judy Blume so you could do a lot worse.