""I wonder if Judy Blume really knows how many girls' lives she affected. I wonder if she knows that at least one of her books made a grown woman finally feel like she'd been a normal girl all along. . . .""
-- FROM
Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from
Judy Blume
Whether laughing to tears reading "Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great" or clamoring for more unmistakable "me too " moments in "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," girls all over the world have been touched by Judy Blume's poignant coming-of-age stories. Now, in this anthology of essays, twenty-four notable female authors write straight from the heart about the unforgettable novels that left an indelible mark on their childhoods and still influence them today. After growing up from "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" into "Smart Women," these writers pay tribute, through their reflections and most cherished memories, to one of the most beloved authors of all time.

By all accounts, Jovan Mosley was a good kid. He was working on a way out of his tough Chicago neighborhood and had been accepted at Ohio State University when he was forced to confess to a murder he did not commit. He then spent five years and ten months in jail without a trial. His efforts to exonerate himself got him nowhere until he happened to meet a successful criminal defense lawyer, Catharine O'Daniel. She became convinced of his innocence and took him on as her first pro bono client. Along with Laura Caldwell, she decided to fight to free Jovan. Against enormous odds, they fi-nally won some measure of justice. In this affecting memoir, Caldwell tells the unforgettable story of a breakdown in the criminal justice system and what it took to free an innocent man.

Long thought to be statistical anomalies in an otherwise sound justice system, wrongful convictions-we are just beginning to learn-happen with frightening regularity. But very few people understand just how they happen and, more importantly, the consequences. Now, Anatomy of Innocence tells the stories of more than a dozen innocent men and women who were convicted of serious crimes and cast into the maw of a vast and deeply flawed American criminal justice system before eventually being exonerated. Here, each "exoneree" is paired with a high-profile mystery and thriller writer to produce a unique collaboration. By joining such master storytellers with exonerees, Anatomy of Innocence presents the tragedy of wrongful conviction with a stark and fiery clarity.