Jenna Bush Hager Shares the Sweet Moment Her Daughter Mila Met Judy Blume: 'How Amazing Is That?’ (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jenna Bush Hager (left) and daughter Mila.Photo: Helen Healey/NBC via Getty

Jenna Bush Hager and Mila Hager on Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Jenna Bush Hager’sdaughter got to meet best-selling authorJudy Blume— and she had the sweetest reaction.

At the event, Bush Hager spoke with Mellors about her new novelBlue Sisters, which is theToday with Hoda & Jennaco-host’sSeptember pick for her Read with Jenna book club.

“I get to work with Judy Blume. We’re doing the adaption of her bookSummer Sisters, which is amazing. It’s her adult book,” Bush Hager tells PEOPLE at the event, which was also in collaboration withBookThreads, a community of readers on the social app. “But I was on a Zoom with her to talk about it, and Mila came in, my daughter who’s 11.”

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I was like, ‘Mila, this is Judy Blume.’ And she was like, ‘You wrote the first chapter book I ever read,’ " the proud mom remembers. “And I loved that because I felt like, ‘How amazing is that?’ "

Bush Hager went on to say that her daughter has became a voracious reader, picking up titles all across children’s literature and young adult books.

“Because literature is a way to travel to places we may not get to go to, and a way to create empathy and compassion through conversation, which I think is so cool.”

In March, Bush Hager shared a sweet photo on her Instagram Stories of her daughterMilaenjoying agood read while hanging out with a friendin beach chairs on the sand.

Both girls were reading Jenny Han’sThe Summer I Turned Pretty, which was adapted into anAmazon Prime series.

The mom of three shared what her two daughters had been reading lately in November 2023 as she chatted with PEOPLE for a special event atP.S. 108K The Sal Abbracciamento Schoolin Brooklyn, to unveil its first Little Yellow Library.

“They’re so good because they take a series that we were obsessed with growing up and updated it a little bit and made it more manageable to get into as an earlier reader.”

When it comes to her little guy,Hal, Bush Hager said he loves to read with her but doesn’t always make it easy.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

“He plays this really fun game, because he knows I love the books that are basically about how much a mom loves their child, the sweet ones that are more for parents than they are for kids. So he’s always like, ‘Guess what we’re gonna read tonight, Mommy?’ And then he’ll pick and it sort of depends on his mood, if he wants to terrorize me or not,” she laughed.

“Sometimes he’s like, ‘We’re gonna readOn the Night You Were Born,Mommy!’ and then sometimes he’ll sort of dangle it over me and then say, ‘Not tonight, Mommy!’ which is hilarious and it works every time.”

Bush Hager’s new podcast,Open Book with Jenna, launches on Thursday, Oct. 3.

source: people.com