Many Generation Xers, especially us girls, spent a good chunk of our
childhoods/early adolescences with Judy Blume. The author of such
preteen classics as "Blubber" and "Are You There God? It's Me,
Margaret" dared to write about subjects -- puberty, bullying, teen
sexuality -- that most people only whispered about, if the
y ever addressed them at all.
It's
just that kind of daring, of course, that usually gets an author in
literary hot water, which is why Ms. Blume ranks at No. 2 on the
American Library Association's list of top 10 most frequently challenged authors from 1990 to 2004. Blume can claim five titles on the list of 2007's most frequently challenged books
("challenged" signifying that some person or group filed a formal
request to restrict access to the material), a pretty astonishing feat
since all of them were published more than three decades ago.
Her most well-known offender, and the book that ranks at No. 13, is "
Forever," a young-adult novel that takes a very candid look at two teenagers negotiating a romantic and sexual relationship.
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