An author who writes honestly about the adolescent experience. No filters, no kid gloves, warts and all. Her books deal with the realities of transitioning from childhood to adulthood and include all the icky stuff about mental health, periods, bullying, and the desire to have sex.
American values are under attack! She must be stopped!
Ever since her first book called The One in the Middle is a Green Kangaroo got published, this author has tried to undermine society with her complex characters, realistic plots, and her frank, relatable prose. Some of her books even address puberty and a lot of the confusion that adolescents feel when undergoing the transition from childhood to adulthood. Gasp!
Confusion? Undergoing? Transition? These are dangerous words right now.
She even has a few books where young girls talk about their feelings. Whaaaat? Cancel this author!
Then there's this other book where a kid is bullied to the point of considering suicide. No, no, no, no, no...kids shouldn't have to read about that right now.
There's even one book by this enemy of the state that deals with a girl's developing body. Another questions the constraints of religion. Another has consensual teenage sex in it.
Or the one where a girl is confined to her bed because of a serious medical condition and just so happens to explore all the parts of her body, even her "special place."
Burn the wiiiiiiitch!
Actually, she can't be stopped, canceled, or burned. She is Judy Blume, and she has been doing this for 50 years, totally unchanged and unaffected by book bans, the Culture Wars, or getting cancelled.
Think about this: Blume has actually fought against censorship and won, if you can imagine that. Her books are so classic and timeless that she overcame publishing industry sexism and became an advocate for feminism, and in doing so, emerged as the defender of all author's rights, male or female.
You think you're the first mfs who tried to ban her book? Hahahahaha. The conservative right has been trying to ban her books for decades. Have fun with that.
In fact, Blume is rumored to be the most banned author in America. And she wears that shit like a badge. She's been challenged and banned so many times that it might just be part of her process at this point.
And look, she's come out on the other side clean. She should be an inspiration for writers everywhere worried about writing books with difficult themes.
Think about this: Blume has actually fought against censorship and won, if you can imagine that. Her books are so classic and timeless that she overcame publishing industry sexism and became an advocate for feminism, and in doing so, emerged as the defender of all author's rights, male or female.
She's already written about the difficult issues that are getting contemporary authors in trouble today. Haven't we already done this? Aren't we over this by now? Her books (and every other challenged YA author's books) deal with those "tough issues" and "difficult subject matter" because growing up is tough and difficult, not because she and like-minded authors have a secret agenda.
Is America a worse place because Blume published a book about a girl buying her first bra and getting her period? No, America is not the "woke wasteland" conservative right news outlets want you to believe it is. In fact, it's the opposite. We've actually gone the other way. We have regressed as a society and are turning into some extremist-run, fundamentalist theocracy whose main mission is "keeping the children safe."
Well, while conservatives try to keep the children safe, Blume is going to educate them.
Blume's books are about searching for identity in times of chaos and these books are as necessary as ever. We are in a time of chaos, as women and LGBTQ-youth are under attack from their own governments. Her books offer some guidance, some shelter even, for kids struggling to know themselves or understand the world around them because adults are too scared to talk to them about these tough subjects.
She is a literary icon. A national treasure. A hero.
And she continues to invite you to come after her.