Renowned author and anti-censorship activist Judy Blume was a literary pioneer who spent her career advocating for young adults to read material that was relevant to them in order to promote youth diversity and inclusiveness.
"[As a child] I was small and not developed, and everything came later to me... To me there was nothing wrong with thinking about getting your period and wanting your breasts to grow. It wasn't controversial in my mind. It was just true."
~ Judy Blume
Young Judy Blume, Courtesy of Judy Blume
Because of her childhood experiences, Judy Blume wrote books that taught kids about puberty while containing relatable stories and characters that readers could resonate with.
Although conservative parents and librarians challenged her books for containing mature topics (puberty, sex, queer/minority characters), her books were beneficial to children because they represented and supported young readers.
"The formula just did not work for [Judy Blume]... teachers never assigned her books. But when I got to college, there was no author, except Shakespeare, whom more of my peers had read. We had learned about puberty from Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret and Then Again, Maybe I Won't; about sex from Forever; about divorce from It's Not the End of the World."
~ "Why Judy Blume Endures", New York Times
Through her use of words, Blume is able to diplomatically take a stand against censorship to provide young people with relatable stories.
“It can be really dangerous when people don’t have knowledge — when they don’t have information, and if you are dealing with a topic like sexuality and the things that [Blume] writes about... Whether it’s masturbation or a young woman’s first sexual experience, losing her virginity, or even things like bullying that are not really related to sex and sexuality at all — that seeing various ways of handling those situations is really important and especially when those topics aren’t really talked about openly.”
~ Giselle Anatol, author
Judy Blume's books are popular among children.
Judy Blume was able to educate children and give them a sense of comfort through her storylines and characters, and along the way, debate against the conservative movement by continuing to write books with sensitive topics.