Research Guides: ENGL 169--Howard--Children's Literature--Censorship and Judy Blume: Home

In Judy Blume's own words

Judy Blume was widely interviewed in 2023 when the film version of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret was released. Here is a link to an audio interview with NPR, and below is a short video interview with PBS.

Judy Blume Talks About Censorship
Blume's website contains her statement on censorship and links to other writings of hers on the topic.
Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View
Text of a speech given by Blume in 1999

Recommended library databases

Gale Databases This link opens in a new window
Search terms: Judy Blume
EBSCOhost Databases This link opens in a new window
Search terms: Judy Blume censorship
Literary Reference Plus This link opens in a new window
Search terms: Judy Blume
Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window
Search terms: Judy Blume

Recommended websites

Banned and Challeged Books
The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom has been tracking book challenges and bans for more than 20 years.
Book Bans
Resources from PEN America, a non-profit that defends and celebrates free expression in the United States.
Kids' Right to Read Project
Resources from the National Coalition Against Censorship, whose mission is to "oppose censorship in all forms"

Recommended eBooks @ MJC Library

Unsuitable Books: Young Adult Fiction and Censorship by Caren J. Town
Publication Date: 2014
See Chapter 3, "The Great Adventure: Judy Blume’s Resilient Young Narrators (1970–1981)"
Banned in the U. S. A.: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries by Herbert N. Foerstel
Publication Date: 2002
See Chapter 3 for an interview with Blume

Recommended print books @ MJC Library

Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds by Dawn B. Sova
Call Number: PN56.E7 S68 2011 (East Campus)
Publication Date: 2011
Discusses Forever and Then Again, Maybe I Won't
Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds by Dawn B. Sova
Call Number: Z658.U5 S69 2011 (East Campus)
Publication Date: 2011
Discusses Blubber by Judy Blume
120 Banned Books: Censorship History of World Literature by Nicholas J. Karolides
Call Number: Z658 .U5 K35 2011 (East Campus)
Publication Date: 2011
Discusses Forever by Judy Blume
Everything I Needed to Know about Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume by Jennifer OConnell et al.
Call Number: PS 3552 .L843 Z65 2007
Publication Date: 2009
A collection of essays from writers reflecting on how Judy Blume's novels affected their childhoods.

More resources

Banned Books Week 2023
More research help on the topic of censorship

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