Well, probably not. But let's face it, I primarily know Judy Blume as the author of such delightful childhood tales as Freckle Juice; Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret; Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing; and the aforementioned Superfudge. In spite of the kind of homogenous uniformity of shmaltzy childhood literature, these books tend to stand out. Maybe not as focal points, but at least as memorable titles. Even if you yourself didn't read them, you sure as hell know someone who did.
Being a boy, I spent far more time talking about how Spider-Man could totally kick Batman's ass than seeking out new Judy Blume books. But in spite of my limited exposure, I honestly thought it was the same kind of watery tripe you'd find in, like, The Babysitter's Club, or Flowers in the Attic. So I was very surprised to find Blume's Forever listed in Playboy's top 25 sexiest novels, and I was even more surprised to read this:
Not surprisingly, since every post-Boomer generation can pinpoint its first sexual memory in the pages of Forever, it is also the title most frequently challenged by fundamentalists, prudes and puritans.
Sweet little Judy Blume is banned? And this book is a seminal, if you'll pardon the pun, sexual icon? Still, I don't think I'll read it. The text is a little juvenile, based on the except, and I think I'm more of a Tropic of Cancer or An American Dream kind of guy these days. The book may have inspired a generation in its day, but reading about "Ralph" tonight only made me chuckle.
Link to Playboy's Sexiest Novels
Link to Forever on Amazon
Edit: Thanks, hilariously to Judy Bloom who pointed out that I was misspelling Judy Blume's name. I'm likely to get fewer hits now, but at least I'll look more professional.
7 comments:
Several years ago my cousin borrowed this book from her elementary school library (I believe she was in grade 5 or 6 at the time). It had apparently been ordered by a librarian who also assumed that Judy Bloom only wrote kiddie lit. She got quite a talking to from my aunt.
Can you please spell Judy BLUME correctly throughout the entire article?
You're the first person to point this out to me. I'm surprised I made such a gross mistake. I'm further surprised that there are, like, a billion people googling this page, even with the misspelling.
And no, I can't correct it.
...I'm sure there is some way to edit your posting. Not familiar with FeedMonkey, but any basic posting site has it.
yeah, you can definitly delete posts. it's the trash bin button to delete your comment.
not too hard to figure out.
That assumes I want to. And you know what happens when you assume....
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