“Judy Blume writes what she calls ‘honest’ books for children”: Cal Thomas, “In Kids’ Books, Guess What ‘Honest’ Means,” Philadelphia Daily News, November 23, 1984.
“Arguing that Blume is just giving kids what they want is no argument at all”: Ibid.
“Congress soon passed the so-called squeal rule,” he wrote: Jeffrey P. Moran, Teaching Sex: The Shaping of Adolescence in the 20th Century (Boston: Harvard University Press, 2000), p. 205.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Notoriety
“Isolated and alone”: Judy Blume in conversation with Samantha Bee at an event at the 92nd Street Y on June 2, 2015. Accessed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7svP4zqCc0.
“I had letters from angry parents accusing me of ruining Christmas forever”: Judy Blume, “Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View,” American Libraries, June/July 1999, pp. 62–67.
“there’s a whole chapter that blows up Santa Claus”: LH to RB, October 25, 2022.
“Some sent lists showing me how easily I could have”: Judy Blume, “Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View,” American Libraries, June/July 1999, pp. 62–67.
“Judy Blume and I were the only women writers on the list”: Norma Klein, “On Being a Banned Writer,” The Lion and the Unicorn 10 (1986): 18–20.
Klein was “happy to be a quiet pioneer”: JF to RB, April 3, 2022.
Donelson tallied up protests against books as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom: Ken Donelson, “ ‘You Can’t Have That Book in My Kid’s School Library’: Books Under Attack in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 1952–1989,” High School Journal 74, no. 1 (October/November 1990): 1–7.
because there were no Black people in Old Town, “prejudice was no problem”: Ibid.
“There’s an obvious drop-off after Steinbeck,” Donelson wrote: Ibid.
“a deadly and frightening thing to observe”: Norma Klein, “On Being a Banned Writer,” The Lion and the Unicorn 10 (1986): 18–20.
In the Times, Richard Jackson called the decision “lunatic”: “Peoria, Ill. Bans 3 Books from School Libraries,” New York Times via AP, November 11, 1984, sec. 1, p. 34.
“99 percent” of callers outside of Peoria agreed with the decision: “Peoria School Board Restores 3 Judy Blume Books,” New York Times via AP, December 5, 1984, sec. A, p. 16.
“the wrong lesson, one of intolerance, distrust and contempt”: “8 Who Write Children’s Books Protest Ban on Blume Works,” New York Times, November 20, 1984, sec. A, p. 17.
“This is what I first suggested as a compromise,” she said: “Peoria School Board Restores 3 Judy Blume Books,” New York Times via AP, December 5, 1984, sec. A, p. 16.
“The first page I opened to talked about masturbation,” she explained to a reporter: Michael Hirsley, “ACLU Senses an Upturn in School-Book Censorship in South,” Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1985.
“No one is obligated to read this book”: Ibid.
she demanded that the school system remove the Harry Potter books from libraries: “Hearing to Determine Fate of ‘Harry Potter’ Book in GCPS,” Gwinnett (GA) Daily Post, April 10, 2006.
“That’s what happens when they start banning books”: “Deenie Sales Soar,” Galveston Daily News, September 10, 1985, p. 9A.
In June 1984, she received a letter from a board member: Box 32 of the Judy Blume Papers at Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Accessed May 11, 2022.
“My life changed when I learned about the National Coalition Against Censorship”: Judy Blume, “Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View,” American Libraries, June/July 1999, pp. 62–67.
“The intense battles around the control of sexuality”: Leanne Katz, “Introduction: Women, Censorship and Pornography,” New York Law School Review 38 (January 1993): 9–23.
“I used to feel so alone when I heard my books were being challenged”: Judy Blume, “Is Puberty a Dirty Word,” New York Law School Review 38, nos. 1–4 (1993): 37–43.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Daughters
“I gave you a lot of shit this year, didn’t I, Mother?”: Judy Blume, Smart Women (New York: Berkley Books, 1983). I worked from the 2004 reprint by Berkley Books, p. 350.
The next night they got tickets to see Apocalypse Now: Carlin Flora, “Judy Blume: Mating IQ,” Psychology Today, January 1, 2007. Accessed via the New York Public Library.
“Falling in love at forty (or any age) is s’wonderful”: Judy Blume, Smart Women, Introduction, p. IX.
“She did not understand how or why Michelle had turned into this impossible creature”: Ibid., p. 16.
“believes that Michelle is based on her (when she was that age)”: Ibid., Introduction, p. x.
“look[s] like the girl on the Sun-Maid raisin box”: Ibid., p. 6.
“No more affairs going nowhere”: Ibid., p. 93.
“She tried to think reasonably, but she couldn’t”: Ibid., p. 135.
“Did you know when we first moved to town my mother joined Man-of-the-Month club?”: Ibid., p. 140.
“I’m the one who has to suffer through it every time one of her love affairs fizzles”: Ibid., p. 144.
“One day, Margo would be sorry”: Ibid., p. 146.
