Judy Blume

Remember when I got really upset about E.T. and The Goonies and the bad language in those movies? How is it that a book that is written for children can be so very bad? I remember reading Judy Blume books as a kid. I read Freckle Juice. I read the Fudge series. I don't remember much about any of them, but I am pretty sure they were not as bad as Blubber. There were at least 6 times throughout the 3 hour book that I was horrified by the language. If bad language offends you, please stop reading. I am only writing these words to illustrate what I heard while we listened to Blubber on the way to Kansas today. Now, I can tolerate the fact that C.S. Lewis used the word 'damn' on a couple of different occasions in The Chronicles of Narnia books. In fact, I told Kris that meant that I could use that word too, though he disagreed. ;-) Anyway...that word is used in at least 4 forms. A fifth grader calls her teacher a *itch. In another instance, a kid is called a 'dumb @ss' by another kid. I just couldn't believe this. Maybe I'm naive. Maybe I should have done a little more research, but I thought that I could trust Judy Blume. Here is an excerpt from an article I read talking about banned books:

"Judy Blume's "Blubber," a book about a school girl who's teased for being overweight, is listed at No. 2 on this year's OIF "challenged" list. Blume, who has also written books on blossoming sexuality, says she has the distinction of being one of the most censored authors in America. In an online chat on CNN.com Monday, Blume talked about the effects of censorship.

"One of my concerns is that writers will begin to feel the censor on their backs, and we won't get their very best," Blume says. "Instead their fear, or the fear imposed by the publisher, will limit them. When I lock myself up to write, I cannot allow myself to think about the censor, or the reviewer, or anyone but my characters and their story."

Blume says she doesn't even censor what her children read."

Wow. Really? I can understand writing a book and not necessarily 'caring' about the language you use and just writing because you want to write it. HOWEVER...the fact that this book is passed off as a children's book astonishes me. If I think back to 5th grade, I know that kids were using those words. So I can even understand trying to show that...but...I don't know. I guess I just expected better.