I think I picked up "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" at some Elementary School book fair, and I read it at least 10 times during my pre- and young-teen years. Through Margaret, the author Judy Blume spoke to me and all my doubts about my changing (or not changing) body, God, navigating parental conflicts, the precipitous nature of female friendships, and more.

I went on to read many of Blume's works: Deenie, Blubber, Tiger Eyes, Then Again Maybe I Won't, and Forever…, to name just a few. Each book found me when I needed them and their lessons – specific but not pedantic. Kids can be mean sometimes, but that doesn't mean they are bad people. Adults make mistakes. Boys have crazy feelings, too. Friendships are complicated. Relationships are complicated. Life is complicated. Life is so complicated.

These and many others were my lifelines when this socially awkward kid needed an escape. Nobody seemed to mind that it was OK to be alone as long as I was tucked away reading. The habit of losing myself in books has persisted into adulthood; now, I'm sad to admit, I have more Audible books than paperbound books, but words and storytelling have not lost their appeal.

The recent scourge of book bans led by right-wing conservative schools and library boards is disturbing but not new. My friends and I passed 'underground' books like contraband because even in the 1980s, the topics were considered controversial. (Menstruation! Breasts! Erections! Masturbation! Teen angst! Teen sex!) Contemporary issues are even more shocking to those who do their best to keep adolescents and anyone else from possibly crossing some invisible line of morality. (Racism! Queer identities! Indigenous histories! Gender fluidity! Women's rights! Puberty! Sexual assault! Drug use! Profanity! Nazi atrocities!)

The irony is that once a book is considered 'Challenged,' it typically experiences a surge in popularity, and many classics are among the most banned books. Famously banned Fahrenheit 451 author Ray Bradbury said, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."

Judy Blume said, "Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear."

Recently we were discussing my son's summer reading assignment list, and one of my favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird, was among the selections.

What's it about? My son wanted to know.

Where to begin? The time and place where Mockingbird is set is a character in itself: Alabama in the early 1930s. A place in history moments past abolition, deep in the segregated South. Black people, as were women and girls, were expected to stay in their place. Lawyers were respected until they weren't. The justice system was fair until it wasn't. People were both unexpectedly cruel and kind. Familiar themes from our current political landscape, too, should make for interesting classroom discussions in 2023.

I said it's about a young girl, her brother, and her father, who is a lawyer. They live in Alabama during the Great Depression, and it's an incredible book. I'll leave the rest to him to discover, but I also didn't add that this classic has been banned for decades and is a regular on modern Challenged Book Lists.

For her part, Judy Blume has long been the public face of a censored author and has donated royalties from various projects to the National Coalition Against Censorship. She and her husband are co-founders of a bookstore in Key West, Florida, one of 18 states that have passed laws restricting lessons on race and racism and classroom discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation. The "Stop WOKE" Act, passed in 2022, bans teachers from teaching lessons or holding class discussions that would make students feel "guilt or anguish" for past actions committed by their race.

Education Week reports, "Florida's law specifically bans critical race theory, which some Republican lawmakers use as an umbrella term to target equity initiatives and teachings about systemic racism. At the press conference, Florida state education commissioner Manny Diaz said critical race theory was "rooted in Marxism." I'm not alone in suggesting that some additional understanding of history should be required of anyone holding a post with Education in the title.

In other states, proposed legislation would defund libraries that refuse to remove 'challenged' materials. Illinois took the opposite tack. Politico reports that Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state's 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. It passed in the Illinois Senate in early May 2023, and Pritzker is expected to sign the legislation. Florida, Texas, and Ohio: Take note.

"There is more than one way to burn a book," Bradbury said. "And the world is full of people running about with lit matches."

Let's hope the next fire our elected officials light sparks imagination, curiosity, and a quest for knowledge in our children, not the kind that Bradbury depicted burning at a temperature of 451 degrees.

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This essay also appeared in the May 2023 issue of FLM - Fete Lifestyle Magazine.