Erin Kettle

For Banned Books Week, we're honoring an author who has stood up for the freedom to read for over fifty years -- Judy Blume! The beloved author of many Mighty Girl favorites such as "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret", "Deenie", and "Tiger Eyes," Blume has been writing children's and young adult fiction for decades.

What many of Judy Blume's young fans rarely realized, however, is that the frank discussion of topics like religion, puberty, and sexuality in her books -- the same honesty that makes them so appealing to young readers -- made her one of the most frequently challenged children's authors. As she once observed, by the 1980s, “censors crawled out of the woodwork, organized and determined. Not only would they decide what their children could read but what all children could read... Suddenly books were seen as dangerous to young minds.”

Even as a relatively new author, though, instead of bowing to the criticisms, Blume persisted in writing openly and honestly about issues affecting young people -- and speaking up for authors, teachers, librarians, and others who face disapproval, insults, and even the loss of jobs and careers because they refuse to remove books from the hands of young readers. As such, she has become a champion for children's freedom to read -- and authors' freedom to write -- about topics that some find controversial.

Banned Book Week is an annual event which celebrates the freedom to read and the highlights the value of free and open access to information. In honor of Banned Books Week 2025, we are proud to present our tribute to Judy Blume's career, both as an author of many beloved Mighty Girl books and as a determined and forceful voice against censorship and book banning. In a time when Blume's books still face challenges, her experiences combating censorship -- and her powerful words about the value of making complex and daring books accessible to kids -- are more important than ever.

To read our blog post, "Protecting 'The Books That Will Never Be Written'": Judy Blume's Fight Against Censorship," visit https://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=7425

For two inspiring books about girls fighting against censorship in schools - both for ages 9 to 12 - we highly recommend "Ban This Book" (https://www.amightygirl.com/ban-this-book) and "Property of the Rebel Librarian" (https://www.amightygirl.com/property-of-the-rebel-librarian)

For children's books about girls living in real-life societies throughout history with little respect for freedom of expression, visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426

For a thought-provoking young adult novel exploring censorship, we recommend "Suggested Reading" for ages 14 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/suggested-reading

And for Mighty Girl stories that pay tribute to the transformative power of books, check out our blog post "Celebrating a Love of Reading: 35 Mighty Girl Stories about Books, Libraries, and Literacy" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11656