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New Adventures in Censorship
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"Sybil Davis has a genius IQ and has been laid at least six times," goes the first line of the first ever Young Adult novel to contain an explicit sex scene.
The novel, Forever, was published in 1975, and last year its author Judy Blume became the fifth woman and first author of Young Adult literature to receive The National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Since then, YA writers who admire and emulate Blume as the "mother of chick lit" have been savoring the prize--after Blume's more than 30 years of writing and sale of 75 million books worldwide--as an overdue celebration of their literary niche.
"This means realistic portrayals of girls trying to make sense of and find their place in the world have been ordained 'real literature,'" says Sarah Mlynowski. "About time, no?"
Mlynowski's own YA novel, Bras and Broomsticks, came out in February and is about a female teen whose younger sister wakes up as a witch one day. The author says the book was inspired by her simultaneously proud and envy-filled relationship with her own baby sister.
"Blume is the one we all grew up reading and she's the one who helped shape our consciousness," Mlynowski says.
Stories about Girls Growing Up
Blume, who wrote Forever after her daughter "asked for a story about two nice kids who have sex without either of them having to die," is known for her unflinching, intimate portrayals of young girls and women growing up in the U.S. suburbs.
Exploring such issues as first-time menstruation, divorce and family tragedy, her books are viewed as a rite of passage for young women entering and in the midst of adolescence.
| A Selection of Controversial Young Adult Books Young Adult literature has a long history of being controversial. The following is a dateline of some of the important novels and series that offered dynamic female characters who challenged and diversified the fictional accounts of female experience. It has been compiled through information from various sources including the Young Adult Library Services Association, VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), the Tennessee Library Association, and publications of the Children's Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota. 1868: "Little Women," by Louisa May Alcott 1930: "Nancy Drew Girl Detective" series debuts, penned by Carolyn Keene, a pseudonym for the writer and poet Mildred Wirt. 1936: "Sue Barton, Student Nurse," by Helen Boylston (some argue it's the first YA novel.) 1942: "Seventeenth Summer," by Maureen Daly 1943: "The Cherry Ames" series, by Helen Wells and Julie Tatham 1973: "Girls Can Be Anything," by Norma Klein, Roy Doty 1948: "Trixie Belden" series, by Kathryn Kenny (pseudonym) 1948: "Connie Blair" series, by Betty Cavanna 1967: "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton 1970: "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret," by Judy Blume 1971: "Go Ask Alice," by Anonymous 1972: "Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack," by M.E Kerr 1973: "A Hero Ain't Nothin' But A Sandwich," by Alice Childress 1974: "The Chocolate War," by Robert Cormier 1975: "Forever," by Judy Blume 1977: "Bridge to Terabithia," by Katherine Paterson 1978: "Love Is One Of The Choices," by Norma Klein 1982: "Annie On My Mind," by Nancy Garden 1983: "Sweet Valley High" series debuts by Francine Pascal 1983: "Alanna: The First Adventure," by Tamora Pierce 1985: "Alice" series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor 1992: "Bastard Out of Carolina," by Dorothy Allison 1997: "Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes," by Chris Crutcher 2000: "Life Is Funny," by E.R Frank 2001: "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," by Ann Brashares 2002: "Gossip Girl" series, by Cecily Von Ziegesar, debuts 2003: "One Hundred Demons," by Lynda Barry 2003: "Wonder When You'll Miss Me," by Amanda Davis 2004: "The Garden," by Elsie V. Aidinoff
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