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Few authors have established as powerful a bond with their fans as Judy Blume. That incredible connection first manifested with the publication of her debut novel for young adults, 1970\u2019s Are You There God? It\u2019s Me, Margaret, which shattered taboos by candidly addressing subjects like menstruation and masturbation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first time, I think, that an author had written a character that girls could relate to on an internal level, like she was speaking to their internal lives,\u201d said filmmaker Leah Wolchok, co-director and producer of the Prime Video documentary Judy Blume Forever. \u201cShe wrote in the first person. And I think readers felt like they were reading their own diary. \u2026 Kids just flocked to the book.\u201d <\/p>\n
While young readers flocked, some adults swooped \u2013 demanding Blume\u2019s books be yanked from shelves. During an appearance at Deadline\u2019s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted virtual event, Wolchok, fellow director-producer Davina Pardo and producer Sara Bernstein discussed the controversy that has attended Blume\u2019s work for more than 50 years. <\/p>\n
\u201cJudy today is almost more relevant than [ever. ]\u2026 Her books are banned today as much as they were in the \u201880s,\u201d said Bernstein, president of Imagine Documentaries, the unit of Imagine Entertainment that produced the film. \u201cIt\u2019s really important, obviously, that young people and all people are given a chance to decide what they want to read.\u201d <\/p>\n
Said Pardo: \u201cI keep thinking about this line [Judy] says in the film \u2014 it\u2019s an archival clip where she\u2019s fighting back against the sensors and she says, \u2018A book cannot harm a child.\u2019 But we know the opposite is true. A book can help a child, a book can save a child. \u2026 What\u2019s been so powerful for me in seeing how connected people are to Judy is how much her books have helped them.\u201d <\/p>\n
The documentary follows Blume\u2019s remarkable journey from 1950s housewife and mother to becoming one of the bestselling novelists of all time. Her first husband, the film says, only tolerated her writing habit so long as it didn\u2019t interfere with her raising their kids, and he never read any of her books. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always thought of it as a sort of feminist coming-of age-story of Judy and then, sort of alongside that, her readers,\u201d Pardo observed. \u201cOne of the things we love about Judy\u2019s story is that the coming of age doesn\u2019t end when you get your period. But throughout her life, she was coming of age.\u201d <\/p>\n
Check out the panel video when viewing this article at Deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Judy Blume Forever\u2019 Filmmakers Discuss Beloved Author Who Inspires Devotion, And Book Banning \u2013 Contenders TV: Doc + Unscripted: Few authors have established as powerful a bond with their fans as Judy Blume. That incredible connection first manifested with the publication of her debut novel for young adults, 1970\u2019s Are You There God? It\u2019s Me,
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