“What are you protecting your children from?
“What do I think about rewriting the Roald Dahl books?”
“I think if Roald Dahl was around, you would be hearing what he thinks about that.
Judy Blume.Kathy Willens/AP/Shutterstock
Whatever he is, whatever he’s accused of being, there’s a lot of truth there.
But the books are the books.
Kids still love the books, and they love them the way he wrote them.
So I don’t believe in that.”
Blume isn’t worried about her work facing the same kind of edits.
“Not as long as I’m around,” she said with a smile.
It’s Me Margaret, deal with teenage girls' health and sexuality.
“In the ’80s is when it all broke loose, after Reagan’s election,” Blume said.
It was bad in the ’80s, but it wasn’t coming from the government.
Try and define pornography today and you’ll find that it’severything.”
Blume continued, “This is the real danger.
We should have laws on theotherside!
That’s why organizations that work to protect the freedom to read widely and freely are so important.”
“NCAC is right there on the front lines,” Blume said.
What are you protecting your children from?
No child is going to become transgender or gay or lesbian because they read a book.
It’s not going to happen.
They may say, ‘Oh, this is just like me.
This is what I’m feeling and thinking about.’
They want to know!"
Blume added, “I just read a book that was wonderfully enlightening to me.
It’s calledGender Queer[a memoir by Maia Kobabe].
It’s probably the No.
1 banned book in America right now.
And I learned a lot, and became even more empathetic.'
That’s what books are all about.”
