The radical honesty of the books by young adult fiction pioneer Judy Blume changed the way millions of readers understoo | dG1fbmVXc08xUmtfcTA
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00:00 My daughter said, "Mother, couldn't you write a book about teenagers who fall in love and do it, and nobody has to die?"
00:07 And I thought, "Yes!"
00:09 Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret.
00:11 I felt like someone was being honest. That's a gift. That's magic.
00:14 There was this moment where, "Wow, like, Judy's talking to me."
00:17 I read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.
00:19 I read E.E.
00:20 I liked the blubber.
00:21 This is my favorite book.
00:22 I grew up as a good girl with a bad girl lurking inside.
00:27 So by the time I started to write, I really had a lot to get out.
00:30 I could be fearless in my writing in a way that maybe I wasn't always in my life.
00:36 It was the first book I had read about wanting to grow boobs and the myths around how to get them and what to do.
00:41 Everything I learned about sex or crushes, I learned from Judy.
00:45 Let's all say it. Masturbation!
00:48 Let's raise our hands if we masturbate, everybody.
00:52 Oh, Judy.
00:54 We can take turns taking the reins.
00:59 Overnight, the censors came out of the woodwork.
01:02 Forever is banned year after year. Margaret gets banned because it talks about bras.
01:07 I think the kids have a right to read and to get honest answers to their questions.
01:12 Dear Judy, today was the worst day. I have a million problems.
01:18 Kids opened up to me in a way that they couldn't to their parents.
01:22 And I would answer. This is the first letter I got from Judy.
01:26 That was the beginning. We wrote for many years.
01:29 She allowed young women to be as complicated and messy and funny as we are.
01:36 I had that recognition of, I trust you and wherever you're going, I'm down to come with you.
01:43 I don't think that Judy Blume wrote her books to be timeless. I think she wrote her books to be timely.
01:47 And they were so timely that they became timeless.
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