Review: Forever by Judy Blume

Star rating: 4 stars
Author: Judy Blume
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Pans Children


This is the story of two high school seniors, Katherine and Michael and how they fall in love. It is also the story of how their relationship develops until they decide to have sex. The novel follows their entire relationship, and Blume presents a realistic, though ultimately unhappy, look at young love. Katherine and Michael are ultimately forced to separate for the summer (by their parents against both of their wishes) but vow that they will stay together forever.

Many of the parents and censors that I read about felt that students reading this book would promote sexual activity. It was pointed out in the New York Times article that just because a kid feels old enough to read about the sexual relationship presented in Forever, does not mean that that child feels old enough to go out and engage in sex themselves. This goes back to the idea that we as adults can predict and understand exactly how a book will affect a specific child. Children will take what they want from books.

This book is a slippery slope because it does contain graphic sexual content. Though I would point out that the sex between Michael and Katherine is ridiculously responsible: Michael doesn’t pressure Katherine, he waits until she is ready, they use condoms, Katherine takes herself to Family Planning and gets on birth control. Though young, they are enter into a mature relationship. Those points alone are enough for me, were I parent, to allow my child to read this book. However, I don’t believe that reading books will convince children to do things that they weren’t already considering. Just as I don’t believe that reading Harry Potter will convince children that magic is real and that there is no God, I don’t believe that reading about sex makes people have sex.
However, I can understand the reaction to this book, especially in light of when it was originally published. Not only were there different standards for the content of books at the time, but there weren’t as many books being published that pushed the limit. Were this book to be published today I don’t believe it would receive as much negative notice.