“Having the freedom to read and the freedom to choose is one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me,” Judy Blume. The issue is there are both pros and cons upon banning and challenging books. Some people may be all for it and believe their children should not be exposed to realism that comes from books ‘trying to protect them.’ What ever happened to the freedom of speech? Books are constantly challenged or even banned.
“Books usually are challenged with the best intentions-- to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information” (Scales 163). A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection. Often challenges are motivated by a desire to protect children from “inappropriate” sexual content or “offensive” language. For example, sexually explicit, material that contains offensive language, and often times material that is unsuited to any age group.
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“Forever is a well written, highly criticized novel shows readers that forever is a long time and to remember that life goes on.” According to Undercover Reading, Judy Blume is known to be in the that situation of being challenged. Reasons why Forever has been challenged and banned because of sexual activity and sexual descriptions, it does not promote abstinence, disobedience to parents is shown, talks about masturbastion, and talks about birth control, the list goes