Most years I try to read a banned or challenged book as part of Banned Books week (which I’m VERY late for this year). There are many reasons I do it, but one of the most important is that I want there to be library requests in my system for these books as its one way to help keep challenged books on shelves (there are lots more suggestions for actions in this Book Riot article). This year I was having a tough time deciding what book to choose as I’ve been struggling in the past few years to enjoy YA the way I used to, and the grand majority of books receiving challenges are those aimed at the YA crowd. But then it came to my attention that Judy Blume’s Forever… was banned in the entire state of Utah public schools in 2024 and I realized I never read this now 50 year old classic. So, decision made.
Forever… is an exercise in writing a book in which average teenagers have sex and nothing terrible happens to either of them and the relationship runs its natural course in the way of many a senior year of high school pairing. Blume’s daughter had read many books in which dreadful things befall the girls who have sex and Blume wanted to write one where they didn’t. The book follows Katherine, an 18-year-old high school senior, as she explores what it is to experience sexual intercourse, and for the frank and honest way in which Blume writes, it has been challenged and banned over and over again.
Is this book a staggering work of narrative? No. The plot is thin; the characters’ motivations are equally thin. What this is, though, is an incredibly important book that works to remove much of the stigma and uncertainty around first sexual encounters and the relationships in which they happen. It also touches on unplanned pregnancies, homosexuality, and wanting to have sex for its own sake and not as part of being in love with your partner, parents and grandparents guide and educate, and Planned Parenthood is utilized for sexual health and contraception needs. The book contextualizes all of this as so very normal.
I’m far from being this book’s intended audience and my experience of reading the book was more of an academic appreciation of its existence and rolling my eyes at Michael’s very 1970s boy behavior. Which is as it should be.