Growing up, my favorite Judy Blume book was Deenie, because the title character had scoliosis. My dad had scoliosis as a kid and was in a torso cast for two years, and was deeply worried that my brother or I would inherit his spinal problems. Reading Deenie helped me understand why. (For the record, I have never developed scoliosis, though I do have spina bifida occulta, which gives me pretty minor lower back pain.) But Deenie also helped me understand others things, like how to masturbate! The book did the same for countless other teenagers, including Rachel Dratch, Martha Plimpton and Elna Baker, who were joined by writers Junot Diaz, Amy Sohn and Elna Baker for an onstage reading of Deenie at an event for the National Coalition Against Censorship. (Deenie is one of the many Blume books that have been censored across the country.) Check out their reading of a critical scene from the book above! [HyperVocal] [Photo: Flickr]
