From: Norma Jean <nsawicki>
Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2005 21:10:25 -0500

I was in publishing when The Outsider was published, and to great critical acclaim/applause. I have no memory of it being deemed "indecent," and if it was, those voices were few and quiet. M.E. Kerr's work, as well as books by Judy Blume, while often celebrated by critics and readers attract the attention/wrath of censors but all sorts of books have been, or are, censored by one group or another. The reason it is important to hold the First Amendment dear. While I usually do not comment on books I have not read...judging from the description, reviews, etc. of Rainbow Party, it is difficult to believe that it stands alongside the work of Judy Blume, M.E. Kerr, S.E. Hinton, Melvin Burgess, etc.

I may wade into a swamp by saying...it takes wisdom and skill to write a terrific novel for teenagers or adults in which the underpinnings are about sex/sexuality. I think too, girls/women....boys/men think about, and experience sex/sexuality differently and it takes a man of exceptional wisdom/skill to write about sex/sexuality from a girl/woman's point of view just as a woman must have the same qualities to write about sex/sexuality from a boy/man's point of view. The difference between writing from the inside out, as opposed to the outside in...not impossible but incredibly difficult. Norma Jean
Received on Wed 22 Jun 2005 09:10:25 PM CDT