Judy Blume at her bookstore in Key West, Fla., Jan. 20, 2023. Decades after she first discussed translating her work to film and television, the Blume-aissance is upon us -- all it needed was for fans to take charge in the entertainment industry. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)
Saul Martinez—The New York Times/Redux

The coming-of-age films I am known for from the ’80s seemed revolutionary, at the time, for centering on a young female protagonist. In truth, Judy Blume was doing it long before in her groundbreaking young-adult fiction—now popular in onscreen adaptations. Judy’s writing helped me to honestly play a teenage girl because her books helped me become one. At a time when no one was chronicling the monumental minutiae occupying a young person’s brain—body shame, bullying, grief—there was no subject that Judy wasn’t up for exploring in her books. Even the most taboo subjects of the time—menstruation and masturbation—were examined, helping millions of young women to enter young adulthood a lot more informed and a little less afraid. Her books have been banned many times in various places over the years, since there are always people for whom the thought of an empowered young woman’s autonomy over her mind and body is objectionable. But good books will find their way into kids’ hands, and I’m so grateful they found mine.

Ringwald is an actor and writer

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com.

Olena Zelenska
Lionel Messi
Aubrey Plaza
Michael B. Jordan
Colleen Hoover
5 stories
EDIT POST