The Importance of the Coming-of-Age Novel
The transitions from child to teenager and teenager to adult are full of triumphs and struggles.
When Judy Blume began writing books about young people decades ago, the category of “young-adult books” didn’t exist. But she didn’t shy away from controversial topics—periods, sex, race, religion—in her stories about “kids on the cusp” of teenhood and adulthood. Instead, her work spoke to the realities of adolescence that some adults avoid, so much so that fans sent Blume letters about their own lives. She forever changed what a coming-of-age novel could be, . In the years since the publication of such staples as and ,books about adolescentshave continued to push boundaries, and
