Forever . . .

This book came out in 1975, yet it's amazingly honest, comfortable, and sex-positive. Judy Blume presents sex not as a foreign thing or a sinful thing, but as a thing real teenagers do and talk about. It is neither preachy nor lenient, neither lewd nor prudish. In this story, sex just is what it is. She covers birth control, Planned Parenthood, pregnancy, abortion, and the emotional side to a physical relationship. Blume also does not pretend that a girl's first time is the way it is in other books (unbearably painful or unimaginably blissful, take your pick), nor is her first sexual partner the only one she will ever have in her life. Honest is the best way to describe this book. The main character, Katherine, becomes sexually active in a natural way, and makes real, natural decisions. I didn't read anything that was unrealistic or cliche. This was my first time reading it, and I definitely think this should be something girls read before making decisions about their bodies and their relationships.