Yes, Deenie Is Banned!

Deenie is the story of a thirteen-year-old girl whose mother has been grooming her for a modeling career. When Deenie is diagnosed with scoliosis and must wear a Milwaukee brace for four years, her world collapses. She deals with her mother’s disappointment, her own changing body image, friendships, and the ordinary confusion of adolescence. Published in 1973 by Bradbury Press, it’s a novel about identity, appearance, and learning to accept yourself when plans fall apart. It’s also one of the first YA novels to mention masturbation, which is the reason it’s been banned for over fifty years.

In 2004, a group of parents in Brevard County, Florida tried to remove Deenie from school libraries. The book was pulled alongside Blubber in Muskego-Norway, Wisconsin in the 1980s. Challenges have been recorded in Georgia, Minnesota, and most recently in Utah’s Alpine School District in 2024. It’s #46 on the ALA’s list of 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 2000. The objections always circle back to a brief passage where Deenie touches herself, a scene Blume has said she included because “girls do that, and they should know it’s normal.”

Why You Should Read This

Blume wrote Deenie because she wore a back brace as a kid and knew what it felt like to have your body become something you didn’t recognize. The novel is quietly devastating. Deenie’s mother can’t see past her daughter’s appearance. Deenie herself has built her identity around being pretty, and the brace takes that away. What’s left is a girl figuring out who she is when the easy answer disappears.

The masturbation panic misses everything the book is actually about. A thirteen-year-old briefly acknowledges a normal physical experience, and that’s been enough to keep Deenie off shelves for half a century. Meanwhile, the real story, about a kid learning that her value isn’t tied to her looks, is exactly the message every teenager needs. Blume’s crime was writing honestly about the inner life of a girl. That should never be a crime.