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Groups of parents are getting together and organizing in their communities to ban books," adds Joan Bertin of the National Coalition Against Censorship. "I think what's happening is once a book is challenged in one town, people on the same wavelength, it will flag that book for them. For example, we've seen three challenges to Sherman Alexie's teen novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, all within the past three months, two in Missouri, one in Montana."

Blume's character explores things that might have been off-limits. She doubts, she gets angry at God. This displeased some fundamentalist Christian groups, as well as parents who were not happy Blume was exposing children to sensitive issues. In the early 1980s these groups tried to censor her books and in some states they were indeed removed from libraries. And even though things have changed considerably there, she says, every year some of her books appear on a list of "challenged books" - works that some people want to have censored.

Works by censored authors available again in wake of revolutions