Judy Blume asked prominent authors whose writing has been censored or challenged to contribute an original story to a collection that will benefit the National Coalition Against Censorship. The response was overwhelming and the results are simply extraordinary. The main characters of these stories find themselves in places they never meant to be: trapped in a basement with a vengeful cheerleader; transfixed by a fire that may have been lit by a teenager; terrified on the baseball field by a sadistic coach.

Featuring stories by David Mass, the late Norma Klein, Julius Lester, Chris Lynch, Harry Mazer, Norma Fox Mazer, Walter Dean Myers, Katherine Paterson, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Rachel Vail, Jacqueline Woodson, and Paul Zindel, Places I Never Meant To Be is a stunning literary achievement as well as a battle cry against censorship.

All royalties generated from the sale of this book are being donated to the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of over forty national nonprofit organizations united by a conviction that freedom of thought, inquiry, and expression must be defended.

Amazon.com Review
In this provocative collection, Judy Blume, the censors' favorite target, assembles an all-star cast of young adult writers who have themselves felt the pain of censorship. Each contributes an original short story and some highly quotable observations on their own experiences and feelings when under attack. "Where once I went to my writing without a backward glance," writes Norma Fox Mazer, "now I sometimes have to consciously clear my mind of those shadowy censorious presences." The entries range from Jacqueline Woodson's ironic story of a neighborhood's casual acceptance of arson, to Harry Mazer's touching tale of a tough kid redeemed by a little boy's adoration. Two stories are especially intriguing to connoisseurs of teen fiction: Chris Lynch's "Lie, No Lie"--a selection that appears not to have made the cut for his novel Whitechurch--in which Pauly sets his friend up for embarrassment in a gay bath house; and the late Norma Klein's "Something Which Is Non-Existent," a previously unpublished story written in 1959 when this much-censored author was in college. Other stories by Katherine Paterson, Rachel Vail, Julius Lester, Walter Dean Myers, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Paul Zindel, Norma Fox Mazer, and David Klass contribute to this showcase of stellar talent. (Ages 11 to 16) --Patty Campbell