Blume honored

Judy Blume, whose candid children’s books have attracted millions of readers — and a wave of censors — has been named this year’s winner of an honorary National Book Award for contributions to American letters.

Blume, 66, has enjoyed enormous commercial success. Her books have sold more than 75 million copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages. She also founded the Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation.

But not all adults have found her work fit for children. Blume is known for dealing explicitly with sex, religion and divorce, and her books often have been placed in restricted sections of libraries or pulled altogether from shelves. She responded by editing the compilation “Places I Never Meant to Be, Original Stories by Censored Writers,” published in 1999.