Book Review: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Genre:
Realistic Fiction

Interest Level:
Grades 3-6

Reading Level:
590 Lexile

Book Theme:
Religious discovery, puberty, moving to a new neighborhood

Books with Similar Themes: 
Grace by Morris Gleitzman, Eleven by Lauren Myracle

Bibliographic Information: 
Blume, J. (1970). Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Bradbury Press.

Plot:  
Twelve-year-old Margaret Simon has just moved with her family from New York to New Jersey and will be starting in a new school for her sixth grade year. She becomes friends with three girls named Nancy, Janie, and Gretchen, and the four of them form a group where they meet and talk about boys and puberty. The girls swear that they will tell each other when they start their periods and end each meeting by chanting "We must, we must, we must increase our busts!" Margaret talks to God every day but feels conflicted about her religious affiliation. Margaret's father is Jewish and her mother is Christian, although neither of them practice their religions. Margaret's paternal grandmother Sylvia wants her to be Jewish, and when her estranged maternal grandparents come for a visit they want her to be Christian. Margaret wants to chose a religion and goes on a quest to learn more about the two religions, but along the way finds herself feeling more confused than ever.

Review: 
This ground-breaking book was one of the first of it's kind of address the issue of tweens and religion. It explores religion through Margaret's eyes and shows how confusing religious discovery can be to adolescents. Tweens that come from families with two religions will appreciate this book for it's approach to Margaret's questions about God and religion. The book also discusses puberty and shows how it is both fascinating and scary to girls are they grow up. The girls are anxious to begin developing and it almost turns into a contest to see who will wear a bra first or who will start their period first. The pressure to grow up is something tweens see even today and something to which many tween girls and boys will relate. This book is written in simple and yet compelling language that helps the reader relate to all of Margaret's struggles and to appreciate all of the learning and growing up she does as she asks herself profound questions about life.
  
Notable tweens:

Margaret Simon- The main character of the story, Margaret is an only child who is unhappy to move from New York to New Jersey but quickly adjusts to life there and makes new friends. She is very close to her paternal grandmother but gets annoyed that she is so set on Margaret being Jewish. She becomes even more upset when her maternal grandparents arrive and want her to be Christmas and finds herself not wanting to talk to God at all at times.

Nancy Walker- Margaret's first friend in her new neighborhood and the girl who seems to know the most about boys and puberty. Nancy tells her friends she has started her period, but Margaret feels betrayed when she discovers that Nancy has lied to them.