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Bibliographic data:
Blume, Judy (1970). Are You There
God? It’s Me, Margaret. New York: Atheneum Books.
Summary:
Margaret is a stereotypical eleven-year-old
American girl. Following a move to
New Jersey, Margaret quickly makes friends with her new neighbor, Nancy. She is introduced to her classmates and
her new teacher, Mr. Benedict. As
she adjusts to her new life, she questions religion, learns about puberty and
finds out what kinds of friends she really has made.
Analysis:
Are
You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,
is a story most preteen girls could relate to. Throughout the book, Margaret pleads with God to simply be
normal – a feeling most fifth or sixth graders often have. For Margaret, being normal has a number
of different meanings. She wants
to physically be normal. She and
her friends are eager to get their first periods and “increase [their]
busts.” At the same time, these
milestones make her feel awkward and unsure. She worries that if her secret crush, a friend of a friend’s
older brother, is discovered she would be made fun of. Young girls would be able to see
themselves in these struggles of Margaret’s, and learn from her experiences.
Margaret also wants to be religiously normal. Her parents had different religious
upbringings and abandoned all religion when they were married. While Margaret writes to God in her
journal, she has never attended church or synagogue, which is completely
unheard of in her new hometown.
Throughout the novel is attends services of different faiths and begs
God to help her feel something towards one of them. This is an unusual theme in books for preteens, however is
very relevant as many girls are going through confirmation or preparing for
their Bat Mitzvah.
While often considered controversial and on banned book
lists, Blume has created a novel that accurately portrays the turmoil of being
a young woman. Margret shows the
mind of a sixth grader, with sixth grade worries and troubles. The most risqué scene involves the
entire sixth grade class playing spin the bottle and two minutes in heaven,
however the kisses described are primarily pecks on the cheek. Those with firm
religious beliefs may be put off by her casual relationship with God, however
her search for truth is one that many religious faiths encourage at her age. Margaret’s turmoil about where she
belongs will be relatable to many girls who are questioning their personal
beliefs.
This is a book that girls will be
able to relate to and enjoy; a downfall is that boys would not, particularly
not preteen boys. The books
focuses too much on girl topics, such as menstruation, bras and crushes, for
boys to feel comfortable reading it.
Blume has written a similar book, Then
Again, Maybe I Won’t, with a male main character that boys would be better
able to relate to.
Activity:
For her sixth grade project, Margaret
studies and considers what religion would be best suited for her. She attends a number of religious
services and confession, however the beliefs of the faiths she explores are not
discussed. To extend this search
of Margaret’s for readers, guest speakers from different religions could be
asked to speak about the similarities and differences in their creeds and
answer any looming questions readers have.
Related Resources:
Throughout the book, Margaret and her friends discuss their
changing bodies at length. They
are curious about what is to come.
Many young girls will likely have similar questions. For those who are too shy to ask an
adult, a website such as girlshealth.gov could be useful. This site has articles covering many
topics that Margaret has concerns over in the book, from puberty and crush to
bullying and friendships.
Office on Women’s Health. Girlshealth. Retrieved from http://www.girlshealth.gov/
(accessed June 24, 2016)
Margaret’s adventures are told through a combination of
narrated stories and diary entries.
After reading Margaret’s journal, readers may be inspired to write their
own thoughts and concerns down. The Care & Keeping of YOU: Journal 1 for
Younger Girls provides a guided journal for young girls to reflect on their
life, as well as information about common questions and concerns.
Natterson, Cara (2013). The Care & Keeping
of YOU: Journal 1 for Younger Girls.
Middleton: American Girl Publications:
Published Review:
“The comical longings of little girls who want to be big
girls -- exercising to the chant of "We must -- we must -- increase our
bust!" -- and the wistful longing of Margaret, who talks comfortably to
God, for a religion, come together as her anxiety to be normal, which is
natural enough in sixth grade. And if that's what we want to tell kids, this is
a fresh, unclinical case in point: Mrs. Blume (Iggie's House, 1969) has an easy
way with words and some choice ones when the occasion arises. But there's
danger in the preoccupation with the physical signs of puberty -- with growing
into a Playboy centerfold, the goal here, though the one girl in the class
who's on her way rues it; and with menstruating sooner rather than later --
calming Margaret, her mother says she was a late one, but the happy ending is
the first drop of blood: the effect is to confirm common anxieties instead of
allaying them. (And countertrends notwithstanding, much is made of that first
bra, that first dab of lipstick.) More promising is Margaret's pursuit of
religion: to decide for herself (earlier than her 'liberal' parents intended),
she goes to temple with a grandmother, to church with a friend; but neither
makes any sense to her -- "Twelve is very late to learn."
Fortunately, after a disillusioning sectarian dispute, she resumes talking to
God. . . to thank him for that telltale sign of womanhood. Which raises the
last question: of a satirical stance in lieu of a perspective.
Kirkus Review (1970).
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. n.p.: Kirkus
Reviews. Retrieved from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/judy-blume/are-you-there-god-its-me-margaret/.
Last updated October 2011. (accessed
June 25, 2016).
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