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Friday, October 15, 2010

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

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume
Publisher: Delacorte
Publication date: 1971
ISBN: 9780385739863

Source: Library


Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

Margaret is adjusting to a new home and new school.  Her new friends wonder right along with her, will she ever be able to fill her training bra?  When will she get her period?  While also documenting the prejudices and cruelty of elementary and middle school life, it also reminds us of just how hard it is to fit in.  The other part of this book shows us a young girl trying to understand what her relationship with God really is?  Should she be a Jew or a Christian?  Her parents' different choices contribute to this dilemma, but she wants to be her own person.  Will she ever figure it out?

Things I Liked:
This really is a great book. I wish I'd read it while I was a tween.  While I never wished I would get my period, I did wonder when my body would start changing.  I love that her family is close and that they have a relationship (so many books today don't have any kind of parental involvement at all).  I was also quite surprised at the depth of religious feeling that went with this iconic book.  I definitely wasn't expecting it - but I certainly enjoyed it.  This book captures the emotions and drama that epitomize that time in life.  And I really just like Margaret - she's fun.


Things I Didn't Like:
The cultural references can be distracting in their dated-ness.  However, I think most kids today won't be bothered by it.  I wonder if they'll ever "update" them to include modern issues or technology (you know, records are rather antique).


Read-alikes:
Blubber and many other Judy Blume

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !
a few


mrg-factor: X
frank discussions of growing chests and periods


v-factor: none

Overall rating: ****

Did you read this as a kid? Do you feel differently about it now?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

4 comments :

  1. I loved this book and it was outdated when I read it and it didn't bother me a bit!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, the outdated parts weren't really bothersome. I wonder if they ever considered updating more than just the cover though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The one that you read, did it have the menstrual belt in it? Because I know they did at least update the period details (I'm sure there's a pun in there, somewhere!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Caroline, I don't remember that part, but it could have been there. How interesting that it has been updated - I wonder what it was like before the update...

    ReplyDelete

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