Book info

• Title Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
• Author Judy Blume
• Year 1970
• Genre Young Adult

Meet Margaret. She's going through all the same things most teenage girls have to face; fitting in, friendship, and first bras! Life isn't easy for Margaret. She's moved away from her childhood home, she's starting a new school, finding new friends – and she's convinced she's not normal. For a start she hasn't got a clue whether she wants to be Jewish like her father or Christian like her mother. Everyone else seems really sure of who they are. And, worst of all, she's a 'late developer'. She just knows that all her friends are going to need a bra before she does. It's too embarrassing to talk to her parents about these things. So she talks to God instead – and waits for an answer...

Thoughts

I know of this book only because it’s so very famous, and I can’t believe I never read it as a teenager, I can totally see why people love it. Frank and fresh, it’s just the inner workings of a teenage girl’s mind - the concerns and wobbles that a teenager has when navigating friends, family and school.

I thought the overlay of the religion stuff was kinda interesting. The year-long project at school, trying out a few different options in terms of potential religions, it’s nicely open-minded. Why not try them all and see what sticks?

But the real good stuff is just in Margaret’s thoughts and prayers, and how she eventually gets what she so desperately desires.

Rating: 5 / 5