About a year ago, I discovered the book Are You There God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume. I somehow thought it was a quite new book, because it was going to be both adapted for television and translated into Dutch. However, this book was first published in 1970. I got curious nevertheless and decided to read it. I expected something really emotional, did it meet my expectations?

About the book

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Published by Delacorte Press on January 1, 1970
Pages: 149
ISBN: 9780689841583
Genres: Contemporary, Middle-grade

Margaret Simon, almost twelve, likes long hair, tuna fish, the smell of rain, and things that are pink. She’s just moved from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey, and is anxious to fit in with her new friends—Nancy, Gretchen, and Janie. When they form a secret club to talk about private subjects like boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret is happy to belong.

But none of them can believe Margaret doesn’t have religion, and that she isn’t going to the Y or the Jewish Community Center. What they don’t know is Margaret has her own very special relationship with God. She can talk to God about everything—family, friends, even Moose Freed, her secret crush.

Margaret is funny and real, and her thoughts and feelings are oh-so-relatable—you’ll feel like she’s talking right to you, sharing her secrets with a friend.

My review

Admittedly, I was absolutely not aware that this book is over 50 years old. I thought it was about pre-teens in modern society, but because of their age, they were just not allowed to use modern technology such as smart phones or internet. Whilst reading, I got some signs that this book might be a little older, but it wasn’t until I was looking up the publish date before I knew how old it really is. I had trouble connecting to the characters and this is definitely because of the time gap between the publication of this book and my own pre-teen years. I’m born in 1991 and therefore started my teenage years in the 00’s. Society was already so different then compared to the 60’s and 70’s, it’s hard to even imagine. Internet was introduced into households when I was in 4th grade and now it’s hard to imagine living without it.

Eleven-year old Margaret moves from New York to New Jersey right before her final year of middle school. At least, I believe it’s middle school, because the American school system is so different from the Dutch one. She is in sixth grade in this book, which still is primary school here. We don’t have middle school. However, she doesn’t know anybody and has to start all over again. as soon as she moves in, she meets Nancy, a girl from down the street. They happen to be in the same grade in school, and they spend lots of time together. Once the school year starts, Margaret is invited by Nancy to join her and her other friends in their secret club. These girls are undergoing the changes female bodies do at this age, like growing breasts and awaiting their period. Margaret still is so young compared to especially Nancy, she barely knows anything. I think she is really innocent and Nancy is not a good friend to her. I can’t judge the other girls, Gretchen and Janie, we get to see too little of them. However, I think the group together is really mean and they don’t function without Nancy. Besides her school friends, Margaret is close to her grandma. It doesn’t seem like she is really close to her parents, they come off as very conservative and reserved to me. Margaret barely seems to talk to them. Her parents have different religions, her dad is Jewish and her mother is Christian. Margaret is struggling to find out to which religion she belongs. She therefore tries to talk to God as she believes God would help her. That’s what I mean, she’s really innocent and quite insecure.

This book is such an easy read. It’s about 150 pages long and therefore you can finish it in one or two sittings. This fits the target group really well, because this book is aimed at young teenagers. So, the writing has to be accessible for their age. The chapters are really short and I think that works really well. But for me, the writing doesn’t feel extraordinary. And I am absolutely aware that I am not the target group.

This book barely has any plot and is really character driven. We follow Margaret throughout her year in 6th grade and we see her grow from an insecure girl to a more secure 7th grader. The character development is interesting to witness and very relatable for readers in the same age range as Margaret. I can’t remember whether I was having the same questions when I was 11 years old. Probably not, since I started 7th grade that year. I was one of the youngest. However, when reading this as a 32-year old, I still can’t relate when looking back. However I believe Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume is a book many young girls could relate to in one way or another and therefore I strongly recommend it to those readers.