4.5Overall Score

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Hello! First off, I have a very important question. Which you do prefer: books, or movies? For me, this is especially tough because movies are fun since you can see the action happening in full ...

  • Plot
    4.0
  • Characters
    5.0

Hello! First off, I have a very important question. Which you do prefer: books, or movies? For me, this is especially tough because movies are fun since you can see the action happening in full color, while in books you can tell what the characters are thinking. Anyway, comment down below your preference, with either a movie camera emoji(🎥) or a book emoji(📖). But I bet you’re wondering what this has to do with today’s book review. Well, this book by Judy Blume, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” has recently been transformed into a movie! So, in order to celebrate, I thought I’d write a book review to introduce you to Margaret and her amazing book. One reason this story is so good is that you can really relate to Margaret as she deals with the drama of friends, boys, bras, and first periods. One side note: This a totally girly book!

Margaret has lived in New York City her whole life. Now her family wants to uproot them and move to Farbrook, New Jersey. Soon after they arrive at their new house, a girl knocks on the door and invites Margaret over. Before she knows it, Margaret has a new friend named Nancy who offers to let the new girl be in her special club. So after the first day of school, during which the whole class is shocked to find a male teacher in charge, Margaret ventures back over to Nancy’s for a meeting. She, along with Nancy and two other girls, Gretchen and Janie, work to come up with rules for their club. The first proves a problem, because Margaret does not wear a bra and must ask her mother for one. But eventually Margaret gets a routine, until her mother’s parents come to town after receiving a holiday card from the family. Drama is created because Margaret and her parents don’t have a religion. When her mother married Margaret’s father, it caused her parents to kick her out of their lives because he was Jewish. Now that they have arrived in New Jersey, they pressure Margaret to decide to be Christian. And a surprise visit from her other, Jewish, grandma, brings in another side to the argument, then Margaret’s parents join in, until she feels like she’s about to burst. But during the dilemmas of her whole sixth grade year, she has God to talk to and share her thoughts and feelings with. One thing’s for sure. By the summer, Margaret Simon will be a whole different person.

This is book is such an entertaining read, because Judy Blume has written Margaret to be so relatable and comical. To be honest, some of Blume’s books are slightly strange (If you’ve read, for example, Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, you probably know what I mean), but I really enjoyed reading this one. And if you haven’t, I would recommend looking into The Fudge Series, also by Judy Blume. Until next time, goodbye!