Judy Blume’s preteen novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (1970) is often cited as her most famous and popular book. It is told from the perspective of Margaret Simon, an 11-year-old girl whose family has moved to a new town. Margaret, who has a Christian mother and a Jewish father, struggles to understand her developing body and her relationship with religion. She speaks directly to God about the uncertainties that come with adolescence and where she fits in among her new classmates, in her family’s religious communities, and with God. Many young readers wrote letters to tell Blume that they identified with Margaret and her dilemmas. Some adults, however, deemed the book inappropriate and wanted it removed from library shelves, citing its frank treatment of menstruation and claiming that it denigrated religion. It was made into a film in 2023.
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