Are you there God, It's Me Margaret - by Judy Blume

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone the other day and she was telling me that her daughter who is 10 years old, is reading the above book. When I was 11 or 12 years old, this book was a girl's right of passage into woman-hood. It was about a young girl who was anxious to get her boobs, start her period, fall in love and just be a woman. I remember feeling so scandalous reading this because Judy Blume wrote about all kinds of things that I was feeling at that sensitive time in my life. She didn't leave any details out, even the sexual thoughts I had - which were still petty innocent. One of my favorite parts of the book that I remember was when she and her friend got together and they were doing their "exercises" - they would FLEX their chest muscles and say over and over - We Must, We Must, We Must Increase our Bust... I think almost every young girl in America has read this book.

Just reminiscing about it I guess. Also that was the same year the girls were shown the "film" about getting their period and the boys were shown their own film too. I can still remember that film, it was a little traumatic because it showed all the details of menstration and followed a young girl getting really bad cramps.

I had actually developed faster than any of my classmates, I was already a C Cup at age 11 and had just started my time of the month - THANK GOD I had seen that film becuase my mom sure didn't tell me about anything. I remember when I was really little, asking her what Maxi pads were, she said they were Micky Mouse Mattresses. So in my head I thought they were great little mouse beds or they would be great beds for my Barbie Dolls. Anyway, I didn't really learn anything about my body and definately not sex from her. Thank god for the soft porn books - Happy Hooker goes to Washington, Peyton Place, Emmanuel...yes, I know, great books for a 12 year old to read. I'm just glad I had a good head on my shoulders and didn't go out there and experiment like a lot of my poor friends did at the time. I was pretty reasonable and had a lot of common sense at the time. Although I was still pretty Niave still. I still have a teency bit of innocense to me...

Anyway, just a BIG Thank you to Judy Blume for writing those wonderful books of a young woman and all those HORRIBLE feelings we had to go through.

Here is a little bit from her Website:

The story

"Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. I can't wait until two o'clock God. That's when our dance starts. Do you think I'll get Philip Leroy for a partner? It's not so much that I like him as a person God, but as a boy he's very handsome. And I'd love to dance with him... just once or twice. Thank you God."

A move from the city to the suburbs, sixth grade in a different school, a new group of friends. But Margaret handles it...in her own funny, endearing way.
Judy says
For the first time since I'd started writing, I let go and this story came pouring out. I felt as if I'd always known Margaret. When I was in sixth grade, I longed to develop physically like my classmates. I tried doing exercises, resorted to stuffing my bra, and lied about getting my period. And like Margaret, I had a very personal relationship with God that had little to do with organized religion. God was my friend and confidant. But Margaret's family is very different from mine, and her story grew from my imagination.
Margaret brought me my first and most loyal readers. I love her for that.

Title
When I finished writing I had no idea for a title so I took the first line in the book. If I'd known then how often I was going to have to say the title, I might just have called it Margaret.

Dedication
To my mother, who was a reader. She bought me the Betsy-Tacy series, which were my favorite books when I was young. A few years later, she handed me To Kill a Mockingbird and Anne Frank's Diary of a Young Girl, two books I've never forgotten.
"With sensitivity and humor Judy Blume has captured the joys, fears, and uncertainty that surround a young girl approaching adolescence."