Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

This book is listed number sixty on the 100 most challenged books list.

I had never read this book before, until my daughter insisted that I had to read it.  I am surprised that it is on the banned book list.  This book is had many of the same events that I remember enduring in sixth grade.  After discussing the book with my oldest daughter, apparently not much has changed.

Exposition:  The main characters are Margaret, her grandmother, her parents and her three best friends, Nancy, Gretchen, and Janie.  It takes place during Margaret’s sixth grade year in Farbrook, New Jersey.

Conflict:  Margaret is struggling with moving to a new place, growing up, and fitting in.  She is also trying to develop a relationship with God, which she believes means that she needs to find a religion to join.

Rising Action:  Margaret moves to a new state, she meets Nancy and begins sixth-grade.  Nancy, Gretchen, Janie and Margaret form a secret club where they discuss growing up, getting your period, wearing bras, and boys.  Margaret also talks with God regularly about her concerns with growing up.

Climax:  Margaret’s period comes.

Falling Action: Margaret talks to her mother and lets her know her period has begun.

Resolution:  Margaret talks to God again and thanks him for her period.

Style and language draws the reader into Margaret’s world, consequently the reader feels the anguish and uncertainty that Margaret experiences.  The second literary quality found in this book is the theme, which is universal to all young girls wanting to grow up and be out of the preteen stage of life.

Blume, J. (1970). Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. New York: Dell Yearling.