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

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

Author: Judy Blume

ISBN: 0-440-40419-3

Format: Chapter Book-Fiction

Pages: 149 pgs.

Review: Margaret Ann is a 12 year old, beginning 6th grade in a new city and house in Farbook, New Jersey. She moved away from her friends in Grandmother in New York and is really nervous about starting a new year. She meets a lot of neighborhood girls who become her friends, but also challenge her to grow up a little more quickly than she wanted to. She finds herself worrying about her developing body, boys, religion, and friends. She turns to God and prays every night for help in finding her way with all these new issues. In the end, she learns a lot about herself, her friends, her family, and feels more ready to embrace the changes to come as a teenager.

This is a classic tween book for any girl facing the same issues as Margaret. She expresses worries that all tween girls can identify with such as feeling inadequate because of their bodies, wondering about starting their periods, becoming attracted to boys, finding out that friends can lie about things, and rumors. The language is easy for younger tweens and the issues are relevant for this age group since everyone matures at different ages. There is also discussion on religion which some tweens can identify with. Many already belong to certain religions or denominations and this book gives a good look at how tweens view religion and the questions they may have about it. I enjoyed the story line but at times found the scenarios that Margaret found herself to be in were a little cliche, such as the party scene where they are playing spin the bottle. Aside from that, the material is fun for younger tweens.