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

No one's ever too old for this wonderful middle grade book by Judy Blume. Written in 1970, it's just about perfect, even all these years later, for girls to relate to. AND for boys who want to know everything that 11/12-year old girls say about them. As Margaret shares her hopes and fears with God in a relationship that helps her feel grounded and heard, she navigates her new hometown, her relationship with her parents and grandparents, and her exploration of religion. The story follows her adventures with friends and their super-private discussions about bras, exercises to make them necessary,… show more.

I was nine years old when I first read this book. That was some fifty-plus years ago, and I remember thinking how grown up I was reading a chapter book and how much the story impacted me.

It was about a girl, like me, going through girl things, and suddenly I didn’t feel alone.

My princess is ten, and I hoped she would feel the same way reading the story. She has loved it thus far and is reading it for the second time. It’s just that good.

A girl’s discomfort with puberty is only part of the story. The other part is 11-year-old Margaret growing up in an interfaith family with a Jewish father and Christian mother.

Margaret struggles to find a religious identity. She must contend with her father’s mother who hopes she embraces Judaism and her conservative Christian maternal grandparents who reject their daughter’s interfaith marriage. This powerful coming-of-age story has gotten recent attention from a recent film and challenges from book bans. For me, it’s another example of Judy Blume’s insight, humor, and humanity.

I’m willing to bet that if you’ve made it this far into my list, you’ve already read Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. But if you read this book as a kid, I’m here to tell you it doesn’t count. Please read it again. The book may not 100% hold up (nothing does). Still, I spent one of my favorite afternoons recently rereading this classic, and realizing how much I missed when I read it the first time as a twelve-year-old desperately wishing for my period to finally arrive. It’s a portrait of a family, of what it’s… show more.

This groundbreaking book is the reason I wanted to write for teens long before the “young adult” genre existed. Judy Blume, who hails from Elizabeth, New Jersey, inspired me to become the kind of adult and author who never forgot what it was like to be a kid. I first read this coming-of-age story in fifth grade and from the very first sentence,12-year-old Margaret spoke to me. Her worries about growing up and experiencing the mental and physical changes foisted upon her by puberty were also my worries. Her hopes were my hopes. And it didn’t hurt that she lived… show more.