Week 8 - Are You There God? It's Me Margaret

Hello there!

So this week I read a book recommended to me by an avid reader called Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. It is categorised as a young adult or teenage right of passage book, telling the story of a sixth grade girl, Margaret, who grew up without a religious affiliation and is trying to find her personal beliefs in the world. This is made difficult by Margaret's mother being Christian and her father being Jewish. The novel follows her journey through both of these religions and prompt the themes of mixed heritage while also having many pre-teen female issues such as buying her first bra and jealousy.

For a school project, Margaret is assigned an independent study where she focuses on people's beliefs. This study is mirrored by her discovery of her own personal beliefs and about her trouble believing in God.The added pressure from her disagreeing families also adds more problems onto her trouble with her maternal grandparents trying to guarantee her Christianity. Her paternal grandmother seems more accepting of who Margaret, however she refers to her as "my Jewish girl" and introduces her to Jewish type religious practises, later saying she always knew she was more Jewish than Christian. After a fight held between a girl at school, Margaret visits a church confessional booth, the unseen priest enquires her problems but since Margaret does not know of the confession concept, believes God himself is talking to her.

This book would be better suited to older readers, probably in year 5 - 7, depending on reading ability, but displays a lot of themes and problems that would be relevant to those in these year levels. The writing style and Judy Blume's ability to portray her thoughts through her use of descriptive words comes across as being very passionate. Although the book was written in the 1970's, it still holds much of it's themes as a common thought for most people today and would be valuable in not only helping students to better their literacy skills but also allowing them to sort through their own personal beliefs. 

The next and final book I will be reading and posting on here will be The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins.

Until next time.