![]() ![]() ![]() But what is Margaret? According to her friends, she has to pick one of the other so she can join either the YMCA or the Jewish Community Center. ![]() Her mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. Margaret has questions about religion, questions that can’t easily be answered. Margaret has other important things on her mind beyond growing out of a training bra and needing a box of Kotex. Together they gossip, talk about boys, wonder when they’ll get their periods and practice breast development exercises, chanting, “We must, we must, we must increase our bust.” She soon befriends three girls: Nancy, Gretchen and Janie. She’s worried about starting a new school, making friends and other assorted growing pains. She’s 12 years old and just moved to suburban New Jersey. And that’s why one of my favorite books is her 1970 classic Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Blume didn’t sugar-coat these difficulties nor did she patronize the reader. But most of all Blume’s characters dealt with the difficulties of growing up: physically, emotionally and mentally. Blume’s characters dealt with divorce, death, family strife, religion, sex, bullying and peer pressure. Where would generations of women be without Judy Blume? Sure, some people wanted to ban her books, but I loved Judy Blume because she wrote about characters I could actually relate to. ![]()
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