Rema Savira Tadete

19211141039
Criticism in Children’s Literature

Summary of Blume's "Are You There God?, It's Me Margaret!"

Margaret Simon is an 11 year old child who recently moved to the small suburb of Farbrook in New Jersey.
According to Margaret, the reason for their move was to keep her away from her grandmother, Sylvia, who
spoiled Margaret too much. Their move makes Margaret worried. She has been in the New York City
neighborhood for eleven years and her move required her to adapt to the new environment. She fears that
there will be many typical teenage problems, including when she will get her period, and which boys she will
meet and want to kiss. Fortunately, during her time at Farbrook she made many friends. Her first friend is
Nancy who is her neighbor who is very confident about puberty and sex. Margaret always asks Nancy for
advice on these topics, because according to Margaret, Nancy is the most knowledgeable on these topics.
Later, Nancy and Margaret meet up with Gretchen and Janie and they form a secret club called Pre-Teen
Sensation, or PTSes, to discuss puberty, boys, and many other sixth grade worries.

Margaret grew up without any religious affiliation because her mother was raised in a strict Christian family
and her father was raised as a Jew. As a result, Margaret begins to want a stricter sense of what she does and
doesn't believe in. Then, Margaret's teacher assigned her a research project on a topic each student chose and
explored it during their sixth grade year. Margaret decides to do her project for Mr. Benedict on religion, so
she started attending religious gatherings in several denominations to find out if one church felt very special or
meaningful to her. Meanwhile, Pre-Teen Sensation is preparing for their first period by buying pads and
starting to work out to try to increase the size of their breasts.

Margaret then becomes jealous of Laura Danker who is a girl in her class who already has a curvy feminine
figure and seems to be dating an attractive older boy. It wasn't long before Gretchen and Janie had their first
period, and Margaret began to worry that it was strange that she hadn't had her period. Margaret has feelings
for Moose who is Nancy's brother. When they were making Boys's books, Margaret wrote Jay Hassler's name
as her crush because she was afraid that if she confessed that she liked Nancy's sister, Nancy would hate her.
Margaret goes to a party and plays Two Minutes in the Closet which is an adaptation of Seven Minutes in
Heaven in which a boy and a girl chosen at random by rotating a bottle will enter the closet together and kiss.
When it was Margaret's turn to spin the bottle, it landed on Philip. She mustered up the courage to kiss
himduring their time in the closet. She kissed Philip and Norman that night.

Troubles come back to Margaret when she learns that Nancy is a liar. Nancy lied about her first period. Nancy
said she had her period earlier that year at the beach, when in fact she had her first period when she was at a
restaurant with Margaret. Margaret was confused about the reason why Nancy had to lie about the case and
then she realized that Nancy felt the same insecurity as she did. Margaret follows Nancy's lies, which puts her
in a number of uncomfortable and strange situations.

Margaret was in the same group as Laura, Philip and Norman because Mr. Benedict. This put Margaret in a bad
mood. Then Margaret and Laura had a fight in the library. Laura hated how awful it was to be chosen as the
most developed child in the class, and she implied that Margaret's accusations were untrue. Laura left the
library feeling angry and upset. This made Margaret feel bad. She also realized Moose was probably lying
about Laura to make herself look better. Later, Margaret's mother's parents came to visit. Grandma and
Grandpa tried to insist that Margaret was a Christian and should go to church, while Mom and Dad insisted
that Margaret could choose. Margaret decides to go to the movies with Janie to avoid her grandparents. They
decided to buy pads at the pharmacy, just in case one of them started menstruating. When Margaret came
home, Grandma and Grandpa told them they were leaving early. To complete Mr. Benedict's project, Margaret
wrote him a letter detailing her experiences in the church, the temple, and the sacrament of Confession. She
admits that she doesn't know what her religion is or what she wants to choose, but knows that if she has
children she will tell them about it. It's very difficult to find out later. Margaret decides to meet Moose and
confront him for lying about Laura. But as Margaret confronts him, she realizes Nancy may have started the lie
about Laura. This made Margaret feel better about her feelings for Moose. She went to the bathroom and
found she had started her period. Margaret thanked God for helping her.