Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret: The 4 B's, Blood, Bibles, Bubbies and Boobs

My copy of this book is so old that I couldn't find a picture of it on Google Images. Anyway, I thought this one was more appropriate. I always saw Margaret as a brunette, not a blonde, anyway. I did think she had better taste than that Bill Cosby sweater, though. Euugh.

Let me amend that statement. My sister's copy of this book is that old. I never actually read it until now. Perhaps this is a testament to my ungirlish childhood. While other girls were dressing Barbie's and doing Princess Dress-Ups, I was building Lego pirate ships and cracking the passcode to Leisure Suit Larry 3 on my neighbors IBM computer.

Anyway, I never got around to reading the oft-banned preteen classic Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, and it has weighed on my soul for years. A testament to the unending chutzpah of Judy Blume--who went on to write freely about teenage sexuality, masturbation, divorce and racism--this book was one of the first to faithfully and unreservedly broach the subjects on every 12 year old girl's mind: 1) When will I get my period? 2) What will it feel like? and 3) Where are my boobs???

And if the menstrual extravaganza wasn't enough for you, Blume decides to pull out all the stops and talk about religion, too. Awesomely enough, Margaret has interfaith parents (Jewish dad and Christian mom). The downside of this, however, is that because the Mom's parents pretty much disowned her for marrying a Jew, Margaret is brought up without much religion in her life. Where her friends are either this or that, Margaret feels that she is "nothing," despite her parent's hope that she will "choose for herself when she's old enough."

This really hit home for me, and made me think about how my husband and I (he's the Christian one, and I'm Jewish) will handle this with our kids. What a great book, huh? So thought-provoking.

Anyhow, Margaret spends a lot of time experiencing different relgions; she goes to synagogue with her Jewish Bubbie, she attends church services with a friend, and even *almost* experiences confession in a Catholic church. At the end of it all, though, Margaret (who speaks to God on a daily basis, through her own inner conversation) asks Him: "I couldn't hear you in the temple, and I couldn't hear you in the church. Why do I only feel you when I'm alone?"

After being harassed by her grandparents (on both sides) to adopt one or the other religion, Margaret comes to the conclusion that she can't make a decision about her faith this way, and simply goes back to speaking to God herself, in her own way. This pervasive message, promoting a personal relationship with God over an involvement in organized religion, is probably part and parcel to why this book remains in the list of top 100 banned books. Conversely, it's also the reason that this book is now on my list of top awesome books, coz dang, Blume's got balls.

Meanwhile, I've gotta go and do my daily boob-expanding exercises...

We must, we must, we must increase our bust!

Tastiness: Italian Wedding or Matzo Ball? How about both?
Special Sauce: Serious Moxie. You go girl.
Recommend? For every girl (and boy!)