Is there a middle class girl who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s who did not get a bootlegged copy of “Are you There God? It’s Me, Margaret”? I suppose some girls had the book on their shelves or hidden in their closet, but it seemed that most of us borrowed it – either from one of the previously mentioned girls or from the one really brave girl who checked it out of the library (the days before self-check out!) and quickly passed it around the clan.
I ran across this title when I read Scholastic’s recently released 100 Best Books list: http://www.scholastic.com/100books/ I was stunned to see that the “Little House” books had been removed, as well as some Dr. Seuss books. But there was good old Judy Blume and her shocker of a book. I thought: “it has been forever since I read that book and I can’t remember what was so bad about it.” I posted that on my Facebook page and got many similar responses – along with a few “read it and tell me about it!”
With the boldness of a 40-year-old woman, I checked out the book at my local library. I honestly didn’t remember why it was so scandalous – something with a first period, getting a bra, boys maybe? And why did parents hate it so? And, frankly, I can’t remember my mom ever even mentioning the book (or any of her books), but I just knew that it was a book you did not want to get caught holding. (And yet, when Noa had to read Blume’s “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” for Battle of the Books in fourth grade, I gasped a bit. Not because that is a bad book, but I find Judy Blume is a slippery slope. It starts with “Tales…” and moves to “Are you There God?...” and then quickly to “Blubber” and then before you know it – “Forever”!!!
Short refresher: Margaret is a 6th grade girl (when 6th grade was still elementary school) who moves to New Jersey from New York. She is an only child and the book navigates her year as she falls in with three other girls who call themselves the Four PTS’s (pre-teen sensations!!) and deals with her extended family drama. You may remember the girls’ nightly “exercises” (“we must, we must, we must increase our bust!”) and Margaret’s struggle with trying to figure out if she is “any religion.” Of course, not much depth to the book, but it hits on many things. For the sake of dear Judy, I will begin with the positives:
The author does try to assure girls that what they are dealing with is normal: the awkwardness of simultaneously wanting to be grown up but also fearing it; the desperate desire for a bra, especially before your friends get theirs; the crying fits and boys who suddenly catch their eye; the unfortunate queen bee syndrome that hits in pre-adolescents. For those things, I will give Judy Blume credit – she makes a young girl go “whew! I thought I was the only one!” Some parents may not want their kid reading about this information and I get that – but it should encourage parents to have these conversations early (when appropriate, of course) instead of waiting until too late. We all know that the first info we get is taken are truth until we are told differently – these young girl issues are not to be tackled late. Sorry, off the soapbox now.
But this context then sets up other issues that are then also seen as normal, and this is where a parent probably has issue. Yes, questioning one’s body, a parent’s religion and the opposite sex is normal; but to put out other questionable “facts” and issues at the same time insinuates that all is normal. That Margaret flippantly mentions her dad’s “Playboy” magazines around the house, that families won’t get along if they are of different religions, that 12-year-old co-ed, virtually un-chaperoned parties are normal – uh, hold up there, Judy! Now I get where all the moms go nuts on her! Yes, Playboy magazines in the house are very 1970s, I get that, but that a father peruses pornography is played off as normal. That a 12-year-old should expect to be put in a closet with a boy at a party and shop for sanitary napkins with your friends (including the belt!) Yes, some information is dated, but it is also not the way many of us would choose to raise our kids. We are a more proactive generation with our children when it comes to educating them this way, but this book puts all these things off as the norm – and at an age when a kid wants to be normal (except where they choose to be different), this is setting them on a different course than many of us would want.
So, as a mom, I would not want my kid reading this book. As an adult who did read this book as a kid, it was a return to my childhood – but I saw very clearly why this book is simultaneously on the Scholastic 100 Best Books list (which, according to the president, is meant to be controversial and incite conversation) as well as on multiple banned book lists.
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