¶ … Grade Novel Report

The novel to be evaluated is Are you there God? it's me, Margaret by Judy Blume. Athenum/Richard Jackson Books published it and its date of publication is April 1, 2001. This date refers to the 2nd hardcover edition; before then its publishing history began with both paperback and hardcover editions in 1970. Subsequent paperback editions were reprinted in 1973, 1979, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, and 2000. The novel belongs to the Young Adult genre and the price for its 2nd hardcover edition is $13.46. It can still be located in libraries, homes, and bookstores everywhere.

The story is about eleven-year-old Margaret Simon who experiences many significant changes in her life, such as moving to the suburbs, experiencing puberty, and questioning whether religion should play a role in her life. By the story's end it is seen that she has successfully adjusted to these changes, including the one regarding spirituality by deciding not to join any particular faith, by becoming more mature in her entire outlook on life. The story's lesson is that one should not be too impatient towards quickly wanting to experience the many physical, emotional, and spiritual changes that occur on one's journey from childhood to adolescence. The language of the book is childlike in nature, in that it could almost be imagined that a real eleven-year-old girl had written it.

As far as the book's format is concerned, its shape is rectangular and its size is 8.4x5.5x0.7 inches; it is easy to handle and sturdy. It contains 160 pages, its font is big and simple, it is colored with light hues such as sky blue and pink, and its cover is of a young girl staring up at the sky as though she wishes to "speak" to God. I was extremely fond of this book because it was nice to see the author tackle deep issues like spirituality and religion as well as more common preteen issues like puberty and peer approval. I would definitely recommend it to young girls about to undergo puberty just so they can have a story to relate to.