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No. This book is not some smutty romance novel. You sicko.
It's the the 1960s and Margaret, the protagonist of this book, is a sixth-grade girl who is struggling over the issue of faith. Her mother is a Christian and her father is Jewish, but up until that point she considered herself non-religious. She also deals with the issues of growing up and puberty, such as periods, liking boys, getting her first bra and being jealous of girls who grew breasts sooner, hence the book cover.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. is generally considered to be a Young Adult novel and was written by Judy Blume in 1970. Because it has puberty and the questioning of religious faith as a large part of its subject matter, it was also subsequently banned from many school libraries and reading lists.
A feature film adaptation was released in 2023, with a cast including newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, Kathy Bates as Margaret's grandmother Sylvia, and Rachel McAdams as Margaret's mother.
Tropes used in Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret. include:
- A-Cup Angst: A major plot point is Margaret and her friends being frustrated over the fact that they haven't started developing breasts yet. Although, as Laura Danker will gladly inform them, having too big a bust at that age has its own attendant problems.
- Against My Religion: This causes dissent in Margaret's class when they prepare for the holiday choral concert. The Christian kids refuse to sing Hanukkah songs because it's against their religion, and the Jewish kids refuse to sing Christmas songs because it's against theirs. The teacher's attempts to make peace in regard to this fail.
- Big Breasts, Big Deal / Buxom Is Better: The former is both a Type 1 and a Type 2 with Laura Danker, while the latter is both played straight and subverted. A major plot point is Margaret and other girls being frustrated at not having developed breasts yet and being jealous of Laura having already developed large breasts. However, she dislikes them because they get her made fun of and a lot of unwanted male attention.
- Big Eater: Gretchen. Nancy shames her for it.
- Black Best Friend: Janie is African-American in the 2023 movie version.
- Gretchen is a Jewish Best Friend, being the only Jewish girl in the Four PTS's (Nancy and Janie are Christian and Margaret, though of part Jewish heritage, is being raised with no religion).
- Coming of Age Story
- Cool Old Lady: Margaret's Jewish grandmother.
- Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Laura finally tells off Margaret for believing the rumors Nancy has spread about her and for her complicity in making Laura the class outcast. For the first time, Margaret's forced to imagine how it must feel to be Laura Danker, and she's immediately sorry.
- Fake Boobs: Cotton balls.
- Fascinating Eyebrow: Margaret can raise one eyebrow and does it occasionally to get adults to stop asking her questions. She doesn't know why it has that effect, but it does.
- Four-Girl Ensemble: More like the "Four Pre-Teen Sensations" — Gretchen is the somewhat mannish one, Janie is shy and sweet, Nancy is a bit of a slut wannabe, and Margaret is the narrator who sees everything.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Prominent throughout the book. Margaret is continuously jealous of various factors involved with puberty; Laura Danker having large breasts, her crush paying attention to other girls, and not getting her period before her friends. It's possible Nancy's cruelty toward Laura (which Margaret supports for a time, until she realizes the rumors Nancy has been spreading about Laura are lies) is also the result of jealousy.
- Hormone Addled Preteens: The book was written in 1970 when it was taboo to talk about puberty outside of health class, so at the time Margaret and her friends may have come off as one of these.
- I Have No Son: Or I have no daughter, or I have no son in law. Part of the plot involves Margaret's grandparents on her mother's side disowning her mother because they are religious bigots and did not want her to marry Margaret's Jewish father. This is why Margaret is raised with no religion. They later express a desire to reconcile, though only with her, and not the father, whom they don't even mention in their letter and act as if doesn't exist when they come to visit. This leads to a major argument when they learn that Margaret isn't being raised Christian, and when they leave it's implied they still haven't fully reconciled with her yet.
- Jewish Grandmother
- The Joy of X: Are You There, God? It's Me, X The originator of this variant.
- Malicious Slander: Nancy despises Laura Danker (probably out of jealousy) and spreads rumors about Laura engaging in Troubling Unchildlike Behavior with boys behind the A&P. When Margaret confronts Laura with these accusations during an argument, Laura blows up at her, and Margaret, remembering Nancy's lies about getting her period, finally realizes Nancy was lying about this as well.
- Moral Guardians: None of the potential reasons for banning this book were very good. Nowadays at least. Is it bad to have an open, but non-religious relationship with God? Is it possible that by not letting your daughters read a tasteful first-hand account of puberty, it will end up like smoking and drugs and be one of those things that they never do?
- Naive Everygirl: Margaret.
- She's actually listed as an alternate name on the trope's page!
- No Periods, Period: The puberty exception. This is a major plot point of the book. Margaret and her friends are greatly looking forward to starting their periods and are frustrated that they haven't, to the point where Nancy lies about getting hers. Margaret gets extremely upset as her two friends get theirs before she does. She ends up being the next to last one to get hers. Also, Nancy gets extremely upset when she does get hers for real.
- Educating girls about menstruation seems to have been an important part of the book: the newer editions have even been updated so that, instead of describing belts and such, Margaret now uses modern sanitary napkins.
- Not So Different: Sylvia may be a Cool Old Lady who dotes on her granddaughter, but when it comes to religion, she's as pushy with trying to steer Margaret toward Judaism as Margaret's maternal grandparents are with pushing her toward Christianity.
- She's All Grown Up: Not fully played out in the usual way, but Margaret's father tells her this after she starts wearing bras.
- The Sixties: The novel takes place in this time period, although it was written right at the start of The Seventies. The 2023 film adaptation was made as a period piece, rather than updating the setting to the 21st century.
- Spin the Bottle: The girls play this game with their classmates at a birthday party, but come to the conclusion that it's lame and decide to play "two minutes in the closet" instead.
- Sweater Girl: Laura Danker wears one of these because she's the only one in her sixth grade class with breasts big enough to pull this trope off.
- Ten Minutes in the Closet: Margaret and her classmates play this at a birthday party, except it's "Two Minutes in the Closet", and they don't have a big enough closet, so they use a bathroom instead.
- Wanton Cruelty to the Common Comma: God is being addressed. Therefore, it should be Are You There, God? This has bugged readers for decades. Some newer editions have altered the title to account for this.
- With Friends Like These...: Nancy, um, isn't exactly a supportive friend to Margaret, or to anyone else. In fact, she's downright cruel, shaming Gretchen for her weight, spreading vicious rumors about Laura Danker, and even lying to her friends about getting her period just to make them feel inferior. This doesn't stop Margaret from being her friend, though Margaret does finally realize what an Alpha Bitch Nancy is.