The day before the family's vacation, Margaret's conservative Christian grandparents, Mary and Paul Hutchins, visit. Margaret's family plans to spend the spring vacation with Sylvia in Florida. Margaret discovers the truth when they are at a restaurant, and Nancy gets her actual first menstrual period. Nancy lies to the Pre-Teen Sensations that she had her first menstrual period when away on vacation. They kiss while playing "two minutes in the closet" during a party. Margaret is attracted to a popular boy in her class named Philip Leroy. Margaret feels guilty when she learns that Laura is a devout Catholic and is hurt by the rumors. The Pre-Teen Sensations gossip about Laura letting boys touch her breasts. According to Nancy, Laura dates an older boy. Margaret envies her classmate, Laura Danker, who started menstruating and wears a brassiere. Gretchen has her first menstrual period, which causes Margaret to worry that she is abnormal because she has not started menstruating. They also perform exercises to increase their bust sizes while chanting: "We must, we must, we must increase our bust!" The girls anxiously await their first period, preparing by buying belted sanitary napkins. The Pre-Teen Sensations discuss boys, brassieres and menstruation. Nancy, Margaret, and their friends Gretchen and Janie form a secret club called the Pre-Teen Sensations. Nancy seems confident and knowledgeable about many subjects, including sex. Margaret befriends Nancy, a neighbor who is the same age. Her Jewish grandmother, Sylvia Simon, takes Margaret to Rosh Hashanah services and hopes her granddaughter will embrace Judaism. Her study includes attending different places of worship to learn about religious practices. For a school assignment, she studies religious beliefs, hoping to resolve her faith-based issues. Margaret feels uncomfortable with her lack of religious affiliation. She frequently prays to God, beginning her prayers with, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." Her mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, but Margaret was raised without an affiliation to either faith. When she is 11 years old, Margaret Simon's family moves from New York City to the New Jersey suburbs. The book was adapted into a 2023 film of the same name starring Abby Ryder Fortson, Rachel McAdams, and Kathy Bates.īlume said that she felt a connection with the character Margaret, which allowed the story to come "pouring out." Blume wrote that while the story was not autobiographical, "the character of Margaret, both physically and emotionally, is pretty close to the girl I was." Growing up, Blume said while her family was very different from the one portrayed in the book, she felt that, "like Margaret, I had a very personal relationship with God that had little to do with organized religion." īlume made a post-publication edit to subsequent editions of the book to reflect changing menstrual products. The recipient of national honors and book awards, the novel has been challenged for its frank discussion of sexual and religious topics. This contemporary realistic novel was popular with middle-grade readers in the 1970s for its relatable portrayal of a young girl confronting early-adolescent anxieties, such as menstruation, brassieres and boys. Its protagonist, Margaret Simon, is a sixth-grader who grows up without a religious affiliation because of her parents' interfaith marriage. is a middle-grade novel by American writer Judy Blume, published in 1970.
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