Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Children's Classics - Chapter Books


Over at 5minutesforbooks they are exploring the classics. This Tuesday is the children's classics - chapter books. Although my youngest is 4 and hasn't quite gotten to chapter books, I thought I'd share my all time favorite chapter book & even by Time magazine critics standards - it's also a classic.




My favorite children's classic was Judy Blume's "Are You There God It's Me Margaret". Now what preteen girl couldn't relate to this novel? It was passed down to me by my cousin and I swear I had that book underlined & dog-eared. The whole nine! lol... I'm not quite up to par with my own reviews, but here is a synopsis from Wikipedia:


Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. is a 1970 book by Judy Blume, typically categorized as a novel for young adults, about a preteen girl in sixth grade who grew up with no religion. Margaret has one Christian and one Jewish parent, and the novel explores her quest for a single religion. Margaret also confronts many other pre-teen issues, such as buying her first bra, having her first period, coping with belted sanitary napkins (changed to adhesive sanitary pads for the 2006 edition of the book), jealousy towards another girl who has developed a womanly figure earlier than other girls, liking boys, and whether to voice her opinion if it differs from what her girlfriends seem to believe.


I may not have a daughter of my own to share this book with, but when my step daughters come of age or even my nieces, I will definitely pass it on to them.


I found it interesting how the covers have changed over the years. Below is a picture of the copy that I have now. Yes, I had to go back out and add it to my collection of books.




This cover is the original that I had way back when... lol... I wish I could find it, but I think I passed my original copy on to my godsister when she became a preteen. Guess I already passed it on. lol...


5 comments:

  1. I had that same cover and it was one of my absolute favorites also. I wonder how girls today will relate to the content--if she's updated any of the "personal" info (LOL)like about the pads with belts?

    I noticed when reading one of the Fudge books to my kids that it had been modernized...I bought a four book set from my son's book order and compared some of the references to my old Superfudge--the "tape recorder" had been changed to an MP3 player or something like that.

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  2. Oh my goodness I loved this book. And the bust maximizing exercise was hysterical!

    http://web.me.com/bluestocking_bb

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  3. I don't know why I've never read these books. I just never really got into Judy Blume growing up! Thanks for sharing though! I'm going to have to check this one out! :D

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  4. that's another I always meant to read - I'm sure I'd have loved it - not that it's too late, I probably will read it eventually. ;)

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  5. I had the purple one too!!

    And yes, I'm glad that they changed the belted pads thing. Even in the early 80's that was outdated.

    I think I definitely need to reread this, and then hand it over to Amanda.

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