Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Margaret tries on her new bra at home, although she doesn’t feel any different or more grown-up. On Monday, Margaret realizes that she has to choose a few boys to list in her Boy Book before the weekly PTS meeting, so she chooses Philip Leroy “because he [is] the best-looking one” (50). Mr. Benedict announces that every sixth grader will do a yearlong individual project about any topic of their choice. At Nancy’s house, the girls check to make sure the club members are wearing their bras, and Nancy brags that her bra is a 32 double A, whereas Margaret, Janie, and Gretchen are all wearing Gro-Bras. She tells the girls that they must do a special exercise if they want to “get out of those baby bras” (53). Nancy shows them how to stick out their chests and chant, “I must—I must—I must increase my bust” (53), and the other girls join in. Nancy then checks the Boy Books, and everyone lists Philip Leroy as their number one. When Nancy notices that Margaret listed another boy as her number two, she laughs and mocks Margaret, and toward the end of the meeting, the girls discover that Evan and Moose were eavesdropping. The boys laugh at the girls for their breast-growing ritual.

One day in class, the students play a prank on Mr. Benedict by taking turns making a bird noise, and the next day the desks are rearranged, and Margaret has to sit next to Freddy Barnett and Laura Danker. One day all of the sixth-grade girls are gathered and told that there would be “certain very private subjects” (56) they will learn about relating to their changing bodies throughout the school year. Margaret continues to pray to God to give her breasts, and she tries Nancy’s bizarre “exercise” and chants in her room at night. The next day, Margaret gets pulled into another class prank when all of the students decide to leave their names off of their quiz papers before turning them in, and she wonders how upset Mr. Benedict will be when he notices.

On Friday, Margaret’s classmates are stunned to discover that Mr. Benedict managed to sort out the papers and assign grades to everyone. Mr. Benedict then reminds the students that they will need to choose their topics for their year-long projects soon, and after giving it some thought, Margaret realizes that she is interested in learning more about religion. She decides to use the project to determine what religion she wants to participate in. She prays to God and promises that she “won’t make any decisions without asking [him] first” (59).

The next day, Margaret’s mother drops her off at the station to catch the bus to New York City. Her mother frets and worries about Margaret traveling alone, which embarrasses Margaret. In New York, Margaret meets Grandma at the bus station, and they have dinner and go to a concert at Lincoln Center. Margaret remembers that her grandmother is Jewish, and Margaret asks if she can go to temple with her sometime. Grandma is ecstatic, thinking that her granddaughter wants to embrace her Jewish heritage finally, but Margaret explains that she’s not ready to make that kind of commitment: She wants to “go to temple and see what it’s all about” (62). Still, Grandma is delighted and invites Margaret to come to temple with her on Rosh Hashanah. Back in Farbrook, Margaret’s parents are uncomfortable with the idea. Margaret’s mother insists that it’s “foolish” for someone Margaret’s age to “bother herself with religion” (63). Margaret explains that she plans to go to church too, and although her mother doesn’t approve, she won’t stop Margaret from exploring her options. On the morning of Rosh Hashanah, Margaret prays to God and says she will look for him at the temple, even though her parents are against the idea.

On Rosh Hashanah, Margaret returns to New York wearing brand new clothes for temple. As she and Grandma enter, Grandma is giddy and introduces Margaret to anyone who will listen. While the atmosphere is friendly, Margaret is confused and unnerved by the experience because the congregation has to “stand up and sit down a lot and sometimes read together in English from a prayer book” (65), which Margaret doesn’t understand. She enjoys the music and the choir but quickly gets bored, especially when the rabbi reads in Hebrew and Margaret has no idea what’s going on. She tries to entertain herself by counting people’s hats, and when the service concludes, Margaret is a little disappointed and wonders if she is supposed to feel different. Grandma introduces Margaret to the rabbi, who asks if Margaret enjoyed the service. Margaret stretches the truth and says that she loved it, and the rabbi welcomes her to come back anytime and “get to know [them] and God” (68).

Back at home, Margaret’s father admits that he, too, used to get bored in temple and count feathers on hats. That night, Margaret prays and tells God that she’s “on [her] way” and that “by the end of the school year [she’ll] know all there is to know about religion” (69), and she’ll be able to make the right choice.

One day Laura Danker wears a sweater to school, which accentuates her bust, and one of the boys teases Margaret and asks, “How come [Margaret] [doesn’t] look like that in a sweater?” (70). Margaret starts to wonder if Laura Danker really went behind the A&P with Evan and Moose. Margaret starts to become good friends with Janie, and when Margaret learns that Janie goes to church, she asks if she can come along and see what church is like. Margaret discovers that church is a lot like temple, and they “read from a prayer book that didn’t make sense” (71). Margaret once again gets bored and starts counting hats. At the end of the service, Margaret meets the minister, who says that he “hope[s] [she’ll] come back again” (71). However, when Margaret prays to God later, she confesses that she didn’t feel anything special in church, but she doesn’t blame God for that and she will try harder next time.

The sixth-grade students begin a square-dancing unit in gym, and Margaret notices that all of the girls want to dance with Philip Leroy, but the boys seem to be determined to step on the girls’ feet as much as possible. The PTA throws a Thanksgiving square dance for the sixth graders, and Margaret prays for the chance to dance with Philip Leroy. During the dance, Margaret tries to avoid the boys she doesn’t like, like Freddy and Norman, and although she is delighted to finally match with Philip Leroy, he is “one of the foot steppers” (76).