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Teaching Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.

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  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 125

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Maybe you're a late bloomer. Or an early bloomer. Or heck—just a bloomer. Whatever the case: if you've got a body and you've stared down adolescence, then it's likely that body of yours hasn't always done what you'd like it to—and Judy Blume's Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is right there with you. This is a book about a girl with a serious desire to grow some boobs and communicate with the Lord—and the innovative young adult classic has something to offer every student, despite their age, gender, or level of dubious agnosticism.

In this guide, you'll find

  • a research project about the basics of three religions, complete with a culminating presentation.
  • discussion ideas and nonfiction readings about culturally mixed families.
  • ideas for debating if this book is appropriate to be taught in middle school. (Obviously, Shmoop's on the "pro" side.)

Don't be one of those fuddy-duddies that bans Judy Blume—just teach this all-American YA classic, already.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: It used to be that families were a lot more homogeneous; a person married someone from their clan/neighborhood/small circle of the globe, and they proceeded to make little people just like them. Wash, rinse, repeat. These days, however, that is so not the case. Families look really different now, and there are lots of ways people come together to make one big, happy family.

In Margaret's family, her parents have different religions. In families today, differences can take the form of languages, cultures, countries, political views, races, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, and values. Do these mixed/blended/different families work? Does it work for Margaret? In this one-day (fifty-minute) assignment, students will discuss this topic, and then write an opinion essay answering this very question.

Materials Needed: printed article titles to display (or use a doc cam or projector), pen, and paper

Step 1: Pose this question to get students thinking: Do mixed families work?

Step 2: Discuss what the word mixed can mean, and jot the answers on the board so everyone can see. Some possibilities include different…

  • countries
  • races
  • ethnicities
  • socioeconomic classes
  • religions
  • political views
  • first families or stepfamilies

Step 3: Return to the question—"Do mixed families work?"—using the book as a springboard to get the conversation started and bringing in personal examples and opinions later. Questions you might ask your class to really dig into the overarching question include:

  • How is Margaret's family mixed?
  • Does it work?
  • Do you know any mixed families?
  • How much of an issue is difference in language, religion, and such?
  • Do you know of anyone who, like Margaret, has felt the need to choose one side or the other? Do you?
  • Do differences create conflict for you or another family you know?

Step 4: There are lots of articles out there about mixed families. The ones gathered here have thought-provoking titles, so you can show them to your students to keep the discussion going and then segue into their essays. There's a good mixture of pro and con arguments, as well as a variety of ways the families discussed are mixed.

Step 5: It's time for the students to tackle their opinion essays using the good ol' five-paragraph structure. Here's a good description of an opinion/argumentative essay if they need a little guidance on that front, too. They can use personal examples or knowledge from other real-life families, but they should be sure to also pull from the book to craft their responses.

Instructions for Your Students

Student intro: Margaret's life sure isn't easy, and while some of this is boob-related, some of it is directly connected to the fact that her parents have different religions and she doesn't really have one of her own. For Margaret, religion is a big way that her family is different.

In today's world, families can be different in lots of ways. Perhaps the parents are from different countries or they have totally different political views. The question is: Do mixed families work? Does it work for Margaret?

Step 1: What does the word mixed mean anyway? Talk it out and let your teach be the scribe.

Step 2: Do mixed families work? If you don't already have tons of ideas to share, here are some questions to get you going:

  • How is Margaret's family mixed? Does it work?
  • Do you know any mixed families? Are their differences an issue? Have you ever had any problems from this?
  • Do you know of anyone who, like Margaret, has felt the need to choose one side or the other? Have you ever felt this way?

Step 3: There are lots of articles out there about mixed families. Your teacher may or may not share some of them with you, but to further your thought process, here are some titles from real-life articles to kick your thinking into high gear:

Step 4: Have an opinion now? It's time to put it down on paper and back it up. Use the good ol' five-paragraph structure for your essay. You can use personal examples and knowledge about other real-life families, but be sure to also turn to Are You There God? as you back up your opinion. Happy writing!