American author Judy Blume poses with actresses Abby Ryder Fortson and Rachel McAdams at the premiere of the motion picture film adaptation of her novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret on April 15, 2023.
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Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is finally a movie! American author Judy Blume long hesitated to license the novel for a motion picture adaptation because she was afraid it would not make a good movie. She changed her mind! On April 28, 2023, the motion picture adaptation of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret was released. The film stars American actress Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, Canadian actress Rachel McAdams as Margaret’s mother, and American actress Kathy Bates as Margaret’s grandmother, among other talented actors.

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret is a coming-of-age novel. Bradbury Press published Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret in 1970. Many people considered the book controversial for its light and comedic approach to serious subjects such as puberty and organized religion. Judy Blume is known for writing humorous, realistic books for children and adults. She is best known for her novels about middle-class children, like Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. These novels discuss problems of young people from their point of view and in their own language.

The story follows 11-year-old Margaret Simon as she navigates her parents’ mixed-faith marriage and her own maturing body. Margaret’s mother grew up Christian, while her father is Jewish. In the beginning, Margaret and her family move from New York City to the suburbs in New Jersey. For a school project, Margaret studies religious beliefs as a child raised without a religious affiliation. She attends Jewish services with her father’s mother but prefers to address God directly through prayer, often starting with, “Are you there, God?” Margaret and her friends form a secret club called the Pre-Teen Sensations. The girls obsess over the mysteries of puberty.

Judy Blume has many other books! The antics of a younger brother nicknamed Fudge in Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (1972), Superfudge (1980), Fudge-A-Mania (1990), and Double Fudge (2002) are popular with younger children. In Then Again, Maybe I Won’t (1971), a boy faces similar problems of young people. Tiger Eyes (1981) focuses on the pain of losing a parent through death. As Long As We’re Together (1987) tells about three girls and how one of them deals with her parents’ divorce. Blume wrote about the same three girls in Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson (1993).

American author Judy Blume has written many successful books for children, young adults, and adults.
Credit: AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett

Blume’s books are often criticized for their subject matter and frank language. Defenders of Blume’s books praise her ability to write openly and sympathetically about the concerns of young people in an enjoyable and easy-to-read style.

Blume has written a series of books for young readers about an 8-year-old girl named Abigail (the Great One) and her 6-year-old brother Jake (the Pain). The series includes The Pain and the Great One (1985), Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One (2007), and Cool Zone with the Pain and the Great One and Going, Going, Gone with the Pain and the Great One (both 2008). Letters from young readers and Blume’s comments on them were collected in Letters to Judy (1986). Blume has written four novels for adults. They are Wifey (1978), Smart Women (1983), Summer Sisters (1998), and In the Unlikely Event (2015). Judy Sussman was born on Feb. 12, 1938, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. She married John M. Blume, an attorney, in 1959.

Christopher Robin plays with Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet in this illustration by the English artist Ernest H. Shepard for Now We Are Six , (1927), a poetry collection by the English author A. A. Milne. 
Credit: © Fototeca Gilardi/Marka/SuperStock

Gather your friends, we are going for a picnic in the Hundred Acre Wood to celebrate. Today is A. A. Milne’s birthday! Milne was an English author who wrote Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) and The House at Pooh Corner (1928). While he wrote other stories and poems, his books about the legendary Pooh Bear are considered masterpieces of children’s literature. Have you ever read about Pooh and his friends and misadventures?

A. A. Milne
Credit: © Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Milne based the characters in the Pooh stories on his son, Christopher Robin, and the young boy’s stuffed animals. Milne’s stories describe the adventures of Christopher Robin and his animal friends in a forest called the Hundred Acre Wood. Some of the characters in the Pooh stories include Winnie-the-Pooh, a bear; Piglet, a small pig; and Eeyore, an old donkey. In his autobiography, It’s Too Late Now (1939), Milne told how his son’s stuffed animals led to the creation of the characters in the Pooh stories.

In addition to the Pooh stories, Milne wrote two classic collections of children’s poems, When We Were Very Young (1924) and Now We Are Six (1927). He wrote the children’s play Make-Believe (1918) and adapted Kenneth Grahame’s children’s book The Wind in the Willows into a play, Toad of Toad Hall (1929). Milne also created novels, short stories, and plays for adults. He wrote a famous detective novel, The Red House Mystery (1922), and a book of short stories called A Table Near the Band (1950). His comic plays include Mr. Pim Passes By (1919), The Truth About Blayds (1921), and The Dover Road (1922). He also wrote his Autobiography (1939).

No, his full name wasn’t A. A.! Alan Alexander Milne was born on January 18th, 1882, in London. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1903. From 1906 to 1914, he served as assistant editor of Punch, a humor magazine. Milne contributed many comic essays and poems to the magazine. He died on January 31st, 1956.

Australian author Emily Rodda.
Credit: © Michael Small

If you find yourself surrounded by giants with golden eyes, lake creatures, sand beasts, orchard keepers, and fighting spiders, you might have fallen into Australian author Emily Rodda’s imagination. Emily Rodda is the pen name of Jennifer Rowe, an Australian writer. Rowe has also published books under the pen name Mary-Anne Dickinson.

Rodda is known for her fantasy novels for children. In her series “Deltora Quest” (2000-2006), the boy Lief and his companions embark on quests to save the magical land of Deltora from the grips of the evil Shadowlord. Rodda has authored or co-authored over 100 children’s books.

Jennifer June Rowe was born on April 2, 1948, in Sydney. Rowe attended Abbotsleigh School for Girls in Sydney. She graduated from the University of Sydney with a master’s degree in English literature in 1973. Rowe began her career in publishing as a book editor and publisher at the company Angus & Robertson. She served as editor of the magazine Australian Women’s Weekly from the 1980’s to 1992. She has been a full-time writer since 1994.

Rodda’s stories are engaging, creative, and full of surprises. Rowe submitted her first published book, Something Special (1984), under her grandmother’s name, Emily Rodda. It won the Australian Children’s Book Council Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award.

Rodda has won the award six times. She has become known for children’s fantasy series, including “Deltora Quest,” “Deltora Shadowlands” (2002), “Dragons of Deltora,” (2005), “Rowan of Rin” (1993), and “Star of Deltora” (2015-2016). An anime (Japanese animation) series based on “Deltora Quest” ran from 2007 to 2010.

She was named a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2019. Rodda has also published adult mysteries and cookbooks under her real name, Jennifer Rowe.