Forty-eight years since it was published, Judy Blume’s bestselling young adult novel “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” is headed for the big screen.
Blume sold the film rights to producers James L. Brooks of Gracie Films and Kelly Fremon Craig, who plan to sell it to a distributor after the screenplay is complete.
The book, about a sixth-grader and her friends becoming adolescents and dealing with puberty and crushes on boys, also explores faith, specifically Margaret’s confusion over growing up in an interfaith home, with a Christian mother and a Jewish father.
“It’s rare for me to run into a woman or girl who hasn’t read it and every time I’ve mentioned it to a woman, they clutch their heart and let out this joyful gasp,” Fremon Craig told Deadline. “There’s something so timely and full of truth and I remember for me that at that age, it felt like a life raft at a time when you’re lost and searching and unsure. This book comes along and tells you you’re not alone. Women remember where they were when they read it. I can’t think of another book you can say that about.”
Brooks, whose granddaughter’s love of the novel inspired him to acquire the rights, said that the story will be timely for modern moviegoers. “It definitely won’t feel like a period piece,” he said. “People have read at various stages and it felt present and immediate.”
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