Moms and daughters have been sharing 'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret' for 5 decades. Why they say the Judy Blume book has 'stood the test of time.'

Amy George discovered a love of reading through Judy Blume's Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. George first read the book in third grade, when she was 8 or 9 years old.

“Margaret was my first favorite book, and one that I've read and reread dozens of times," she tells Yahoo Life. "My mom anticipated questions so she read it ahead of me.”

George and her mother shared a copy. Each had their own bookmark, and George’s mother stayed a little ahead so she knew what kinds of questions George might ask next as she encountered the 1970 middle-grade novel's discussions of puberty, sex and religion. “Margaret was a friend. I returned to her over and over and lost count of how many times I read that book. ... She was always a comfort,” George notes.

George, who is Catholic, says that she remembers thinking, “You can ask God questions like that?” the moment she saw the book’s title. “It also gave me a glimpse at other religions. At that point, in third grade, I didn't know anything about Judaism, for example. And I was curious about the experience of having parents of different faiths,” she says. George identified with the main character so much that when she was in eighth grade, she chose Margaret as her confirmation name.

After famously refusing all offers to adapt her work for the big screen for decades, Blume had a change of heart after connecting with screenwriter and director Kelly Fremon Craig, whose vision for Margaret matched her own. Starring Rachel McAdams and 15-year-old Abby Ryder Fortson, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret will hit theaters on April 28. Now a mom herself, George says she "cannot wait" to see the film with her own daughters, Lucy, 16, and Penny, 14.

"We talk about women's issues and women's health issues all the time," says George, whose older daughter Lucy first read the book around age 10. George wasn’t surprised that Lucy loved the story, even so many years after it was published. “It's very realistic and relatable and remains meaningful at any age ... it’s definitely stood the test of time," she says.

Lucy, now a high school sophomore, has revisited the book a few times over the years.

"It was the first book I read in which I could relate to the main character's problems, like feeling out of place and awkward," the teen tells Yahoo Life. "I didn't have to look hard to find something to relate to. I feel like I know Margaret and can see myself in her."

George adds that while parts of the book, such as the belts with maxi pads that Margaret used in the book, are dated, “that doesn’t matter.” “What matters is Margaret and her relationships — with her friends, family and God. She's observing. She's figuring stuff out. That's a comfort to girls, or boys, of any age, during any age,” she says.

Karen Aronian says she and her friends grew up reading Judy Blume in secret, although she doesn’t remember her parents having an issue with any of Blume’s books. “We dog-eared the pages and passed around her books until they fell apart,” Aronian tells Yahoo Life. The first copy of Margaret Aronian got her hands on was at sleepaway camp the summer before she started sixth grade. It was “likely contraband,” she says. Aronian says that Blume’s books “were clandestinely passed around because they weren’t necessarily approved by schools or parents at the time.” Aronian says that this went on “until they fell apart” because “everyone” wanted to read them.

According to Aronian, Margaret and other Blume books “filled in the blanks of information that my friend group had cobbled together on sexuality, gender and relationships.” She adds that Margaret helped her and her friends navigate the “complicated feelings” that arise when peers enter puberty at different times and that the book gave them “language, literally sentences we could borrow to better communicate with peers, parents and guardians.” Now a parenting and education expert who wound up corresponding with Blume for her doctoral dissertation entitled Birds, Bees and the Young Adult Novel, Aronian recommends that parents use Margaret “as a springboard into coming-of-age discussions and to be on the same page — literally" as their kids

Aronian gave her old copy of Margaret to her daughter when she was in eighth grade. “It's a book for her now, but also for her tomorrow,” she says.

Author Jenna Grinstead first read Margaret when she was around 10. She says that the protagonist “made me feel seen at a time when it felt like no one else saw me — she had interfaith parents like me, which was something you never saw back then," she says, adding that, "like Margaret, my grandparents were a lot of my connection to religion and I often yearned to belong to something and believe something.” She was also taken aback by the book's frankness about puberty. “The book talked about periods and boobs and things no one talked about to young girls, even though we talked to each other about them," she says.

While Margaret provided answers for some who read the book, Grinstead says that for her, it “highlighted ... that the questions I was asking about God, religion, sex, periods and growing up were valid," she says.

"That Margaret was asking these questions too meant I wasn’t abnormal," Grinstead adds. "What religion is right? What religion should I be? When will I get my period and when I do will that make me a woman? Or do I need breasts for that? Or to have sex? All of these questions were there for Margaret and her search for answers validated mine.”

Grinstead gave Margaret to each of her girls, now aged 19 and 23, when they started fourth grade. “They have a whole world of YouTube and social media so in many ways they have access to so much more than I do to normalize some of these topics. But Margaret’s journey is still relevant and for my girls it spurred great conversations about many of the same topics," she says. "This book still has a timeless element."

When Jennifer Vanderslice — who remembers first hearing about Margaret when she was in fifth grade because "word got around that the girl gets her period in the book" — learned that a movie version was coming out, she and several of her friends bought themselves copies to refresh their memory. They also lamented that they don’t live close enough to see the movie together.

Vanderslice gave her newly purchased copy of Margaret to her granddaughter Willow, who is 11. She says that Willow’s mother gave her permission to give her the book, even though she hadn’t read it herself. “I love this book and its concept even today. There are too many parents who are afraid to talk about puberty and sex with their children,” she says, adding “Judy Blume has been able to talk to young girls about sensitive topics for over 50 years. Long live Judy Blume and Margaret.”

That's a sentiment echoed by none other than actress Rachel McAdams, who plays Margaret's mom in the new film. Speaking to Yahoo, the star shared how she's already planning to pass down Blume's book to both her son and daughter.

"My daughter is 2, but I got Judy to sign a copy of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. to her so I can give it to her one day, and I hope to give her the book that I did all my notes in as well," McAdams says, adding that her 5-year-old son has already been introduced to some of Blume's books for younger readers.

"We are all Judy fans in my house," she adds. "I think it's going to be just as impactful for them down the road as it is for kids who come and see this film and for parents who read the book. I think it's a testament to Judy and her genius that she wrote something that still resonates so deeply with people and is about universal themes we should still be talking about so openly, that aren't always dealt with in that way."

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