Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Cert: 12 A | Out Friday | ★★★★★

It is proving quite the year for beloved Jewish children’s author Judy Blume.
First we had the documentary Judy Blume Forever, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January.

Now, for the first time in the 50 years since its publication, her seminal novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret has been adapted for the big screen. And the writer, who had long resisted a screen adaptation of her book, has produced the film in which she also makes a cameo appearance.

It is the summer of 1970 and 11-year-old Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) returns from camp to some upsetting news.

Her parents Barbara (Rachel McAdams) and Herb (Benny Safdie) Simon have news: they’re leaving their New York City apartment for a New Jersey suburb.

It’s not just Margaret who is upset. Her Jewish paternal grandmother Sylvia, played by Kathy Bates, is crestfallen.

Kathy Bates in ARE YOU THERE GOD ITS ME MARGARET (Lionsgate UK)

Kathy Bates in Are You There God, it's Me, Margaret (Lionsgate UK)

As she tries to settle into her new life in the suburbs, Margaret must manage her burgeoning puberty in a world where female anatomy is still a taboo subject. And if that weren’t enough, she also has to navigate the choppy waters of faith and identity too.

When her new school hands out an assignment on religion, Margaret explains that since her mother is Christian and her dad is Jewish, the family does not observe the holidays of either faith.

Later, she attends a temple service with Sylvia, but wonders if she should also go to church.

Edge of Seventeen director Kelly Fremon Craig’s thoughtful adaptation of Blume’s story is both funny and sad, and while not completley wedded to the novel, it never strays too far either.

It’s not easy to adapt a novel familiar to generations of readers and give us new things to love about it — especially when its author has long eschewed a screen adaption — but director Craig has succeeded.

This a wonderful depiction of pre-adolescent angst about sanitary products, the opposite sex and breast size.