“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” Dana Hawley/Lionsgate You can see that same level of care and reliability in Fremon Craig’s first film, “The Edge of Seventeen,” another instant classic coming-of-ager released in 2016. “I related to her on every single level, and I felt so much relief that someone else, even if they were a fictional character, was going through what I was going through.”įremon Craig swiftly picked up every Blume book she could find. (She even read the somewhat risqué “Forever” in the sixth grade, “which is probably too young,” she said with a laugh.) Like millions of other kids, boys and girls, Fremon Craig felt seen by Judy Blume. “First of all, I was a really late bloomer, I didn’t need a bra till I was 14 or so, everything was just late,” Fremon Craig said. They do this exercise that increases your bust!'” (They did the exercise, then Fremon Craig bought the book.)Īnd the bust stuff? Oh, that really hit. “My best friend at the time was like, ‘You have to read this book. “‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,’ that was my introduction,” she said during a recent interview with IndieWire. But Fremon Craig didn’t know that when she read the book as a kid, which follows sixth grader Margaret Simon as she works her way through a very complicated year of her life, complete with a move, a new school, a religious crisis, and the looming possibility of getting her period.įremon Craig “found” Blume at the exact right time: She was 11, just like Margaret. While Blume has never been shy about allowing her works to be adapted for the screen, including a “Forever” 1978 TV movie, the 2012 big-screen take on “Tiger Eyes,” and a ’90s-era TV series based “Fudge-a-Mania,” she long resisted letting her 1970 novel go that route. ‘Judy Blume Forever’ Review: Finally, an American Icon Worthy of Adoration

Book it only happens in the movies