What is the theme in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume?

Youth and independence is an imporant theme in the novel. Margaret enjoys budding freedom in her sixth grade year. She is able to go shopping and go to movies with friends and also to class parties. The holiday supper party at Norman Fishbein’s is an example of the precarious position parents are in when dealing with pre-teen freedom. Mrs. Fishbein leaves the kids to eat dinner alone and returns to find that there is mustard on her ceiling. Despite this, she leaves the kids alone again and they wind up playing kissing games that would likely be considered inappropriate to their parents. Mrs. Fishbein’s faith in her son and his classmates’ judgment is ill-founded but common in parents of the pre-teen age group.

Margaret relishes her independence. She is not nervous at all when she rides the bus for the first time to meet her grandmother in New York City. She is ecstatic to learn that for spring break she will be flying alone to Florida to visit her grandmother. Using her own money, Margaret buys Teenage Softies sanitary pads and undertakes teaching herself how to apply them in her underwear. In the final scene of the book, Margaret is packing her suitcase to go to summer camp. She reflects on the school year but is excited to be starting seventh grade when she returns.