#6degrees of separation: from Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret to The Angel of Waterloo

/ Theresa Smith Writes

It’s the first Saturday of the month so that means it’s #6degrees of separation time! This month’s starting book is: Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret by Judy Blume.

You can find the details and rules of the #6degrees meme at booksaremyfavouriteandbest, but in a nutshell, on the first Saturday of every month, everyone has the same starting book and from there, you connect in a variety of ways to other books. Some of the connections made are so impressive, it’s a lot of fun to follow.

I read Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret some time in upper primary school. A friend of mine, a fellow reading addict, loved Judy Blume and she was the one to get me onto her books. I’ve also enjoyed Judy Blume’s fiction for adults, the first of which I read was Summer Sisters, released in 1998. More recently, she released in 2015 (for adults) In the Unlikely Event. I know that many readers enjoy reading children’s and young adult fiction as adults, but I’m not one of them, so it does appeal to me when favourite authors from childhood also write books for adults. It feels like you’re almost taking that reading journey with them in a life-long way. Eliza Henry-Jones is another author I admire who walks confidently between young adult fiction and adult fiction. Her debut novel, In the Quiet, was adult fiction (which I loved) but her latest two releases have been for young adults, P is for Pearl the only one of which I’ve read, but again, really enjoyed. Within the Australian literary scene, you can’t go past Jackie French for the scope of her writing. Perhaps she can be considered our very own Judy Blume? I have read, over the years, many times, her Diary of a Wombat to each of my children, recommended her young adult fiction to teenagers when I was working based in school libraries, and enjoyed her adult fiction myself. Her most recent release, out just this week, is called The Angel of Waterloo and I’m really looking forward to reading it soon.

See you in 2021 for a whole new year of six degrees! 📚☕

11 thoughts on “#6degrees of separation: from Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret to The Angel of Waterloo”

  1. Oh Judy Blume books are so good, aren’t they? I think the seeds of wanting to be a writer were sown way back when I read every book of Judy Blume’s that I could find in the library.
    Thanks for the Jackie French recommendation – will look out for The Angel of Waterloo.

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  2. haha Theresa, you are showing your youth! I, and a few others, just missed Blume and the whole YA thing that started around then. Of course I’d heard of her because she was still popular when my kids were young …

    Anyhow, I enjoyed reading the chain of someone who’d actually read the starting book!

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  3. I always enjoy your chains and get ideas for new books to read (not that I need any distractions from the piles in this house).

    I didn’t think I had read any books by Jackie French but she looked so interesting (not to mention prolific) that I checked my library. It has a lot of her children’s books but no adult titles. Annoyingly, there is another author called Jackie French Koller whose books are all mixed up with the real Jackie French. I think someone recommended Somewhere Around the Corner because that is a time travel. The Angel of Waterloo sounds good too.

    Here is my chain: https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/2020/12/six-degrees-of-separation-from-are-you.html

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