This was the coming of age touchstone for my generation of girls growing up in the 70s (with that iconic purple cover showing Margaret and her hair), and coming across it in the library recently, I was thrilled and a little amazed to see how well it holds up. The highly-publicized tweaks to make self-adhesive the menstrual pads with belts didn't bother me at all, and no doubt makes it more immediate for a contemporary audience, where they might have viewed it as a relic. Blume captures perfectly the posturing, the anxieties, and the excitement of being a girl on the cusp of puberty hanging out with other girls in the same boat. The religious searching never felt quite as central to me, but I like that it's there, to make richer Margaret's internal life.