Bee has a lot to navigate. Her mum left the family some years ago to live in an Ashram in India. Kath, the new partner of Bee's dad, is kind and well meaning but Bee resents her role as 'substitute mum'. Bee does not want to wear the same clothes as other girls and she does not want her period to start or her body to change. Bee is a strong swimmer and she is working hard to join the National team. In spite of her prayers to Buddha her period does begin and she feels quite unwell for several days each month. Not to mention the other hassles associated with this for girls and women.
Bee has a best friend. His name is Leon. Bee wants to be his friend not his 'girl friend' but rejecting Leon's advances seem to be putting their sweet friendship in jeopardy.
For the first time Bee is now also noticing how adults behave towards their children. Her rival on the swim team is Laura Dark. Bee calls her the Piranha. Laura seems ruthless in her plan to win but then Bee sees some awful physical abuse by Laura's mum when Laura loses her swimming race. Bee is not sure what to do but it does give her a new perspective on Laura.
So as you can see there is a lot of angst in this book. I did enjoy the verse novel style and the strong, realistic voice of Bee. I also enjoyed the small fragments of Buddhist wisdom. But, I found the references to global warming and climate change slightly unnecessary and 'preachy' and I found Bee's experiences with her period quite confronting.
The main character, Bridget Ballentine who is known as Bee, is 12 years old and in Year Seven in High School. As a rule of thumb I often judge that the readership of a book should match the age of the protagonist.I would suggest this book is for mature readers aged 11 or 12+. Readers in this age group will relate to Bee and they are sure to sympathise with her worries and also cheer over her triumphs. Over the summer of this story, Bee makes discoveries about herself and she tries out new relationships. I do know younger girls in Primary grades begin their periods too but I think the detailed information about this experience that you will find in Are you there Buddha? is more appropriate for a High School student and I think the cover reflects this too. The scene where her 'period' things fall out of her bag on the bus and into the hands of some older boys is just horrible and I could hardly read the scene where she has an accident and blood shows on her clothes as she walks along the school corridor. These scenes could potentially frighten younger girls who have not reached puberty.
Pip Harry says "Bee has her foot on the border between being a kid and a teenager - an in between age I've wanted to capture in print for many years. The title references the wonderful Judy Blume classic, Are you there God? It's me Margaret. As much as I adore this seminal novel, I wanted to write a book about puberty that didn't assume all girls were desperate to grow up, fit a bra ad get their period. That certainly wasn't my experience and I imagine it isn't for many other kids out there."
You can read an interview with Pip Harry by Joy Lawn on her blog Paperbark Words. Are you there Buddha? was published today - 30th June, 2021. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy. I now have a plan to revisit Are you there God? It's me Margaret which was a very controversial book when it was published. Read more about this here.
I loved Pip Harry's previous book The Little Wave.
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