The literary term for a novel such as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret is bildungsroman, or coming-of-age story. Throughout the course of the school year described in this novel, Margaret truly does come of age, transitioning from a young girl to a young woman and learning much in the process about her desires, her companions, and the way the world works. Margaret hits many milestones in the course of her journey—her first crush, her first bra, her first kiss, her first period—and at the end, she ceases to constantly wish she were someone else and learns to be satisfied in her own skin.