Bye for Now

December 1, 2011

Gr 3-6-Things aren't going well for Robin. Her sister infected the family with head lice, her grandmother sent her a very uncool birthday present, and, for the third year in a row, she failed to medal in a swim meet. A girl from school posted the head lice scandal on Facebook, where she refers to Robin as the GUO-Great Unlucky One. And to make it all worse, Robin is tired of being short and ordinary. So when it comes time for her to blow out the candles on her birthday cake, she closes her eyes and wishes she were someone else. She awakes in London, England, in the body of 11-year-old Fiona. This girl is everything Robin yearns to be: tall, beautiful, and popular, with an exciting life. She learns that there is a worldwide network of 11-year-old girls who all want to be somebody else. Each one swaps lives with another girl who made the same wish at the same time. Wishers can reclaim their real lives, but only while they are 11. At 12, the magic is lost and they are stuck in their new lives forever. Though enamored with many aspects of Fiona's life, Robin ultimately grows homesick and must figure out a way to return home. This indulgence will be appealing to the tween crowd, allowing them to vicariously experience their own secret desires. The writing includes an abundance of text speak and contemporary references, which readers will find engaging. There are also a number of unobtrusively delivered positive messages here. As the girls gain confidence in their capabilities, they come to learn that the grass is not always greener elsewhere.-Debbie Lewis, Alachua County Library District, FL

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 13, 2011
In Churchyard's debut novel, a light addition to the body-swap genre, 11-year-old Robin Haggersly of Concord, N.C., makes a wish to be someone else after an especially awful birthday, on which she gains a black eye and head lice while losing a swim meet and suffering heartbreak from her would-be boyfriend. Robin wakes up as Fiona Walker, a beautiful and popular girl her age, who lives in London and is cast as Wendy in a large stage production of Peter Pan. After failing to explain herself to Fiona's parents or her own, Robin tries to reach out to her... self online, only to discover a wider chain of identity swapping among 11-year-old girls in India, Japan, Hawaii, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, she begins to enjoy Fiona's life instead of worrying about wrecking it. Though the girls' ready access to e-mail and Facebook is a convenient plot device, Robin's culture clashes in her British (and theatrical) environs, as well as her interactions with the global cast of girls who share her predicament, make for a breezy journey of self-discovery. Ages 8â12.

September 1, 2011
Grades 4-7 At the end of a horrible eleventh birthday, Robin Haggersly's only wish is to be someone else. And, upon waking, she is: pretty, popular Fiona Walker of London. Soon after, she discovers her Robin-self is being inhabited by Neera Gupta of India; and, eventually, via Facebook and e-mail, she finds many 11-year-old wishers and switchers worldwide. Meanwhile, she finds that being Fiona is both challenging (dealing with homesickness and contentious older sister Jolene) and fun (realizing she enjoys acting onstage). But then she learns the time to switch back is approaching, and not all wishers want to return to who they were. This contemporary take on the switching-bodies premise and the be-careful-what-you-wish-for cautionary tale offers an enjoyable read, though twists nearly overwhelm the story. Technology and social mediacentral plot devicesand abundant pop-culture references make this an au courant, though instantly dated, debut. Robin's an engaging character whose lively narrative incorporates issues such as self-esteem and self-discovery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2012
On her disastrous eleventh birthday, Robin wishes herself somewhere--anywhere--else. She wakes up in the body of an eleven-year-old actress in London. Turns out Robin is hardly alone: there's a whole "Wisher Network" of kids who find themselves in the same (meaning other peoples') shoes. Awkward prose bogs down this lighthearted fantasy.

(Copyright 2012 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2011

Freaky Friday meets multiple transfigured 11-year-old girls, British style.

When loser Robin of Concord, N.C., wishes on her 11th birthday to be somebody else, she wakes up as Fiona Walker of London, England, the daughter of contemporary actors--body-switched! At first, it's all cultural goofs--of accents, terminology and manners--but then Robin/Fiona finds other transmigrated girls around the world on Facebook: They also made the same wish on their 11th birthdays. The twist is that the two girls don't just switch bodies, Robin is in Fiona's, but Fiona is another girl's across the country, and so on. Can Robin/Fiona orchestrate a grand reversal for them all? Robin/Fiona finds herself starring in a professional production of Peter Pan and spending hours on the computer in chat rooms and on Facebook. The caps-lock key is used liberally for both emphasis and such initialisms as OMG, and electronic messages are set in a different typeface (with lots of uppercase words there, too). References to Lindsay Lohan, Dame Judi Dench, Prince William and Kate Middleton (pre-wedding, evidently) feel more than a little like pandering and will date this book instantly. Convoluted, overly convenient and terribly contrived, even preteens obsessed with electronic communication will be confused and not wishing for a sequel (which the conclusion indicates).

If wishes were horses, this would be a My Little Pony. (Fantasy. 8-12)

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