Friday, August 28, 2009

Middle-Grade Review: Freaky Monday

My two sons and I are big fans of both Freaky Friday movies, so we were excited to hear that a long-awaited sequel was recently published, Freaky Monday. Written by the original author, Mary Rodgers, and the screenwriter for the second Freaky Friday movie, Heather Hach, the new book is just as much fun as the original! We listened to the audio book on a recent car trip, and the whole family enjoyed it.

Hadley is an over-achieving eighth-grader who is so worried about her grades that she hardly has time in her life for anything else, even her two best friends. Her freewheeling English teacher, Ms. Pitt, drives Hadley crazy because she’s not focused on grades; she’s more likely to have her students sit in a circle and talk about the meaning of a book than assign extra credit projects.

During a conflict between the two in the school hallway, they suddenly trade places, and then the fun really begins! They go through all kinds of crises while trapped in each other’s bodies, including a job interview, a family emergency, and even a little romance. The result is funny, engaging, and eventually heartwarming.

The audio book is perfectly read by Jennifer Stone, whose voice kids will recognize as Harper from Disney’s Wizards of Waverly Place TV show. Stone did a great job narrating as slightly neurotic Hadley, and we were hooked from beginning to end. This one is sure to be a big hit with tweens, especially girls (though my boys enjoyed it, too).

Listen to a sample audio clip.

Harper-Collins, 192 pages.
HarperChildren’s Audio
Accelerated Reader (AR) Level 4.7

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