From Goodreads:"Coming soon as a Disney Channel Original Movie, Megan Shull’s smart and funny twist on Freaky Friday is perfect for fans of Wendy Mass, Jerry Spinelli, and Jon Scieszka!
With one random wish, Jack and Ellie are living life in each other’s shoes. He’s her. And she’s him. ELLIE assumed popular guys didn’t worry about body image, being perfect, or talking to girls, but acting like you’re cool with everything is tougher than it looks. JACK thought girls had it easy—no fights with bullies, no demanding dads, no power plays—but facing mean girls at sleepovers and getting grilled about your period is way harder than taking a hit to the face at sports practice.
Now they’re dealing with each other’s middle school dramas—locker room teasing, cliques, video game battles, bra shopping, and a slew of hilariously awkward moments—until they hopefully switch back! Told in both Jack’s and Ellie’s voices, The Swap offers a fresh and honest take on tween friendship, all while exploring more serious themes of family, loss, empathy, and what it really means to be yourself. And as Jon Scieszka says, it’s “seriously, truly, fearlessly funny!”"
Goodreads - The Swap
There have been a couple guys in my life that I have been truly close friends with. Close enough that I've known all the ins and outs of their personalities, their lives, and the people around them. This being said, I cannot imagine switching lives with any of them. I cannot imagine being trapped in a guy's body. This book captured what it would probably be like if I were to be trapped in a guy's body.
The story rotates from Ellie's viewpoint to Jack's viewpoint. Each chapter is labeled so that we know who is interacting with the people and whose thoughts we are reading. We get a little background on both of our main characters and we see their paths intersect at school on the first day. Ellie is dealing with a horrible best friend and ends up bailing out of gym class, only to get caught by the principal. She claims that she is having lady issues and is sent to the nurse's office. At the same time Jack gets into a fight while defending a friend and he gets sent to the nurse's office as well. The two talk briefly and they end up falling asleep in the nurse's office. When they wake up they realize that Ellie is in Jack's body and Jack is in Ellie's body. The two have to learn how to deal with and manage the body they are in. They also help each other in ways they can't even begin to imagine. The book had a wonderful ending, although it was a tiny bit predictable.
I really enjoyed this book due to the unique style in which it is written. It was difficult at first to keep up with the switching back and forth chapter to chapter from Ellie to Jack. It got worse once they officially switched bodies. I eventually got used to the format of the book after a few chapters, and I was able to easily keep up with who was speaking. This book really captured what it's like to be a teenager trying to survive school and parents and friends and even yourself. I was able to connect with Ellie as she was struggling to deal with her mother and put up with her mean friends. Every girl knows what that feels like. Every girl knows what it is like to deal with your ever changing body and trying to fit in with everyone at school. I'm sure a lot of guys could connect with Jack as well. I think that Megan Shull did a great job at capturing the essence and struggles of being a teenager.
While I was in the middle of reading this book I had a friend who came over to hangout for the evening. We were extremely bored and I told her that I was going to read to her. I gave her a brief summary of what had happened so far and I ended up reading a few chapters to her. She was so interested in what was happening in the book that a few days later she asked me how the book ended. I love when I can give someone a brief summary or read a few chapters of a book and get them hooked. That should just reinforce how amazing this book was!
The only downfall of this book, which isn't a big one in my opinion, was the somewhat touchy subjects. The book did mention nude guys, periods, sneaking out, making out, etc. It was a typical teenage book and it had typical teenage things in it.
Overall the book was great. I'm excited to see how Disney takes the book and turns it into a movie. I think it will be good, but I think that it might have more spunk if a different film company had picked it up. Either way I'm very excited to see the movie! I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to junior high or high school kids.
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