Freaky Monday by Mary Rodgers and Heather Hach

Genre: Young Adult Fiction

Thirteen-year-old Hadley Fox is the typical overachieving, overscheduled, and overwhelmed straight-A student. Though not yet in high school, she is already worrying about how she will get into Stanford. While Hadley is a traditional student, her English teacher Ms. Pitts likes to experiment with unconventional teaching methods. For this reasons, they have never gotten along well. Therefore, when she forgets to prepare for an oral presentation for Ms. Pitts' English class, Hadley completely freaks out. It was not until Hadley and Ms. Pitts switch places can they both understand each other better.

It was ironic how Hadley is an overachiever in terms of learning, yet she doesn't realize that Ms. Pitts is also an overachiever in terms of teaching, often staying up late into the night just to correct papers. Their issues are further juxtaposed, as Hadley's and Ms. Pitts' secret admirers are revealed to them in the same Monday. In addition, while Hadley had an important oral presentation to deliver, Ms. Pitts' also had an equally, if not more important, interview for the position of chair of the English department.

For such an accomplished junior-high student, Hadley does not really have a lot of respect for Ms. Pitts. This trait, along with her tendency to be a drama queen, annoyed me throughout the story. However, Hadley's obsession with academics reminds me of myself, and I can understand her reactions that result from her paranoia with grades and getting into college. Through her switch with Ms. Pitts, Hadley does learn to be a better person.

Though the novel is predictable and greatly resembles Freaky Friday, it was enjoyable to read about the troubles that Hadley and Ms. Pitts encounter while in each other's bodies. I probably would have enjoyed this novel more if the perspective had alternated between the characters, instead of focusing on Hadley's views, considering the premise of the novel.

Freaky Monday does have a great moral about not judging people until you have been in their situation. I liked the novel, but I thought it was a bit too simple, especially considering how everything eventually worked out to Hadley's favor. Overall, this was a cute, fun story to read. However, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone above the age of twelve.


*This was also reviewed for HarperCollins' Children.