Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Aug 2014
400 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
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!"
"No real surprises are in store, but the premise will still leave readers with plenty to think about. Ages 10–14." - Publishers Weekly
"The book is heartbreaking and hilarious-truly evocative of middle school experiences. A great, entertaining read that will appeal to boys and girls. A highly recommended purchase." - School Library Journal
"The internal lives of both boy and girl come across as both authentic and heartwarming… Readers curious about how the other half lives will thrill at this view from the far side of the fence." - Kirkus
"Funny, honest and touching, The Swap is the perfect book for tweens ready to learn what's going on inside the minds (and bodies) of the opposite gender." - Frances O'Rourk Dowell, New York Times bestselling author of Dovey Coe and The Secret Language of Girls
"Bravo, Megan Shull! Hilarious and yet surprisingly touching at the same time, The Swap gives us a microscopically close insider's view at the differences (and similarities) between the lives of boys and girls." - Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries and Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls
This information about The Swap was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Born and raised in Ithaca, New York, Megan Shull is the author of several books for kids including the award-winning young adult novel Amazing Grace. Megan holds a doctorate in educational psychology from Cornell University, where she also earned her undergraduate degree. She lives in her hometown, where she feels especially lucky to walk the quiet rolling hills alongside red-tailed hawks and waterfalls. i
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