12 Again

I think this book affected me more as an adult reader than it would have if I were a child, thanks to the nuances of the mother/son relationship. Chilid readers will be more captured by the Irish magic involved. Sort of a "Freaky Friday" with a twist. Through the alternating views of 12-year-old Patrick and his 40-year-old mother Bernadette, readers experience the impact of Bernadette's "disappearance" (she drinks what she believes is wine at her late mother's house and wakes up as her 12-year-old self living again with her mother). Bernadette enjoys being 12 but realizes it will take magic to undo the effect and that she will need to rely on Patrick to help her out. Meanwhile, Patrick as the oldest has to take on more responsibilities show more at home. When he gets the e-mails from his missing mother and her mysterious directives, he follows through with a level-headed practicality that's very likable. show less

The premise of the book - that a mom who is turning 40 would be transformed back into being 12 again - is really fun and fascinating. I enjoyed the book, and many of my 5th grade students did too. I imagine that it will appeal even to kids up through 9th or 10th grade. I loved that technology played a big part of the mom-now-turned-12 being able to contact her son, a student in the school where her 12-year-old-self attends. Fun premise. Enough action and suspense to keep many kids reading.

I didn't like it very much, to be honest. I was attracted to it partly by its cover and the "tagline," but I was quite disappointed. It was, of course, a fantasy, but that's not an excuse for the characters to be unrealistic, especially when they're humans. The events were also sort of forced.

YA: interesting premise, but not realistically presented

This was a book about a mom and on her 40th b-day her life changes completely.

This is an excelentbook! I think kids my age would enjoy this book also. Enoch,12