Book Summary and Reviews of The Swap by Megan Shull

The Swap by Megan Shull

The Swap

by Megan Shull

  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2014, 400 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

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!"

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"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.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

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The Swap
This was a really good book and I loved it so much on the nights I was reading it my mom would always tell me to put it away and I would never want to it was so addicting... but in a good way! I would definitely recommend this book to girls and boys.

(Cute girl)

The swap
I love this book so so much! It shows that girls life is hard, and so is boys, and they see how different there lives are! It’s so amazing, please readers read it!

Julianna

Amazing!
I LOVED this book! I am writing a reading response on it now! ;)

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More Information

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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