The Swap

by Megan Shull

Overview

Now a Disney Channel Original Movie, Megan Shull’s smart and funny, very readable book The Swap is a great summer reading (or anytime!) choice. Will appeal to fans of R. J. Palacio and Katherine Applegate, as well as of graphic novels such as Click, Invisible Emmie, and Smile.

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!”

Plus don't miss Megan Shull's heartwarming Bounce—in development as a movie featuring YouTube star Jojo Siwa!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062311702
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/07/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	703,257
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Megan Shull is the award-winning author of many books for kids, including The Swap, now a Disney Channel Original Movie. Megan holds a doctorate in educational psychology from Cornell University, where she also earned her undergraduate degree. Born and raised in Ithaca, New York, Megan lives and writes in her hometown—a small college town surrounded by waterfalls, quiet, rolling hills, and secret swimming holes.

Editorial Reviews

A beautiful feat of swapped voices. Hilarious! Serious, truly, fearlessly funny! And I don’t want boys to miss it.” — Jon Scieszka, New York Times bestselling author and founder of Guys Read

“THE SWAP kept me turning pages way past my bedtime! Hilarious and yet surprisingly touching at the same time.” — Meg Cabot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Princess Diaries series

“The book is heartbreaking and hilarious—truly evocative of middle school experiences. A great, entertaining read that will appeal to boys and girls.” — School Library Journal

“THE SWAP is funny and smart and heartwarming. And when I say funny, I mean I put the book down and laughed. It’s a fantastic story!” — Natalie Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author of A Snicker of Magic

“Bawling because I just finished Megan Shull’s THE SWAP. Bawled the whole way through. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!” — Lauren Myracle, author of Wishing Day and the bestselling Winnie Years series

“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. Jack and Ellie are such wonderful characters and those brothers—wow!” — Frances O'Roark Dowell, New York Times bestselling author of Dovey Coe and The Secret Language of Girls

“Readers curious about how the other half lives will thrill at this view from the far side of the fence.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Fast and fun. The premise will leave readers with plenty to think about.” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

THE SWAP kept me turning pages way past my bedtime! Hilarious and yet surprisingly touching at the same time.

Meg Cabot

A beautiful feat of swapped voices. Hilarious! Serious, truly, fearlessly funny! And I don’t want boys to miss it.

Jon Scieszka

True to the middle-school experience.

Voice of Youth Advocates

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. Jack and Ellie are such wonderful characters and those brothers—wow!

Frances O'Rourk Dowell

THE SWAP is funny and smart and heartwarming. And when I say funny, I mean I put the book down and laughed. It’s a fantastic story!

Natalie Lloyd

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. Jack and Ellie are such wonderful characters and those brothers—wow!

Frances O'Roark Dowell

Bawling because I just finished Megan Shull’s THE SWAP. Bawled the whole way through. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Lauren Myracle

2015 Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year

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06/23/2014
It’s a familiar premise: two kids, struggling in their own situations, somehow switch places and experience each other’s lives, which then helps them gain an appreciation for their own; Shull’s twist is that the two kids are of different genders. Seventh-grader Ellie O’Brien is struggling to fit in ever since her former best friend turned on her. Popular eighth-grader Jack Malloy just wants to play hockey with his older brothers, but his strict father thinks life is about striving for perfection. Ellie and Jack barely know each other, but when a chance meeting in the nurse’s office results in a body-switch for the weekend, they get to walk in each other’s shoes—and discover they kind of like them, even despite some awkward moments involving unfamiliar body parts. Shull (Amazing Grace) keeps this story fast and fun (though the body-switched scenes take some getting used to, at least initially). No real surprises are in store, but the premise will still leave readers with plenty to think about. Ages 10–14. Agent: Margaret Riley King, William Morris Endeavor. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

07/01/2014
Gr 5 Up—This is realistic fiction with a twist—two characters form an unlikely friendship when they swap bodies. Meet Ellie: a girl who lives with her mom and is entering seventh grade with her former best friend, Sassy. Sassy is crazy in love with Jack Malloy, "The Prince." Jack, an eighth grader, has it all: good grades, athletic ability, great manners, and good looks to boot. When circumstances land both Jack and Ellie in the nurse's office on the first day of school, they admire the ease at which each other has it in life. The next thing they know, that strange new nurse is gone and they are in each other's bodies. Now they have to make it through the weekend—filled with soccer tryouts, doctor appointments, hockey practice, and sleepovers—before they can get the nurse to switch them back. Told in alternating perspectives, Shull creates two authentic main characters with unique tween voices. They deal with familial issues (death, divorce) as well as social (bullying, sibling relationships, friends) with clumsy grace. The book is heartbreaking and hilarious—truly evocative of middle school experiences. A great, entertaining read that will appeal to boys and girls. Readers may wonder what happened to the nurse and yearn for an explanation of the switch, but ultimately this is a highly recommended purchase.—Stephanie DeVincentis, Downers Grove North High School, IL

School Library Journal

2014-05-12
Seventh-grader Ellie O'Brien and eighth-grader Jack Malloy are given a surprising gift when they are suddenly able to literally view life through each other's eyes.Ellie feels lost and afraid following her parents' divorce and a brutal dumping by her best friend. Jack's life, dominated by his father's regimented control and his overpowering brothers, feels claustrophobic. Switching minds gives each kid the opportunity to experience life on the other side while gaining perspective on his or her own. Navigating the world of fist-bumping and older brothers helps Ellie develop the mental toughness to fight her own battles. In Ellie's life, Jack finds the parental acceptance and love that has been missing from his own. Alternating chapters offer each a chance to tell his or her story. The internal lives of both boy and girl come across as authentic and heartwarming. Unfortunately, when Jack and Ellie interact, it is often unclear who is who, which muddies what could be some of the most engaging passages. Occasionally clunky dialogue and a too-perfect ending are the only bumps in this otherwise engaging switch-up.Readers curious about how the other half lives will thrill at this view from the far side of the fence. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews