Addie Bell's Shortcut to Growing Up

November 28, 2016
Readers eager to become full-fledged teens may have second thoughts after seeing what happens to 12-year-old Addie Bell when her wish to be 16 is granted. After receiving a magical jewelry box from an elderly neighbor with dementia, Addie writes down her greatest desire, locks it inside the box, and awakens the next morning to find that four years have passed. Now she and her friends are high school juniors, but because Addie still has the life experience of a 12-year-old, things like driving her car and trying to keep up in trig class are no easy tasks. Worst of all, Addie’s former best friend Grace no longer speaks to her; 16-year-old Addie is now pals with popular but mean Clementine, with whom she runs a beauty-focused YouTube channel. Addie’s attempts to understand the confusing landscape of high school create plenty of funny moments, but the experience is more often stressful for this sympathetic heroine. Writing with humor and sensitivity, Brody (the Unremembered trilogy) offers a fresh take on the age-old theme of being careful what you wish for. Ages 10–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.

November 1, 2016
On the eve of her 12th birthday Addie wishes she were 16.For Addie, short for Adeline (white, and with a stay-at-home mom and working dad), life is comfortable and benign in Brody's amiable, lighthearted friendship drama. Addie and best friend Grace worship a boy band and hang out in Addie's backyard playhouse. But Addie is cosmically frustrated with all the things she wishes for but can't yet have: a cellphone, a dog, permission to wear makeup, a car. An elderly neighbor's gift of a wishing box provides the way to skip over the rest of middle school. In a moment reminiscent of 13 Going on 30, Addie wakes to find that she's 16 and besties with her vlog partner, alpha (and mean) girl Clementine. Navigating the intricacies of driving, texting emojis, applying makeup, attending classes in trigonometry and French, and flirting with boys as a 12-year-old makes for a funny, occasionally poignant tale, firmly from Addie's viewpoint. Other characters are less well-drawn. Despite a connection with a boy who blossoms as a teenager, Addie's loss and reclamation centers on best friend Grace, coldly distant in the high school version of their lives. Addie's sorting out of choices by her younger self is done with a light touch, and readers will be satisfied with the outcome. Warm, if frothy, acknowledgment of the value of keeping true, longtime friends. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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December 1, 2016

Gr 6-10The worst birthday ever confirms what Addie Bell already suspected-that being 12 and in seventh grade stinks. If only she could just fast-forward to being 16! But when fate and magic combine to make Addie's birthday wish come true, she finds that suddenly being in high school is a whole lot harder than she'd thought. For starters, she can't speak French or do trigonometry. Worst of all, her best friend, Grace, now seems to hate her; she has become besties with shallow mean girl Clementine; and although she might look 16, she still has the driving and flirting skills of a 12-year-old. How do you unmake a birthday wish? For the second time this year, Brody borrows a premise from a classic 1980s or 1990s movie and then runs with it to make it her own. A Week of Mondays was a YA take on Groundhog Day, while Addie Bell is indebted to Big. This lightweight, fun romp points out that big changes (some of them unfortunate) can come from small choices thoughtlessly made, and that being yourself with your equally uncool best friend is a lot better than being popular all by yourself. Also revealed: dorky seventh grade boys can actually grow up to be date-worthy! VERDICT A solid purchase for secondary libraries; hand to readers looking for best-friend stories with a hint of romance.-Elizabeth Friend, Wester Middle School, TX

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2016
Grades 5-8 Addie Bell has had the worst twelfth birthday ever. From the restaurant hostess who gave her a child's menu and crayons to the bitter fight with her best friend Grace later the same evening, Addie has had it with birthdays. She likes shortcuts, even if they sometimes do not end well for her, and when an elderly neighbor gives her a box that supposedly grants wishes, she decides to take a shortcut and wish herself 16. She wakes up the next day to find that she has indeed fast-forwarded four years, and at first, she's excited. But soon she realizes she doesn't like who she has become, especially when she learns she and Grace have not been friends all this time. As she understands what she's missed by taking a shortcut, Addie wants to go back and searches for a way to break the spell. Addie's first-person narrative is lively and engaging, peppered with ups and downs and grounded with a thoughtful degree of insight. A well-wrought, bright, and funny novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2017
The day after twelve-year-old Addie wishes she were sixteen, she wakes up to find her wish has come true. But being sixteen isn't what Addie expected: she's a shallow jerk who's no longer speaking to her best friend. While the premise is familiar (think 13 Going on 30), it's well executed; Addie's naiveti about being a teenager will make readers laugh out loud.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)