Teen Fiction

Gender Blender

Name: Gender Blender
Author: Blake Nelson
ISBN: 9780553376036

by Blake Nelson

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Overview

Emma:
Wants Jeff Matthews to notice her.
Hates sexist boys.
Wonders when she’ll get her period.
Tom:
Must avoid looking like a wuss.
Must deal with his blended family.
Must get a chance with Kelly A.
Then something freaky happens: Emma and Tom switch bodies. And until they can find a remedy:
Emma:
Can’t believe she has a . . . thingie.
Hates mean girls.
Finds out secondhand that her period has arrived.
Tom:
Must learn to put on a bra.
Must deal with an overachieving family.
Must not be alone with Jeff Matthews.

Synopsis

Publishers Weekly

When two sixth graders magically change bodies after bumping their heads together, the results are traumatic for them but hilarious for readers-especially those who have wondered what it would feel like to be a member of the opposite sex. After Tom and Emma realize they've undergone a gender switch, it takes them awhile to get used to their new skins. Besides having to adjust to the smaller, lighter frame of a female gymnast, Tom has to learn how to eat a civilized dinner with Emma's straight-laced family, juggle endless activities, deal with backbiting girlfriends, and put on and take off a bra. Emma, now a gangly, big-footed boy, must also conform to a new way of life, pitching baseballs instead of doing flips, coping with a pesky younger brother and rough-housing with guys whose idea of fun is throwing dirt clods and racing downhill in a shopping cart. Throughout the novel, Nelson (Rock Star, Superstar) demonstrates his keen understanding of peer pressure and gender stereotyping. In one exchange, Tom (in Emma's body) says, "If I can't get dirty, then you can't cry," to which Emma (as Tom) replies, "I'll cry if I have to. This isn't exactly easy, you know." Showing equal sensitivity to both sexes, the author provides honest, humorous answers to questions youngsters are often too embarrassed to ask: What does it mean to get a boner? What is it like to get your period? Can boys and girls really be friends? Ages 10-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

About the Author, Blake Nelson

Blake Nelson is the author of the popular adult novel Girl. This is his first book for Viking.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Children's Literature

A cookie cutter "Freaky Friday" type of story for a new generation of readers. When estranged friends Tom and Emma bang heads while arguing they find themselves trapped in each others' sixth grade bodies. They must find a way to remain inconspicuous until they discover a way to switch back. The more laid back Tom must rush through Emma's hectic, activity-filled schedule, while Emma is aware of baseball tryouts looming in the near future. Along with the general mastering of daily routines, this boy-girl switch leads to an interesting array of knowledge and self-exploration for both genders at the height of adolescent changes. Both characters discover some new and, at times inappropriate, bodily experiences. From struggles with the opposite sex to rumors, friends, school, and sports, long time friends, Tom and Emma, need to find a way to switch back before they run out of time. While this book touches on many issues that young preteens may be curious about, parents please beware that there are some more mature topics brought up in an otherwise childish story. 2006, Delacorte Press/Random House, and Ages 10 up.
—Jeanna Sciarrotta

VOYA

Emma and Tom were once best friends, but by sixth grade their friendship has become an embarrassing memory in a world where boys and girls barely interact, let alone understand each other. Thanks to a cursed Eskimo arrowhead, a "Freaky Friday" style switch takes place, and Tom and Emma must appreciate each other or end up living each other's life for good. Emma is a pleaser, a teacher's pet intensely invested in the gymnastics that her parents encourage. Tom is a loafer except when it comes to baseball, messing around with his friends and trying to make his mostly absent father proud of him. Combining their strengths and learning to rely on each other, Tom and Emma resolve to defeat the curse-and learn more than a little about how the other gender lives. In The New Rules of High School (Viking, 2003/VOYA June 2003), Nelson created complex but not necessarily likeable characters seeking to understand themselves. Here the exploration of gender differences might have been stronger if the characters did not trade complexity for likeability. There are some funny moments as both discover less-pleasant aspects of each other's lives, but every character exemplifies traditional gender stereotypes. Boys do not do homework. Girls are in tune with their families. Boys roughhouse. Girls sabotage each other. Francess Lantz's The Day Joanie Frankenhauser Became a Boy (Dutton, 2005) explores the very real befuddlement most preteens feel for the opposite sex without relying so heavily on stereotypes and overdone switcheroos. VOYA CODES: 2Q 3P M (Better editing or work by the author might have warranted a 3Q; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2006, Random House, 224p.,and PLB Ages 11 to 14.
—Catherine Gilmore-Clough

School Library Journal

Gr 5-7-Tom and Emma played together when they were in fourth grade, but now that they are sixth graders, they don't get along. Both are unhappy when they are teamed up for a gender-differences project for their health class. Then, a collision on a trampoline results in a body switch. As Tom and Emma frantically try to impersonate one another, each gains insight into the other's life. Just as they decide they'll have to remain switched forever, another blow to the head switches them back. Their health teacher is impressed with their reports, and Emma and Tom make tentative steps toward friendship. Physical development and differences are the focus here. The terms perv, crotch, boner, thong, and masturbation all make an appearance, with repeated references to naked pictures, and breasts. Tom, in Emma's body, gets her first period, and Emma, in Tom's body, wakes up with an erection. There are some humorous situations-Emma thinks the erection is a small animal under the covers with her-but the epiphanies reached by the characters-Emma: "Being a boy was lonely," and Tom: "-people expect more of [girls]"-are mundane. The text contains plenty of cultural references and slang that will quickly become outdated. Though middle schoolers might be intrigued by the story's frankness, most readers will be disappointed by the lack of substance.-Laurie Slagenwhite, Baldwin Public Library, Birmingham, MI Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A trampoline collision and a magic arrowhead cause sixth-graders Tom Witherspoon and Emma Baker to switch bodies for four long days in which they discover and learn to sympathize with gender differences. Humorously presented, the underlying point is made explicit by their assignment for health class to pay special attention to how gender creates differences in our lives. From sports and school to erections and first periods, Tom and Emma find that others' expectations and their own physical and emotional makeup shape their experiences. Through alternating chapters of third-person narrative, the reader comes to see those differences and learns that families can be different, too. Remarkably, the author succeeds in making clear exactly who is experiencing what in which body; the design reinforces this with chapter headings including traditional male and female symbols to show which bodies will be the focus. As is traditional in body-switching stories, Tom and Emma's incredible experience allows them to become friends again, a cheerful ending to a message-driven but enjoyable read. (Fiction. 10-13)