Week Thirty Book Twenty-Five--Turnabout

Next fall, author Margaret Peterson Haddix is coming to our middle school to speak with our students!!! So I decided to pick up one of her most popular books, Turnabout. The book is about two old women, Amelia and Anny Beth, who have been given the option to participate in Project Turnabout, a project that would "un-age" them. Therefore, once they take the medicine, they will no longer get older but get younger with each passing year. They both agree to participate in the project, and the book follows their decision-making and trials as both old women and teenagers.

A very interesting premise...what would you do in such a situation? Would you want to live a double-lifetime, knowing that you'll lose all your family and friends in the process as they age and die? And how about marriage--your spouse will always age while you'll always un-age? Definitely raises some issues that you and I don't think about every day.


Amelia and Anny Beth seem to be handling their un-aging well, especially considering that they are getting closer to their infancy (and then who knows what happens when they can't un-age any further!) until one of Amelia's descendants tries to contact her. And that means one thing: she knows that Amelia is still alive after living for over 170 years!


I found the plot of this book very interesting, and I loved how the chapters often ended on a cliffhanger. I did find it confusing, though, to keep switching between the womens' different ages...after awhile I just kept picturing them as old women even when I knew they were supposed to be teenagers. The ending was left waaaaaay too open for me; I wanted a clear resolution and unfortunately was left deciding for myself the womens' fate. Great for discussions, though!


A quick read; can't wait to meet Mrs. Haddix next fall! Aren't we a lucky school corporation???!!!