Helpful Score: 1
This was a YA novel about a girl and a boy who used to be friends but drifted apart during adolescents. They fight a lot and end up under a spell that switches their bodies so they have to live for about a week in each other's lives. I was excited about the concept and hoping for some insightful commentary about gender roles. Unfortunately, the commentary was pretty amateur stuff and the whole book relied a LOT on gender stereotypes. While I understand the need for this to a certain extent in a book like this, this book just never went deep enough to examine why those stereotypes existed.
It was also painfully obvious that the person who had written the book was a man and didn't have ANY experience with being an adolescent girl. While the main character, Emma, was believable enough--I'd met girls like her and didn't expect her to be a representation of ALL girls--the scenes that were "all girl" scenes were grossly unbelievable. Yes, they felt more like a man's idea of girl interactions than real interactions. The devil's in the details, and the details in this one were just off enough for it not to be believable (example: a bunch of 6th grade girls whipping off their clothes in the locker room and running to the showers. In my recollection, 6th grade showering is PAINFULLY embarrassing, girls hunch over themselves in the locker room because they're self conscious about their bodies, and if they DO shower, they do so with their undergarments on, or holding a towel in front of them till the last minute, etc.) I'd like to see Blake Nelson actually do a gender switch and THEN come back to write this novel.
It was also painfully obvious that the person who had written the book was a man and didn't have ANY experience with being an adolescent girl. While the main character, Emma, was believable enough--I'd met girls like her and didn't expect her to be a representation of ALL girls--the scenes that were "all girl" scenes were grossly unbelievable. Yes, they felt more like a man's idea of girl interactions than real interactions. The devil's in the details, and the details in this one were just off enough for it not to be believable (example: a bunch of 6th grade girls whipping off their clothes in the locker room and running to the showers. In my recollection, 6th grade showering is PAINFULLY embarrassing, girls hunch over themselves in the locker room because they're self conscious about their bodies, and if they DO shower, they do so with their undergarments on, or holding a towel in front of them till the last minute, etc.) I'd like to see Blake Nelson actually do a gender switch and THEN come back to write this novel.
Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com
GENDER BLENDER is a fun but thought-provoking novel about gender differences for middle-schoolers.
Since they started middle school, Emma and Tom haven't been able to get along and be friends the way they used to be.
Emma hates boys--except Jeff, the cutest sixth-grade boy in school. She can only hope that he'll notice her! She gets straight-A's and is involved in a ton of after-school activities. She's worried about getting her first period, among other things. She's pretty much a typical overachieving sixth-grader.
Tom isn't what anyone would call a good student. He spends most of his time fooling around with his friends and playing baseball. He's got stuff to be stressed about, too, though. For one thing, he wants beautiful Kelly to notice him!
When their health teacher gives them an assignment on gender differences, Emma and Tom suddenly have an advantage over the rest of the class--though they don't see it that way. While jumping on a trampoline, they knock heads, and, suddenly, they've switched bodies! Can they learn to understand each other and get along in time to switch back?
GENDER BLENDER, while it is quite entertaining, deals with an important issue. Gender differences are certainly something to think about; Emma and Tom's health teacher is right--boys and girls don't really understand each other, especially in middle school (not to say that it gets completely better later, though...). Blake Nelson's novel deals with this issue in a fun, if slightly ridiculous, way, using likeable characters, as well. This is a great book for preteens of either gender!
GENDER BLENDER is a fun but thought-provoking novel about gender differences for middle-schoolers.
Since they started middle school, Emma and Tom haven't been able to get along and be friends the way they used to be.
Emma hates boys--except Jeff, the cutest sixth-grade boy in school. She can only hope that he'll notice her! She gets straight-A's and is involved in a ton of after-school activities. She's worried about getting her first period, among other things. She's pretty much a typical overachieving sixth-grader.
Tom isn't what anyone would call a good student. He spends most of his time fooling around with his friends and playing baseball. He's got stuff to be stressed about, too, though. For one thing, he wants beautiful Kelly to notice him!
When their health teacher gives them an assignment on gender differences, Emma and Tom suddenly have an advantage over the rest of the class--though they don't see it that way. While jumping on a trampoline, they knock heads, and, suddenly, they've switched bodies! Can they learn to understand each other and get along in time to switch back?
GENDER BLENDER, while it is quite entertaining, deals with an important issue. Gender differences are certainly something to think about; Emma and Tom's health teacher is right--boys and girls don't really understand each other, especially in middle school (not to say that it gets completely better later, though...). Blake Nelson's novel deals with this issue in a fun, if slightly ridiculous, way, using likeable characters, as well. This is a great book for preteens of either gender!
Interesting plot (sort of like an adolescent "Prelude to a Kiss"), insipid dialogue (yes, even more insipid than the usual middle school dialogue) "You are so xxxxxxx!" "What do you mean, you're the one who is xxxxxxx!" I'd think twice about having this in my 4th or 5th grade classroom, maybe by 6th grade.
