cover image Bye for Now: A Wishers Story

Bye for Now: A Wishers Story

Kathleen Churchyard. Egmont USA, $15.99 (272p) ISBN 978-1-60684-190-7

In Churchyard's debut novel, a light addition to the body-swap genre, 11-year-old Robin Haggersly of Concord, N.C., makes a wish to be someone else after an especially awful birthday, on which she gains a black eye and head lice while losing a swim meet and suffering heartbreak from her would-be boyfriend. Robin wakes up as Fiona Walker, a beautiful and popular girl her age, who lives in London and is cast as Wendy in a large stage production of Peter Pan. After failing to explain herself to Fiona's parents or her own, Robin tries to reach out to her... self online, only to discover a wider chain of identity swapping among 11-year-old girls in India, Japan, Hawaii, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, she begins to enjoy Fiona's life instead of worrying about wrecking it. Though the girls' ready access to e-mail and Facebook is a convenient plot device, Robin's culture clashes in her British (and theatrical) environs, as well as her interactions with the global cast of girls who share her predicament, make for a breezy journey of self-discovery. Ages 8%E2%80%9312. (Aug.)