Poppy McBean just wants to keep her head down and get through fifth grade with her close friends, and she happily lets the other girls take the lead until an incident at school leaves her questioning their devotion to one another. Poppy takes solace in her magnificently cocky cat, Muffin Man, and both the girl and cat feel they'd operate better living as the other. With a magical whoosh, the two souls trade places, and after the initial bewilderment wears off, they set out to fix each other's problems and find a way to swap their spirits back, with predictably entertaining results. Muffin Man's feline behavior in a human body (sniffing at backpacks, shrieking at loud noises, grabbing handfuls of cat food out of the cupboard) and matter-of-fact confidence are priceless, and Poppy's mishaps in her decidedly furrier body are equally silly. The friendships and families are realistically complicated and rewarding, and the writing is playful and nimble, sure to draw in reluctant readers. A wonderfully funny and empathetic exploration of evolving friendships and growing confidence.

A fifth grader and her cat magically swap bodies.After a particularly embarrassing day at middle school when she was laughed at and her friends didn't stand up for her, Poppy McBean is sharing all her problems with the best listener she knows: her cat, Mitten Man. When she wishes she had his awesome, easy life, she suddenly magically transforms into Mitten Man's feline self! Even more surprising, Mitten Man now inhabits Poppy's body (and is from then on referred to as "Big Poppy"), and the two can communicate telepathically but only when looking at each other. Through alternating first-person narratives, readers follow girl and cat as they embark on strange new adventures and learn about each other, themselves, and what it means to be a good friend. There's a slow start, but once the characters are a bit more settled in their new bodies, the pace picks up. Big Poppy is not great at thinking about others and makes many cringeworthy decisions. As "Old Poppy" (human girl Poppy in cat form) helplessly watches her friendships ruined, she winds up on a dangerous rescue mission involving a stray cat and a turtle that amps up the drama. There is plenty of humor throughout, but it's the realistically imperfect friendships that give the book depth and heart. Poppy is assumed White; names imply some ethnic diversity among her friends.Funny fare realistically exploring feelings. (Fiction. 9-12)

A girl and her cat switch bodies in this Freaky Friday–flavored romp. Eleven-year-old Poppy McBean, who cues as white, is venting to her cat, Mitten Man, about her frustrations: feeling neglected by her overworked parents and put out by her bossy best friend, she wishes that she had Mitten Man’s easy life. Following this admittance, the “world goes crazy” and, as if by magic, tween and cat swap minds. The two are suddenly capable of communicating telepathically, and they arrange for Mitten Man, now known as Big Poppy, to attend school while Old Poppy fumbles through life as a house cat until they can reverse the spell. Big Poppy, who has no interest in maintaining the status quo at school, quickly alienates Poppy’s friends. Old Poppy, meanwhile, must brave the dangers of the outside world in a quest to locate a missing turtle. Tracy (I Am Picky) centers themes of empathy and understanding, as well as learning to push one’s boundaries, through Big Poppy’s stumbling efforts to conform to human life and Old Poppy’s hesitancy to embrace change. It’s a lighthearted adventure that will appeal to anyone who’s ever wished to walk in their pet’s paws. Ages 10–up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (July)