12 Again

In this odd, cross-genre pairing, a boy tries to solve the mystery of his mother's disappearance, not knowing that she has turned into a child herself and is now his classmate. Told from two points of view, this part mystery, part supernatural hybrid goes back and forth between Patrick, a 12-year-old boy whose mother has vanished, and Bernadette, his mother. Though discombobulated by the experience of being 12 again, Bernadette enjoys her second go-round in middle school and her reunion with her own mother, a superstitious, unassimilated Irish immigrant who is dead in the present. Seemingly less out of affection and more because he's stuck doing chores and caring for his younger brothers, Patrick repeatedly e-mails his mother and tries to piece together clues to her whereabouts. Meanwhile, Bernadette learns from her research into Irish folklore that her problems are the work of magical and malicious fairies. To rid herself of the fairies and return to her adult self, Bernadette takes her mother's advice and asks Patrick for help, which brings the duel story lines together, focuses the action and causes grandmother and mother and mother and son to value each other in more profound ways. After a crackerjack opening, the story stumbles a bit-Bernadette's middle-school experiences seem off point and her quest to return to her adult life initially lacks urgency-before regaining its footing in the unexpected territory of Irish fairy lore. Still: original, unusual, and imaginative. (Fiction. 10-14)

Copyright 2002 Kirkus, LLC Used with permission.

Gr. 5-8. This clever time-slip story is told from the alternating perspectives of its two protagonists--12-year-old Patrick and his mother, Bernadette, who becomes 12 again through wishful thinking and by drinking a potion she finds in her deceased mother's house. Inside that house, where she's gone to work on her writing and get away from her family and chaotic home life, it's 1972; her laptop doesn't work and her mother is alive again. When "Detta"ventures out, she is no longer grown: she is 12, and she finds herself attending her son Patrick's Long Island school. He doesn't know who she is, so his scenes with "the new girl"are truly strange. Although Bernadette basks in her mother's love, she misses her family and knows she must find a way to make things as they were. But she needs Patrick's help to do it, according to her mother, whose Gaelic knowledge of the unseen world comes in handy. This many-layered tale of magic across generations gives the term coming-of-age fascinating new meaning.

Copyright 2002 Booklist, LLC Used with permission.

Irish fairies meet the computer age in this domestic fantasy, but the result is more Peggy Sue Got Married than Artemis Fowl. A misfired wish turns Patrick's mother into a twelve-year-old; chapters alternate between Patrick's and his mother's narratives as she tries to change back. Even in Patrick's chapters, the book is too much a mother's point of view, but the school scenes and family situations are appealingly light and the fantasy device is deployed fairly well.

Copyright 2003 Hornbook Guide, LLC Used with permission.

Gr 4-7 A riveting first novel. Overwhelmed with her life as a mother, wife, and newspaper journalist, Bernadette McBride decides to spend the night at her late Irish mother's house. Helping herself to some mysterious liquid in the pantry, Bernadette ruefully wishes to be young again. When she awakens, she has been transformed into a 12-year-old on what should be her 40th birthday. She hears her mother calling her down for breakfast and is at first jubilant, but then realizes how complex her life has become. She enrolls in her oldest son's school and tries to figure out how to undo her wish and get back to her husband and three boys. As weeks go by, her family assumes the worst but her son Patrick is certain that his mother will try to contact him, and he never gives up hope. When he receives her mysterious and untraceable e-mail sending him off on a dangerous errand, he realizes that her rescue is completely in his hands, and the results measure up to a satisfying conclusion. Corbett's story, told from the alternating points of view of 12-year-old Patrick and Bernadette, is an extraordinary alchemy of elements that makes for an engaging read. The dialogue is natural and believable, and the emotions expressed by the characters are genuine. A great mix of fairy charms, Irish folklore, humor, mystery, and familial love. -Janet Gillen, Great Neck Public Library, NY

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Irish folklore supplies the ingredients for debut author Corbett's creative contemporary fantasy, set in Long Island, N.Y. When stressed-out mom and Newsday reporter Bernadette McBride unwittingly drinks a potion just before making a toast "to youth," she wakes up and finds herself age 12 again, living in her childhood home with her Irish-born mother (who died in Bernadette's adulthood). Eventually, she discovers fairy magic is at work; while it's modern times outside the house, inside it's 1972. The story alternates between her perspective and that of Patrick, the oldest of her three sons, and readers get a strong sense of their emotions. Bernadette is thrilled to see her mother again but misses her family fiercely, feeling especially guilty for heaping too much responsibility on Patrick; he regrets thinking of her as a "burr on his shoelace." Bernadette, enrolled at school as "Detta," shares a class with Patrick, but doesn't want anyone, not even Patrick, to know about her transformation. In addition to the colorful folk traditions, Corbett supplies funny details as Bernadette adjusts to middle school (she bests a bully and is stumped when classmates ask her if she likes the Backstreet Boys). Though many of Bernadette's sentiments may make more sense to adults (particularly her ardent desire to please her mother) and some of the premise is fuzzy (Bernadette delays contacting Patrick for flimsy reasons), overall, this is a well-orchestrated and heartwarming read. Ages 10-14. 

Copyright 2002 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.