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Changing Places
Who would believe it? They’d switched bodies. Changed places.
Josh slipped his feet into fluffy pink slippers while he gaped at Jenny’s bedroom. Jenny stumbled over baseball equipment and groped her way to Josh’s closet. Had they really changed places?
They’d had a lot of arguments lately—about schedules, about ballet and baseball, about the differences between being a boy and being a girl. They’d talked about walking around in each other’s shoes.
They never thought they’d get the chance to do it!
Josh slipped his feet into fluffy pink slippers while he gaped at Jenny’s bedroom. Jenny stumbled over baseball equipment and groped her way to Josh’s closet. Had they really changed places?
They’d had a lot of arguments lately—about schedules, about ballet and baseball, about the differences between being a boy and being a girl. They’d talked about walking around in each other’s shoes.
They never thought they’d get the chance to do it!
- GenresYoung AdultFiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
94 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 31, 2019
Josh and Jenny are typical middle-class American teens of the eighties. They’re very fond of each other, but lately they’ve been having trouble empathizing and communicating with each other. Josh doesn’t understand how important ballet is to Jenny, and she can’t understand why he doesn’t understand (if I recall correctly). Josh also wants to take their relationship to the next level, and Jenny isn’t sure she’s ready. Before the gap between them can grow too wide, their fairy godfather appears on a computer screen and tells them that to stop their bickering, he’s going to have them switch bodies and lives for the week.
And so they do. After the initial period of upset and bewilderment, they start to learn: about the struggles and fun of the opposite gender, the roles they have to play, how they act in packs, the difference between male and female friendships. Jenny has to throw and catch a ball for the first time since adolescence so she won’t let Josh’s team down; Josh has to memorize and successfully perform Jenny’s all-important dance routine for a big tryout. They have to use their bodies and minds in ways they never had before, each needing the other to teach them, but also adding their own spin.
Convincing the other’s friends and family that they are them is also difficult and risky. (They decide that pretending to be each other would be easiest, rather than explaining the whole fairy-godfather-prescribed switcheroo situation.) Josh learns and appreciates how Jenny helps take care of her family. They get to know each other’s friends better, offering them surprisingly insightful advice about the opposite sex. Josh learns how girls tell each other everything, expect him to listen, have parties for no real occasion, and dance with each other at them; Jenny learns how boys playfully insult each other and why they sometimes walk into telephone poles when girls go by.
At the end of the exhausting but successful week, their fairy godfather comes back onscreen, confirms that they have learned, and changes them back. Josh and Jenny are really happy, because they understand each other more than most couples ever will (kind of like Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot). Their relationship is strong, and it’s become less of a chase—it’s a softer, less self-centered thing. This is good magic!
I really like these kinds of stories—empathy is a very good thing. This one definitely could have been written better, but the message was cheering. Sometimes I think everyone should switch bodies for a short period, to experience life from other sides. Not everyone at once, but a few at a time. Starting with close-minded, insular people who take their sex role for granted—and might abuse it.
And so they do. After the initial period of upset and bewilderment, they start to learn: about the struggles and fun of the opposite gender, the roles they have to play, how they act in packs, the difference between male and female friendships. Jenny has to throw and catch a ball for the first time since adolescence so she won’t let Josh’s team down; Josh has to memorize and successfully perform Jenny’s all-important dance routine for a big tryout. They have to use their bodies and minds in ways they never had before, each needing the other to teach them, but also adding their own spin.
Convincing the other’s friends and family that they are them is also difficult and risky. (They decide that pretending to be each other would be easiest, rather than explaining the whole fairy-godfather-prescribed switcheroo situation.) Josh learns and appreciates how Jenny helps take care of her family. They get to know each other’s friends better, offering them surprisingly insightful advice about the opposite sex. Josh learns how girls tell each other everything, expect him to listen, have parties for no real occasion, and dance with each other at them; Jenny learns how boys playfully insult each other and why they sometimes walk into telephone poles when girls go by.
At the end of the exhausting but successful week, their fairy godfather comes back onscreen, confirms that they have learned, and changes them back. Josh and Jenny are really happy, because they understand each other more than most couples ever will (kind of like Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot). Their relationship is strong, and it’s become less of a chase—it’s a softer, less self-centered thing. This is good magic!
I really like these kinds of stories—empathy is a very good thing. This one definitely could have been written better, but the message was cheering. Sometimes I think everyone should switch bodies for a short period, to experience life from other sides. Not everyone at once, but a few at a time. Starting with close-minded, insular people who take their sex role for granted—and might abuse it.
December 7, 2019
Eighties teen bf & gf switch bodies because of a fairy godfather who lives in a computer (of course), and the sex-obsessed boy never feels up the breasts he suddenly has.
You can guess which part of this I simply don't believe.
Look, this book is not very well written. No human being has ever behaved or spoken like the characters in this book, ever. But beyond the stiltedness of the prose, you can see Smith trying to get across some real, honest messages about the pressures teens feel: to have sex, to succeed, to conform to societal norms. Smith is clearly constrained by the time and the medium, or maybe her own discomfort -- hey, I don't know this lady -- and the inability to actually talk about bodies when talking about sex makes even the book's best moments feel corseted. And yet: ultimately, this is a screed against toxic masculinity. A quiet, restrained, 1986 teen lit screed, but one nonetheless.
So, four for you, Susan Smith! A noble effort.
You can guess which part of this I simply don't believe.
Look, this book is not very well written. No human being has ever behaved or spoken like the characters in this book, ever. But beyond the stiltedness of the prose, you can see Smith trying to get across some real, honest messages about the pressures teens feel: to have sex, to succeed, to conform to societal norms. Smith is clearly constrained by the time and the medium, or maybe her own discomfort -- hey, I don't know this lady -- and the inability to actually talk about bodies when talking about sex makes even the book's best moments feel corseted. And yet: ultimately, this is a screed against toxic masculinity. A quiet, restrained, 1986 teen lit screed, but one nonetheless.
So, four for you, Susan Smith! A noble effort.
November 11, 2015
don't ask me why, but this book still sticks in my mind as a favorite from my young days. a girl and her boyfriend wake up to find they are in each other's bodies and experience being the opposite sex for a day. i found a copy of this at a yard sale and bought it. need to read it again now, as a twenty-something. more than likely i'll wonder why i ever liked it. :)
November 24, 2025
The summary online threw me off but when reading it, i was genuinely surprised how great the characters and plot really were.
Definitely a hidden gem for anyone loving a body swap story!
So glad I can add it to my collection now.
Definitely a hidden gem for anyone loving a body swap story!
So glad I can add it to my collection now.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews