Trading Places

by Claudia Mills

Todd and Amy Davidson may be twins, but they’re complete opposites – Todd is organized and is the family “engineer,” while Amy is outgoing and has been dubbed the “poet.” So it would seem that for a fifth-grade economics project, Todd would come up with a master invention, and Amy would have a blast with her best friends as partners. To their surprise, Todd can’t think of a single idea, and Amy gets stuck working with the class crybaby. Then Todd begins writing poetry . . . But this is nothing compared to the switch their parents have made. Their father has been unemployed for months and their mother has started to work at a crafts store. Now there’s never enough food in the house, everybody is always on edge, and when Amy’s friends come over after school, they find Mr. Davidson, uncombed and unshaven, in his ratty old bathrobe. Will life ever return to normal?
With chapters that alternate between Todd’s and Amy’s points of view, this novel is a realistic and sometimes funny portrayal of a family adapting to changing roles.
Trading Places is a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Genres: Childrens

144 pages, Hardcover

First published March 21, 2006

About the author

Claudia Mills is the author of Nixie Ness, Cooking Star, 7 x 9 = Trouble!, Zero Tolerance, Write This Down, and many other books for children. She was born in New York City in 1954. She received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College, her master's degree from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University. She also received an M.L.S. degree from the University of Maryland, with a concentration in children's literature. She had a second career as a professor of philosophy at the Colorado at Boulder, until leaving that career in 2014 to write full time. She now teaches in the graduate program in children's literature at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia. All of her books have been written between 5 and 7 in the morning while drinking Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/claudi...

Reviews

[Madeline Pratchler · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son and I read this book together. So enjoyable! I loved the character development in all characters, the believable and relatable difficulties. The pace was just right and I liked the alternating points of view between Amy and Todd for greater perspective. The handwriting analysis - I remember doing this! So fun. Will definitely check out more books from this author!

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claudia Mills gets kids. There is so much for us all to learn about how to be kind to ourselves, our families, our classmates and our friends.

Love the twist of handwriting analysis. Wonder if any readers will give it a try.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ages: 10 & Up
Annotation:
Twins are in a stage of changes will they survive that and all of their troubles at home.
Plot:
Amy and Todd Davidson are twins, but they are exact opposites. Amy is a poet and Todd is engineer minded. When they start 5th grade they realize that they are starting to change into even more different people and worry that they won’t have a bond anymore. At hoe things are tough because their dad has been unemployed for six months and that is very stressful for the whole family. Their mom had to go to work to support the family and things are falling apart. There is never any food in the house and the kitchen is a mess with dirty dishes and spoiled food. Dad is slipping away fast and no one knows what to do. The scariest thing of all is that their mom has had it and is threatening to divorce dad. The stress and tension is affecting Amy and Todd and they start to do bad in school. With dad out of work and mom angry all the time, the twins world is out of control. Will they find a solution as a family?
Review:
This book gives the reader real life problems through the experience of the protagonists such in school and at home where their parents are going through the intense dealing of dad being unemployed and mom angry at dad all the time because he does not clean or look for a job. The twins are also having trouble at school with their friends and the realism is very convincing. It is clear that not all problems are solved in the end, but each member of the family has new skills for coping with their problems. These type of book are important for young readers so they can find their own way of coping. I remember when I was young I would day dream a lot and doodle.

[Rayda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book aloud to my class, and my class loved it (fifth grade). This book is about a twin boy and girl and their year in fifth grade. Their father is out of work and this influences a lot of the dynamics between the parents and between the children and their parents, and even between the children. The children participate in "Mini-Society" in fifth grade, and this is something that I do with my class as well. My class related very well to the entire book: family squabbles, family worries over money, school situations, school friends (and not-so-friendly friends). Everyone grows and becomes better by the end of the book, but it isn't saccarine in any way. Highly recommended.

[Gaylene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this Claudia Mills book even more than the last one I read--I think it was because it felt a little bit older. The story was a more complex, but the feelings were completely real for fifth graders who have to deal with friend problems and parent problems.

[Jenni · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. I read it for Reader's Rally, a reading club at school. I don't think the plot was very well developed and the named doesn't really fit the book. The focus of the book is NOT on the twins trading places. I wouldn't read this again.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifth grade twins go through turmoil when their father loses his job and their dog gets old. Has humorous moments as well.

[Lola · Rating 4 out of 5]

PEOPLE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK BECAUSE IT IS A CLASSIC BOOK ABOUT TOTALLY TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLLE WHO ARE TWINS THAT HAVE TO DO A PROJECT THAT AT FIRST MY NOT LIKE.

[Nancy Kotkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though there is some switching of roles and attributes between the twin protagonists, and between their parents, this middle grade novel isn't really about trading places. This book is more focused on second chances.
If the last few weeks had taught Amy anything, they had taught her the importance of second chances. (pg 137)
In fact, every single family member - mother, father, brother, sister, even their old dog - gets a second chance. All the major characters recreate their roles and re-invent their personalities. (Bravo to the author for including the parents too!) These transformations make the characters dynamic and the story layered.

The main issue of the book is that some of these changes occur a bit too abruptly. This is particularly true in the case of the father - for many months he can't even boil water, then he finally manages to pull together a 30-minute meal from a recipe, and a few weeks later he's considering becoming a caterer. Even for lower middle grade, this is a very short novel of only 138 pages; I'm not sure why the author didn't slow down the pace a bit and expand more on all the interesting changes taking place in these characters' lives.

Despite that flaw, I really enjoyed the time I spent with this contemporary family while they deal with very realistic situations. And Isaiah really captured my heart. The third-person narration alternates fairly seamlessly between the brother and the sister. Finally, the Mini-Society school project enhances the plot and mirrors real life.