Flipped
by Wendelin van Draanen
Random House, 2001, 224 pp., $8.95ISBN: 9780375825446
In the beginning of Flipped, Bryce Loski moves to Juli Baker's neighborhood. When they first meet, Juli falls in love with Bryce, for all the wrong reasons. But Bryce wants to stay as far away from Juli as possible. Juli tries to get Bryce to notice her by being nice. So she gives him eggs from the hens she is raising. But Bryce thinks the eggs have salmonella because Juli’s yard is a mess, so he throws them out without saying a thing to Juli. Bryce also starts making mean jokes about Juli’s family. Then their personalities flip. Juli decides that Bryce isn’t worth her time, but Bryce feels really bad about what he did and then he sees the good in Juli.
One of the themes in Flipped is romance; for example, Juli falls in loves with Bryce, and later Bryce falls in loves with Juli. Another theme is abandonment because Bryce abandons to Juli, even when she’s nice to him. The last theme is regret because Bryce regrets all the mean jokes and things he did to Juli. Flipped is a really good romantic comedy, with some sad parts as well. They both have conflicts in their lives, Juli, with her mentally challenged Uncle, and Bryce with his Granddad, who he hardly knows, and who is living at his house.
Wendelin Van Draanen uses two first person narrators; Bryce will narrate one chapter, then the next is Juli. It's a very interesting writing style because you get to hear both sides of a similar story. You can agree with both characters and you get connected to them. You really feel bad for them when they get hurt.
Flipped was a pretty good book, but it was kind of sad too. I would recommend it to anyone ages 8 to 15 who like a good quality book, and don’t mind a somewhat sad ending. I would say that anyone who doesn’t have a “soft side” or can feel sad for a fictional character wouldn’t like this book. But I would recommend it anyone who liked the Twilight series because of the comedy and romance, or someone who enjoys a sappy love story.
~ reviewed by Maddy K.
