Change Places with Me

August 8, 2016
One morning in 2029, Rose wakes up feeling different. Instead of carrying the weight of sadness spurred by tragedies in her life, she is happy. Instead of avoiding people, she wants to talk and actually acts friendly toward her stepmother and classmates she has ignored in the past. Rose doesn't know why her mood has transformed, but it seems to involve a cloud of red light and a vague memory of a short-haired girl. In this psychological drama, Metzger (A Trick of the Light) creates a world only slightly altered by time to express what happens when one vulnerable teen's desire to be someone else comes true. The troubles Rose faces, as she tries to comprehend what has happened to her and whether it matters if her newfound happiness is real, relate to ethical questions about scientific advancements and psychological treatments. Whether or not readers agree with the decisions Rose makes, they may be inspired to examine how their own emotions affect their perception of the world. Ages 14âup. Agent: Susan Cohen, Writers House.

April 1, 2016
Rose, a quiet, shy girl living in New York City in 2029, suddenly comes out of her shell. The white 15-year-old seeks out new, popular friends, although she tries to include her longtime best friend in their activities as well. Once so averse to human contact that she ate her school lunch facing a wall, now Rose is gregarious to a fault. She throws parties for her new friends, gets a radical new haircut, and searches for an elusive jean jacket, one that she feels she must have. Readers learn that this is a radical change in Rose's personality from the reactions of those around her; her presentation in the third-person narrative is blandly unquestioning. However, the scene changes with the second half of the book, and readers learn why Rose has been acting in this new way. Something she experienced in this brave new world has changed her personality. Now she wants to return to her true self and to her real name. But can she? The exposition is simple and declarative, with no lyricism getting in the way of readers' growing immersion in Rose's character, which gains depth and interest as the book progresses. The near-future setting is likewise unadorned, with just a few science-fiction tweaks to create a world that plausibly might also contain new scientific advances. An interesting, experimental near-future character study. (Science fiction. 12-18)

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from April 15, 2016
Grades 8-11 *Starred Review* From the author of A Trick of the Light (2013) comes a nuanced tale of grief and memory. Teenage Rose goes about her life with seeming normalcy in the fictional Belle Heights neighborhood of a near-future New York City, yet both readers and Rose feel dislocated. Rose seems to grieve for her father, and yet the grief feels hollow. Indeed, something is missing, though it takes Rose some time to track down what exactly it is. It's not her memory per se but the feelings associated with them. They've been tampered with, replaced with a faux happiness in a procedure called Memory Enhancement. With an economy of prose rarely found in today's contemporary YA fiction, Metzger smartly structures the novel in three parts, allowing the reader to shift back to see the old Roseor Clara, as she was known pre-procedurebefore shifting forward to the present. Though it shares some themes with Adam Silvera's accomplished More Happy Than Not (2015), Metzger's presentation is distinctive. The austere, almost clinical nature of the story harks back more to Kazuo Ishiguro's classic, Never Let Me Go (2005). With a simplicity that belies its profundity, this title will linger long in readers' minds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
October, 2029: Rose's fraught relationship with her widowed stepmother has matured into friendship, literally overnight. She exchanges her old drab clothes for new ones and socializes with the popular crowd. Things turn sinister as Rose discovers something outside herself is responsible for these changes in her personality. Touches of sci-fi and mystery glamorize this complex and introspective story.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2016
October 2029: Rose wakes up feeling "happy, really happy, practically bursting with it." Her fraught relationship with her widowed stepmother has matured into friendship, literally overnight. She exchanges her old drab clothes for new elegant ones and decides to socialize more with the popular crowd at school. Her very name -- Rose -- is new. Everything seems perfect except for the intrusive and inexplicable red glow Rose sees whenever she wakes up. The forced clarity and brightness of these first few chapters turn sinister as Rose discovers that something outside of herself is responsible for the sudden, dramatic changes in her personality. She has transformed from sullen Clara -- still grieving for her seven-years-dead father -- to the magnanimous, magnetic Rose. Though estranged childhood friend Kim and movie-geek Cooper aren't as fashionable as her new party-girl friends, they prove invaluable as she investigates the mysterious Forget-Me-Not company responsible for the boutique memory alterations. Not quite Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for teens, Metzger's novel tackles deep issues: how to cope with painful memories; the futility of trying to be perfect. Eventually, Clara/Rose must learn to live somewhere between grief and denial. Touches of sci-fi and mystery glamorize this complex and introspective story of a girl growing up and moving on. sarah berman

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)