Do Over

What if you had a chance to do-over your life, not completely, but the little things. For instance if you spilled a drink on yourself you could instantly rewind and do it over so that you wouldn't spill the drink. Sounds neat right?

Elsa is 12 going on 13 (obviously) and things couldn't be better! She has her best friend Lani to help her make fun on the "Slicer" girls and she's a natural nerd in all of her subjects. As she is walking home from school one day she notices a ton of cars in her driveway - even a cop car. She begins to think that maybe a surprise party is about to happen for her (her birthday is a month away) but why then the cop car? When she enters the house her dad tells her that her mother has just died.

Elsa has to move 60 miles away from her best friend and begin a new school half way through the 7th grade. The night before Elsa begins her first day at her new school her mother visits her. Her mother tells her that she is bestowing a gift to Elsa - a gift she must use wisely. Her mother's old locket magically appears next to Elsa. Her mother says that Elsa will have a chance to do-over whatever she wants. Well there are limits. Elsa can only do-over whatever happened in the last 10 seconds. Endless possibilities are now at Elsa's fingertips.

Elsa starts to use her do-over powers to make her more popular among the "in" crowd. She hears gossip and before it spreads she does over the time and says it before the other girls - making it appear as if she has the 411. In all of her classes she waits for the people to call out the right word before doing it over and saying the answers for herself. But she starts to tire of the charade. She hates that Darcy (the Queen Bee) has a hold on her. Elsa wants to be herself but is sacred of the rejection. Elsa decides that she can use the power in a better way. She is going to take matters into her own hands and start using the do-overs to make Darcy's life miserable. Finally Darcy will get a taste of her own medicine. But Elsa knows that this isn't right. Can Elsa be true to herself and finally understand she is better off being herself than a snob?

This was a very quick read (only 183 pages!) I like the message that it sent and I must admit it didn't exactly pan out as I thought. It was a nice funny read and it got good when Elsa started to prank Darcy back.

Do-Over by Christine Hurley Deriso. New York (c) 2006