Freaky Friday

Thirteen-year-old Annabel Andrews expresses delighted shock as she wakes up in her mother’s bed—in her mother’s body. She gives background on her family’s composition. Annabel is one of two children in the Andrews household. Her younger brother, Ben, is six. Annabel resents the fact that Ben has inherited blue eyes while hers are brown, and although she admits that Ben is a perfectly ordinary child, she “loathe[s]” him (3) and refers to him as “Ape Face” (4). Her father, Bill, is an account executive and “a fantastically cool person” (3). Her mother, Ellen, is a homemaker. Annabel views her mother as an attractive woman who is too strict and old-fashioned.

Annabel feels that her mother controls her and prevents her from having fun. Ellen insists on Annabel eating nutritious meals, cleaning her room, and obeying basic safety rules. She wants Annabel to keep her hair and nails trimmed. Annabel recalls the argument she and her mother had the night before. Annabel’s good friend is having a party, but Ellen will not allow Annabel to attend, because the friend’s parents do not closely supervise the children in their home. At the friend’s last party, the boys and girls played kissing games, which Ellen does not approve of.