Freaky Friday

Annabel Andrews is the novel’s narrator and protagonist. She is clever—her brother Ben and her teachers comment on how intelligent she is—and her witty, sometimes bluntly snarky observations are a significant part of the story’s humor. She is 13 years old, with brown hair and eyes. Like many girls of her era, Annabel often focuses her attention on her body—she is a slight girl, but “watching” her weight, and she looks forward to developing a more mature figure (2). She worries about not being pretty, and she envies her mother’s beauty and her brother’s blue eyes. Her insecurities sometimes cause her to misjudge others’ intentions, as when she believes her mother is ashamed to be compared to her. Her insecurities can also prevent her from acknowledging others’ merits: She is so jealous of her younger brother, Ben, that she cannot see how much this sweet, obedient child looks up to her and instead believes that he must dislike her as much as she dislikes him.

Annabel is a dynamic character who grows significantly over the course of the story, however. She begins the story as a “careless and sloppy” girl who is constantly losing her possessions, lives in a disorganized and messy bedroom, fails to do her homework, is cruel to her brother, and resents her mother’s rules about hygiene, safety, and nutrition (21).