Freaky Friday

Mary Rodgers’s 1972 middle-grade comedic novel Freaky Friday is the story of a strange and surprising day in the life of 13-year-old Annabel Andrews. After an argument with her mother the night before, Annabel wakes to find herself in her mother’s body—and her mother in Annabel’s body. As Annabel copes with the amusing complications of navigating adult life, she develops a new appreciation for her family and discovers new truths about herself. The body swap teaches Annabel empathy and responsibility and gives her a new perspective on the challenges of adulthood. Freaky Friday has been made into several films and a musical stage play. The Andrews family also features in two later Rodgers novels: A Billion for Boris (1974) and Summer Switch (1982). Mary Rodgers co-wrote another body-swap novel for young readers with Heather Hatch in 2009, called Freaky Monday. 

This guide is based on the 1972 HarperCollins hardback edition.

Content Warnings: The source material and guide feature depictions of suicidal ideation, racism, ableism, gender discrimination, and disordered eating. Although the protagonist does not have a diagnosed eating disorder, the text normalizes harmful ideas about undernutrition and body size.

Plot Summary

Thirteen-year-old Annabel Andrews is both shocked and delighted when, one morning, she wakes up in her mother’s body. The night before, Annabel had a fight with her mother, Ellen, over Ellen’s strict rules. Annabel expressed resentment that her mother did not have to live according to someone else’s rules and portrayed Ellen’s life as full of fun and easy comfort. Now, Annabel suspects that her mother has somehow caused this body swap as a way to show Annabel what it is really like to be an adult responsible for a household and two children.

Annabel takes pleasure in going through her mother’s morning routine of putting on makeup; she envies her mother’s beauty and is excited to show her father what she looks like. She wakes him up by punching him in the arm. Thinking she is Ellen, Bill Andrews is irate about being woken up this way, especially since it robs him of the last few minutes of sleep before his alarm goes off. Still, he tells her she is beautiful and that he loves her, and he does not make a fuss when she has to give him instant coffee at breakfast because she does not know how to make brewed coffee.

Annabel feeds Ben and then goes to wake whoever is in her own body. The other Annabel confuses her, because she is acting like Annabel herself and does not seem aware of any body swap. From this, Annabel concludes that the person in her body is not Ellen but some other version of her own consciousness. She finally gets the moody teen out of bed and dressed and has to reprimand her for being rude to Ben before getting them both out the door to school.

When she looks in her mother’s appointment calendar, she finds that she needs to buy scotch and has an appointment scheduled that afternoon. Unfortunately, the calendar contains no details about where or what the appointment is. When Annabel approaches Bill about money for the scotch, Bill complains about all of the money Ellen ends up spending on Annabel—replacing possessions she loses and promising her that she can go to camp, for instance. Annabel learns that the family will have to sacrifice summer vacation plans because of the expensive camp.

After her father leaves for work, Annabel tries to run the washing machine, but she overloads it and it stops abruptly, causing Annabel to think it is broken. She receives a visit from Boris, a 14-year-old neighbor that she has a crush on. During the visit, she learns that Boris—who believes he is speaking to Ellen—thinks that Annabel is a terrible person. Her grandmother calls, and Annabel, thinking that she is solving the family’s problems, suggests that the family visit her grandmother for an entire month in the summer. This way, she believes, they can have a vacation and she can still go to camp.

When the family’s cleaner, Mrs. Schmauss, arrives, she shows Annabel that the washing machine is not really broken. While talking to Annabel, whom she believes to be Ellen, she makes racist remarks, criticizes Annabel harshly, and falsely accuses Annabel of drinking the family’s gin. Annabel fires her and heads for the liquor store. On her way home, she sees Ben surrounded by people. He is crying because “Ellen” forgot to pick him up from the bus, and Annabel has an embarrassing interview with a concerned police officer. Eventually, she gets Ben home.

Ben is overjoyed to hear that Mrs. Schmauss has been fired. He explains that he hates the way she talks about Annabel. Even though Annabel is mean to Ben, Ben admires his older sister and thinks she is smart and fun. He asks why Annabel hates him and begins to cry. As Annabel comforts him, she begins to think that it is possible to love and hate someone at the same time.

Bill calls to let “Ellen” know that he has invited clients home for dinner. Annabel begs him to pick another night, because she does not know how to cook dinner, but he insists. He also reminds her that she has a meeting at the school to talk about Annabel. Realizing that she will be late, she tries to hurry Ben out the door, but he refuses to go with her because he has a friend coming over to play. She calls Boris to babysit. When Boris arrives, she jokingly suggests that he also make dinner and is surprised when he agrees to do so.

Annabel is very late for her meeting with the principal, her teacher Miss McGuirk, and the school psychologist. She learns that the other Annabel skipped school all day and that her grades are very low—in fact, Annabel is failing English. Annabel is surprised to discover that everyone at the school actually likes her and considers her highly intelligent. They are simply disappointed in Annabel’s recent behavior and worried that something in her home life is bothering her. Annabel is mystified and assures them that she has no idea what might be upsetting her “daughter.” Miss McGuirk kindly agrees to extend until Monday the deadline for the English essay that will prevent Annabel from failing, and Annabel promises them that starting Monday, they can expect to see much better behavior.

When Annabel returns home, she is horrified to discover that it is not only the other Annabel who is missing—now, Ben has disappeared, as well. Boris can only tell her that an attractive girl that Ben clearly recognized showed up at the door and took Ben off to get ice cream. She is unable to get the police to take her seriously, and while she is considering what to do, her father’s clients show up at the door. She asks Boris to entertain them for a moment and runs into her parents’ bedroom, where she begins pleading for her mother to come back and help her.

Ellen finally reappears, ending the body swap. She admits to having engineered the entire thing and says that she was in Annabel’s body all day long. Annabel is greatly relieved to learn that Ben is safely playing in a nearby room. She fills her mother in on everything that happened. Boris knocks at the door and announces that the clients have left, planning to come back the following evening. Ellen invites him to come back for dinner later.

Ben comes in and Annabel treats him with new kindness. He thanks her for getting him ice cream earlier, and she realizes that she herself must be the attractive girl that Boris saw earlier. She gets up and looks in the mirror. During the day, Ellen has managed to get Annabel’s hair cut, buy her more fashionable clothes, and get her braces removed. Annabel thinks that she actually looks very pretty.

That evening, Bill finds out about the plan to spend a month at his mother-in-law’s and is aghast. Annabel selflessly tells her parents she does not want to go to camp, and they are relieved that they can now spend the money on a proper family vacation. When Boris returns for dinner, he is shocked to realize that the attractive girl he saw earlier is actually Annabel, and the two spend a while having a pleasant chat in the kitchen.

Annabel learns that Boris’s chronic congestion has caused her family to mishear his name—he is actually called “Morris.” Morris shares some information about his terrible mother, and Annabel hears his congestion returning. She theorizes that he is allergic to his mother. He tells the Andrews family that at least he can get away from his mother in the summer, on his annual visit to his grandfather in Stamford. When Annabel’s parents learn that the grandfather has a rental house that is available, they decide to spend July in Stamford.

Annabel spends the rest of the weekend working on her English essay. She gets a good grade on it, although Miss McGuirk makes it clear that she thinks the whole premise—the day Annabel swapped bodies with her mother—is absurd.