Turnabout

Haddix, Margaret Peterson. 2000. Turnabout.

In the year 2000, Amelia Lenore Hazelwood was nearing the end of her life. At a hundred years old, she didn’t expect much out of life. True, she had gone to see her family the year before for Easter, but she knew she was more of a worry to her family than anything else. And she barely even knew her great-grandchildren. But then everything changed. It all started when she signed the rest of her life away to science.

In the year 2085, Melly Hazelwood is celebrating her sixteenth birthday. Or is she? It’s hard to remember her real age and her new age. One thing for certain, the second time around she is doing things differently. You see, Melly and the other ‘subjects’ of the experiment were given a seemingly ‘magic’ drug to unage them. Year by year, their age is shrinking. After her sixteenth birthday party, Melly is now 15! The only problem...the scientists never quite got around to finding ‘the cure’ to stop the unaging process.

Now Melly and her best friend, Anny Beth, are trying to figure out just what they’ll do when they’re too young to take care of themselves. Can they find someone nice enough to adopt a child that will need to be raised in reverse? Already people are beginning to ask questions like weren’t you older when I hired you to babysit? And Melly has lost her license to drive. Soon they’ll be at an age where they will have to depend on someone else. And one thing they both agree on: they don’t trust the agency that experimented on them.

The story is told through a set of flashbacks ranging from 2000 to 2085. It is a very interesting, very exciting read.

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