Freckle Juice

0-440-42813-0OCLC16245047LC ClassMLCS 2006/13892 (P)

Freckle Juice (ISBN 0-440-42813-0) is a 1971 children's chapter book by Judy Blume with illustrations by Sonia O. Lisker. It is about a second grade student who wants to have freckles.^[1]

Andrew Marcus desperately wants to have freckles like his classmate, Nicky Lane whom he sits behind. Nicky has millions of them on his face and back of his neck (about eighty six million of them), and Andrew wants some just so that his mother will never notice when his neck is dirty so he will not be late for school. While Andrew and his classmates are reading, he tries to count his (eighty six million) freckles. But when Andrew gets to eighty-six, his teacher --just when he is at eighty six-- Miss Kelly (who caught him counting) asks if he's paying attention. His classmate, Sharon, sells him a recipe for a so-called potion called "freckle juice" for fifty cents, which she claims will allow him to sprout freckles just like Nicky's. Andrew points out that Sharon doesn't even have freckles herself, but Sharon responds she does have six freckles on her nose, and was content with that. She claims the more freckle juice one drinks, the more freckles one can get. Andrew, after some thought, opts to accept the deal.

At home, Andrew reads the recipe, which claims that one glass of "freckle juice" will create an average amount of freckles, and two glasses will create what Nicky Lane's face and back of neck looks like, and it will work faster if its consumed faster. The recipe consists of mixing up grape juice with assorted condiments, which Andrew does. However, he finds the completed product putrid smelling and terrible tasting, but he still reluctantly gulps a glass down, and crawls to a mirror to see if it works. While waiting, Andrew becomes extremely sick with nausea. When his mother comes home from playing cards, she sees him in his sickened state, and is initially panic-stricken. However, upon seeing the mess Andrew left behind, she becomes outraged, chews Andrew out, gives him some pink medicine, and puts him to bed. That night, Andrew has a nightmare about a monster, resembling Sharon, who force feeds Andrew gallons of "freckle juice", and gets the freckles, rather than Andrew.

Andrew is still feeling unwell the following day, and stays home from school, but the day after that, is recovered. Realizing that Sharon had swindled him, Andrew dots his face and neck with a blue magic marker (since he could not find a brown one) to try to show her that the "freckle juice" had worked. Unfortunately for him, no one is fooled by his drawn-on freckles. After recess, Miss Kelly gently sends him to the restroom with her "secret formula" for removing freckles, which turns out to be a bar of lemon-scented soap. Andrew washes his "freckles" off and humbly returns to class, where Miss Kelly tells him that he is a very handsome boy without freckles. Suddenly, Nicky then asks her for the "magic freckle remover", claiming that he hates his freckles, but she tells him they did not look right on Andrew, but that he looks wonderful with them. The story ends with Sharon trying to sell him her "secret recipe" for a so-called potion for removing freckles.

"This convincing small boy adventure proceeds smoothly to a satisfying conclusion. The conniving little girl, understanding teacher, and feckless, freckleless boy are amusingly depicted in the impish black-and-white illustrations and in the story which is especially suited for reading aloud to second-and third-graders." —Library Journal

"Spontaneous humor, sure to appeal to the youngest reader. The amusing sketches and the well-spaced type make an inviting volume." —The Horn Book Magazine

• Judy Blume: Freckle Juice