Freckle Juice

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Freckle Juice

First edition
Author	Judy Blume
Illustrator
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Four Winds Press
Publication date	1971
Media type	Print
Pages	47 pp
ISBN	0-440-42813-0
OCLC	16245047
LC Class	MLCS 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.

Summary[]

Second-grader Andrew Marcus desperately wants to have freckles like his classmate Nicky Lane --because Nicky Lane had freckles and Andrew did not. Nicky had about eighty six million freckles. So Andrew wants freckles just so that his mother will never notice when his neck is dirty. In the beginning, Andrew tried to count Nicky's freckles (he had eighty six million), but when Andrew got to "86" Mrs. Kelly (his teacher) asked him if he was paying attention. His classmate Sharon, knowing this, sells Andrew 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. The potion is nothing more than a nauseating mix of grape juice and assorted condiments that only serves to make Andrew sick enough to miss school for a day.

Realizing that Sharon had swindled him, Andrew dots his face and neck with a blue magic marker to try to show her that the "freckle juice" had worked. Unfortunately for Andrew, no one is fooled by his drawn-on freckles. After recess, Andrew's teacher, Miss Kelly, gently sends him to the boys' restroom with her family's "secret formula" for removing freckles, which turns out to be a bar of lemon-scented soap. Andrew washes off his "freckles" and humbly returns to class, where Miss Kelly tells him that he is a very handsome boy without freckles. Suddenly, Nicky then asks the teacher for the "freckle remover," claiming that he hates his freckles, but Miss Kelly tells him freckles did not look right on Andrew, but that he looks wonderful with them. The story ends with Sharon trying to sell Nicky her family's "secret recipe" for removing freckles.

Reviews[]

"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.

External links[]

• Judy Blume: Freckle Juice