BY KRISHAE FRANCO

Flipped, written by Wendelin Van Draanen, is a story that I’m sure is less widely known than the previous books I’ve covered. The story focuses on two characters, Julianna Baker and Bryce Loski. The narrative begins the summer before second grade when Bryce moves into the house across the street from Juli’s. Bryce immediately remarks Juli as strange as she eagerly tries to help move them in. Off-put by her enthusiasm, Bryce tries to run away from her, seeking safety in his house. Juli doesn’t get the hint and chases after him. She grabs his arm, but that somehow turns into them holding hands. And while Bryce is still plotting his escape, Juli has been struck by Cupid’s arrow, falling in love at first sight. 

The run and chase between them become a routine throughout elementary school and into middle school. Bryce can’t seem to get rid of Juli. Juli can’t seem to get rid of her crush on Bryce. Though, everything changes when they enter eighth grade. Juli begins to look past her rose-colored glasses and sees Bryce for who he truly is. She starts to realize that maybe Bryce isn’t who she made him out to be. What was once a crush, turns into a dislike for him. Bryce, on the other hand, begins to look past his original judgment of Juli. He starts to see that there’s more to Juli than his annoying, clingy neighbor. His distaste for Juli turns into a yearning crush that Juli no longer reciprocates. 

Flipped is a movie I’ve watched multiple times. However, this is the first time I’ve read the book. It is a short and sweet book targeted at late elementary schoolers and middle schoolers. The movie follows the book very well. Because the book is so short, it is easier to fit events from the book into the movie. A lot of dialogue in the movie is taken verbatim from the book. Even though I really enjoyed the book, I have to say I prefer the movie. 

The story is told from the different perspectives of Bryce and Juli. In the book, we first see Bryce’s point of view of each event that occurs. The chapter is then followed by Juli’s point of view of the exact same event. Although I liked seeing the differing perspectives of the pair, sometimes it would make chapters uninteresting and boring. Because I already knew what was going to happen, there was no anticipation moving to Juli’s point of view. I think it would be better if there were a brief explanation of Juli’s thoughts on the event that already unfolded before going into the next event from her standpoint. The recounting of events in her eyes made the book feel redundant at times. This is the biggest reason why I favor the movie. 

As always, the movie leaves out some things from the book, but I believe that this made the movie better. They left out the parts of the book that I felt were unnecessary and tedious. They took the more interesting and important parts of the book and fit them into the movie. I would definitely recommend watching this movie if you like sweet little romances. I think you could go without reading the book, but if you want something short and easy to read then I would recommend the book.