Freckle Juice

Freckle Juice is a funny, fast-paced children’s chapter book about Andrew Marcus, a second grader who desperately wants freckles. Andrew admires the freckles covering his classmate Nicky Lane’s face, ears, and neck, partly because he believes freckles might help him escape his mother’s daily scrubbing routine. When know-it-all classmate Sharon offers to sell him a secret family recipe for “freckle juice” for fifty cents, Andrew eagerly pays. The strange mixture of grape juice, vinegar, mustard, and other ingredients does not produce the result Andrew expects. Instead, his wish leads to a series of comic mishaps and an even more creative plan. Originally published in 1971, Judy Blume’s classic early-reader story explores self-acceptance, childhood wishes, school life, friendship, and the consequences of believing everything you are told.