The Retake
“I was here.
In Laura’s house.
At a sleepover that had happened months ago.
‘How is this even possible?’ I whispered.
I thought back to the arrow I had clicked on that app.
Was it a redo button?”
Winter 2020 Kids Indie Next List
A Junior Library Guild Selection
You can retake your photos…but what if could redo moments in your life too? With one magical app, Zoe is able to do just that! A smart and funny twist on time travel from New York Times-bestselling author Jen Calonita, for fans for Disney’s Zapped and The Swap.
Zoe knows that the only thing harder than middle school is losing a best friend. She and Laura used to do everything together from taking silly selfies, to joining all the same clubs together and even throwing surprise birthday parties for one another.
But lately things have been weird between them. Now Laura will post a photo of her hanging out with other girls before responding to Zoe’s simple text. She doesn’t even want to sit with her at lunch anymore. Zoe is heartbroken–all she wants is for things to go back to normal.
But then a magical app downloads on her phone…and things get even weirder! Suddenly Zoe can travel back in time to moments where her and Laura started drifting apart. It is like a dream come true. A chance for Zoe to mend their friendship.
But as Zoe goes back to moments of middle school drama–sleepover games gone wrong, field trips with cliques and crushes, and school projects that bring on more-than-awkward encounters–she realizes that second chances don’t always go as planned and that sometimes you need to trust the magic of new beginnings.
The Retake is a picture-perfect look at tween friendship, that also explores more serious themes of social media pressure, bullying and what it means to be yourself.
“A classic turn-back-time tale for the Instagram generation, readers won’t want to stop ‘scrolling’ through the pages.” —School Library Journal
“The Retake offers a new filter on friendships, growing up, and sometimes growing apart. It’s heartbreaking at times and yet so much fun! I wish I could have read it when I was navigating junior high…. Wait! Is there an app for that?” —Mari Mancusi, author of The Camelot Code: The Once and Future Geek