I tell my students again and again (as yet another literature based movie appears) that Hollywood has no imagination of their own.  This time, however, author Wendy Mass has borrowed from Hollywood and quite successfully I might add.  While Mass does not mention the movie Groundhog Day, her newest narrative borrows the premise.  But while the premise of a day that just won’t stop coming around again is borrowed from Groundhog Day the comparisons stop there.

Amanda and Leo have celebrated every birthday together, but at their tenth they had a falling out and have not spoken for a year.  With no joint party for year 11, neither of them is truly looking forward to it and it ends up as horrible as they expect.  Not only is it horrible, but they find they have to repeat the day again and again.  At first neither realizes that the other is having the same experience, but finally they team up to try and end the cycle of the repeating birthday.

This is an excellent offering for young middle school students.  I liked it much better than Mass’ previous books which I have read:  A Mango Shaped Space and Jeremy Fink and The Meaning of Life.  Mango had an interesting topic, synesthesia, but the writing was somewhat uneven in my opinion.  Jeremy Fink felt contrived in some parts of the narrative and was borderline didactic.  But in 11 Birthdays Wendy Mass has written a narrative that flows with enough action to keep a young reader engaged and enough surprises to keep a good reader guessing.  And the choices made by Amanda and Leo as they have the opportunity for do-overs demonstrate increasing maturity yet the premise of the repeating day makes any message seem natural. 

Worth reading.  Worth recommending to grades 4-7 and better third grade readers.