Freaky Friday

''Freaky Friday'' is a comedic children's novel written by Mary Rodgers, first published by Harper & Row in 1972. The plot is set in a day in the life of 13-year-old Annabel Andrews and her mother, who spend one Friday in each other's bodies.

The novel has been adapted for several films, all by the Walt Disney Company and all with the same title as the book: one in 1976, one in 1995, one in 2003 and one in 2018.

In 2025, ''Freaky Friday'' was reissued to commemorate '' Freakier Friday'', the upcoming sequel to the 2003 film adaptation of the novel.

Plot

A willful, disorganized teenage girl, Annabel Andrews, awakens one Friday morning to find herself in the body of her mother, with whom she had argued the previous night.

Annabel suddenly finds herself in charge of the New York family's affairs and must now take care of her younger brother Ben (whom Annabel has not-so-affectionately nicknamed "Ape Face" and described as "so neat, it's revolting!"). She grows increasingly worried about the disappearance of "Annabel," who appeared to be herself in the morning but has gone missing after leaving the Andrews' home, and she enlists the help of her neighbor and childhood friend, Boris, though without telling him about her identity crisis.

As the day wears on and Annabel has a series of increasingly bizarre and frustrating adventures, she becomes gradually more appreciative of how difficult her mother's life is. She learns, to her surprise, that Ben idolizes her, and Boris is actually named Morris, but has a problem with chronic congestion (at least around Annabel) leading him to nasally pronounce ''m''s and ''n''s as ''b''s and ''d''s. As the novel approaches its climax, Ben also disappears, apparently having gone off with a gorgeous girl whom Boris did not recognize, but Ben appeared to trust without hesitation.

In the climax and dénouement, Annabel becomes overwhelmed by the difficulties of her situation, the apparent disappearance of her mother, the loss of the children, and the question of how her odd situation came about and when/whether it will be resolved. Finally, it is revealed that Annabel's mother herself caused them to switch bodies through some unspecified means, and the mysterious teen beauty who took Ben was Mrs. Andrews in Annabel's body (to which she is restored) made much more attractive by a makeover Mrs. Andrews gave the body while using it, including the removal of Annabel's braces, an appointment Annabel had forgotten about (and would have missed, had she been the one in her body that day).

Characters

;
;Annabel Andrews
:Disorganized, rebellious, tomboyish, 13-year-old Annabel struggles with her mother's bossiness and believes that adults have it easy. She finds herself out of her depth when faced with adult responsibilities and concerns.
;Ben Andrews, a.k.a. Ape Face
:A pre-adolescent younger sibling, 6-year-old Ben enjoys creating conflict with Annabel, which has led to her nicknaming him Ape Face. Unknown to Annabel, he and his friends admire Annabel, and he wears the nickname as a badge of honor. The truth comes out when she slips up and calls him Ape Face while her mind is in Mrs. Andrews' body. After she apologizes, he admits that he likes the name, but wants to keep this secret from Annabel.
;Morris/Boris
:A childhood friend of Annabel, he has been somewhat afraid of her since a sandbox incident in which she cut his head open with a shovel. Deciding she played too rough, he and his mother have made a point of him avoiding Annabel. He is described as a cheerful, charming and handsome young gentleman, and does his best to help "Mrs. Andrews" (really Annabel) as she struggles through a tough day. He has some occasional breathing trouble, attributed to his adenoids and possibly a psychosomatic reaction to his own mother, which renders his voice nasal, making him unable to pronounce the letters ''m'' and ''n'' clearly. Because of this, Annabel has always believed his name to be Boris, when it is in fact Morris. However, she suffers the opposite misunderstanding when he offers to prepare a "beetloaf" for a dinner party with the limited assortment of culinary ingredients available. She believes he is going to save dinner by providing a much more sensible meatloaf, but she is won over when she samples the new dish and finds it tasty.
;Ellen Jean Benjamin Andrews
:Despite setting the events in motion and later ending them deus ex machina-style, Mrs. Andrews remains (along with Annabel's body, which she has taken) an unseen character for much of the book, only revealing herself and what she has done at the end of the day.

Themes

It themes include empathy and understanding, generational conflict, self-discovery

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