Summary: Andrew hates washing his neck and face before school but his mother makes him do it everyday. One boy in his class, Nicky Lane, has freckles all over his neck. Andrew thinks that if he has freckles like Nicky his mother won't be able to tell if his neck is dirty or not. Andrew's classmate, Sharon, offers a solution to grow freckles called Freckle Juice. She tells him she has a secret recipe for this freckle juice and makes him pay 50 cents for it. The next day, Andrew brings the 50 cents and Sharon gives him her secret recipe. Andrew goes home and drinks the freckle juice, which is made out of disgusting ingredients. He immediately gets sick. Andrew's mother comes home and sees him laying on the floor with all the ingredients for freckle juice on the floor. She gets mad and sends him to bed. The next day, Andrew is still so sick that he stays home from school. The following day, his mother makes him go back to school but in order to prove to Sharon that her mixture did work, he draws blue freckles with marker on the back of his neck. When the class sees, they laugh at him all day. Finally, Miss. Kelly tells Andrew she has a secret recipe for freckle remover. Andrew takes this recipe, goes into the bathroom and washes off his freckles.

Argument: The main message I got out of this book was more about entertainment for children than an actual message. There is some message about always washing and that you cannot magically grow freckles by drinking a mixture but these still are entertaining messages. My only concern with this book is that it is slightly outdated, as many of Judy Blume's books are. I think some children today would have a hard time connecting with this book for that reason. This book would be great to read aloud to a class as a quick read or throughout a few classes because of its light messages and entertainment. ( )