The Changeling

This book touched me deeply as a child. I felt exactly as the heroine did -- odd, yet special for my oddity -- and books like this one made my life more bearable.

This is the book that first introduced me to Zilpha Keatley Snyder, who was my absolute favorite author as a kid. This book is not a fantasy, but it did inspire a fantasy series, the excellent Green Sky trilogy. Marty "the mouse" becomes friends with Ivy Carson, an unusual girl from a large and notorious family, who claims to be a changeling. I really can't do the book justice, but I think anyone who's felt like an outcast, or had a life-changing friendship (or wanted one) will love this book.

I think maybe I would have liked this more as a kid? To be honest I'm not sure I can pinpoint why I didn't care for this book much. I found it a bit sad for one thing-- but I'm not sure it was meant to be? I would definitely recommend it for reading but it just hit me the wrong way.

My Brother in law bought me the first book of Zilpha's Green Sky Trilogy and I have become quite a fan of this author. I'm so glad that the author's guild brought these little treasures back into print. The Changeling reminded me very much of Bridge to Terabithia in that there is two children from different backgrounds creating their own world and changing and growing because of it. Martha and Ivy are such well created characters that many readers could identify with some part or another of either of them. As an added bonus (for me since I enjoyed the place), one of the main places Martha and Ivy create is Green Sky, a little similar to the Green Sky trilogy, but also very different. The most amazing thing to me about this book is that somehow Zilpha made it timeless. It was written in 1970 and what happens to children growing up are still happening and she manages to put the story together without placing anything in it that would give it a timeline, so that it could have happened today, ten years ago, or ten years in the future. Now if you are looking for a book with fantastical creatures that might not exist because no one has ever seen them before, then this is not your book. Don't let the name make you think it's about shape shifting or something similar. It is only filled with the magic of imagination.

read this just out of my teens, and loved it to pieces. My paperback is falling apart, alas, so I have not reread it for some twenty years. So I don't know how it holds up to my adult view, but the friendship, the approach to being different and creativity were impressive to me when young.

I just reread this as an adult. I will be writing a blog for The Nerdy Book Club in their retro review section. I'll post the link for it here.

I read this book a long time ago, so this is based on distant memory. I think it captures well the common feeling of not fitting in, and being something alien. The metaphor of the changeling is used with the protagonist's friend, Ivy, but even though Ivy is different from part of her family, she is similar to her younger sister, which is made very clear at the end. And even though the main character feels out of place in her family and school, that is improving towards the end. So, we do feel estranged, but part of growing up is reconciling the differences and similarities and finding the self that we can live with. I liked it.

** spoiler alert ** I don't remember when I first read this book. I think I got it from the Scholastic Book Company when I was in second grade (1971 or 1972); we lived in a very rural area in northern New Mexico and my mother basically allowed me to order every book I wanted when the Scholastic catalog came. I know I then read it many, many times over the years that followed... and then, of course, at some point it got packed away with the rest of my "kid's books" and I haven't touched it in ages. But now, as it goes, I'm "old enough for fairy tales again" (not that I really ever stopped - I'm not a Gryffindor for nothing), and I found it again when I was recommended other books by Keatley-Snyder. While looking those up, I found "The Changeling" again. I knew this book had been very formative for my young mind, I just had forgotten quite how MUCH. I was Martha -- chubby, frightened of everything, burst into tears at the slightest thing; the main difference was I was the oldest child in the family, and, of course, I never had an Ivy. I wanted to be like Martha when I was young, because I was sure I would grow up like she did, tall and slim and loved by everyone... but I never made it THERE. I stayed chubby, but I did end up in all the plays in high school, as a character actor. I made up stories, I wrote them down, I dreamed and wished and never wanted to grow up (and really, that spell DOES work)... I never got thin, but I eventually met my own "Ivy." I didn't meet her early enough to dream with me on that childhood level, but we plan on growing old together, if possibly never grown UP together (because she loved the book, too). I know I don't say a whole lot about the actual book here, but my review is based on feelings and impressions rather than the events in the story. Needless to say, it still holds up just as beautifully as it did then -- sure, now it only took me about two hours to read instead of weeks... but I still lost myself just as deeply within the beautiful lines that Keatley-Snyder wove here. I only wish I could be as brilliant a storyteller (not to say I don't TRY). I still love this book - I love the story, the characters, my feelings and impressions when I read it and how it makes me feel afterward. Beautiful, dreamy, mystic, alien, lost, found, sure of myself, unsure, scared, exhilarated, joyous... everything. Everything. I think this book may have been everything to my growing up. I've never lost it. Know all the questions, but never the answers.

Just stumbled upon this book by accident, thank you, Goodreads! Have been trying to remember the title for the longest time! I read this several times in grade school, it fascinated me! Ivy Carson is from a, well, trashy family, but she herself is very different. She tells the mousy Martha who is her best friend that she is the daughter of the fairy queen, and has been switched with the real Ivy Carson. Ivy is a gifted but unschooled dancer, with wild black hair and capricious moods. She reminded me, in a way, of my own best friend in junior high. There is something timeless and beautiful about this book, and how Ivy and Martha change over the years. I just adored this little book, and I should find a copy for my daughter, when she's a bit older.

This is such a wonderful coming of age story; I've loved it since I was a young girl, and I love it every time I read it. If you have a young girl in your life, gift her this book-it is a beautifully perfect read. This is the story of Martha and of how her friendship with Ivy helped her find herself and find the courage to be herself. Watching Martha & Ivy discover each other and develop from two young outsiders finding their first true friend to young ladies dealing with school cliques, bullying, and the pressures to fit in--and ladies, who of us can't remember being there? The real magic of this book for me is Ivy...her imagination, her bravery, her way of just being completely who she is. I wanted to be Ivy...just as I think Martha wanted to be Ivy in many ways as well.