Switchers

Rating:
Summary: Switchers
Review: Book Title: Switchers

Author: Kate Thompson

Genre: Fiction

Exposition: Tess is as you might say "better off" then most teenagers, so when a boy in tattered clothes starts following her from her bus she thinks he's looking for money. But when she hurries toward her houses to get away from him and he says, "I know you, I know what you do", Tess gets scared. Could he know about her secret about how she could change how she's a switcher and can turn into any animal she chooses? Things get worse when Kevin shows up again and tells her he's a switcher and he needs her help to find out what's causing freak weather in the arctic. Will Tess go off with this stranger and find out about her mysterious talent or will she use her common sense and get as far away as she can from that creepy kid?

Characters:

Tess: A teenager from Ireland who has the ability to change into animals. She goes on a mission to find out what's causing extreme cold in the northern hemisphere.

Kevin: A homeless boy who is also a switcher. He asks Tess to go on this adventure with him.

Lizzie: A weird old lady who gives them advice and helps them stay hidden from the cops looking for Tess because shes a runaway.

Rating:
Summary: my opinion...
Review: Have you ever kept a secret a long time? What are would you feel by mutating into any sort of animal? This might seem strange to you but not to Tess, if you really get into the story you will find understand her lonely life. Tess has never had a close friend because she wouldn't dare to suffer the humiliation, of someone knowing what she really was. Tess was the only child in the family, she was a good student but that didn't make her feel normal. Tess had a hard time accepting she was different, she was a switcher. Because she could mutate into any animal she was called a switcher. She thought that she was the only one there was in the whole world. She had the feeling that if someone else knew this she would be called a phenomenon. Something else was bothering her for the last two weeks or so; it was a boy that followed her when she got off the bus. This time the boy intercepted her in the park and began to talk to her; he threaded her and told her that if she wouldn't listen he would tell everyone her secret. This really made her feel bad because all her life she had been very careful before switching, she was sure that no one had seen her. She discovered that the boy was name Kevin.
There was something strange going on the artic zone, three people had disappeared in huge and fears snowstorms that were unusual in this time of the year. There had been some oil drilling in the artic zone, that was the reason that there were many lives been risked. Back on Ireland were Tess lived she felt the need to transform so she went deep into the park and transformed into a squirrel. She met a young chipmunk with which she darted across the park racing and playing joyfully. But this was strange also because supposedly there ware no chipmunks in this part of the world, why could this be? Was there another switcher in town or this animal had escaped the circus.
I think this is a fantastic book it has some boring parts but to understand the story you should read these parts of the book. Most of the book is filled with emotion and suspense. In some parts it makes you feel that you are really mutating into an animal. Later on the story she finds out that switchers have other amazing powers that may come in handy to try to stop what ever is causing the snowstorms. If you want to live this strangeness it is up to you to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: my opinion...
Review: Have you ever kept a secret a long time? What are would you feel by mutating into any sort of animal? This might seem strange to you but not to Tess, if you really get into the story you will find understand her lonely life. Tess has never had a close friend because she wouldn't dare to suffer the humiliation, of someone knowing what she really was. Tess was the only child in the family, she was a good student but that didn't make her feel normal. Tess had a hard time accepting she was different, she was a switcher. Because she could mutate into any animal she was called a switcher. She thought that she was the only one there was in the whole world. She had the feeling that if someone else knew this she would be called a phenomenon. Something else was bothering her for the last two weeks or so; it was a boy that followed her when she got off the bus. This time the boy intercepted her in the park and began to talk to her; he threaded her and told her that if she wouldn't listen he would tell everyone her secret. This really made her feel bad because all her life she had been very careful before switching, she was sure that no one had seen her. She discovered that the boy was name Kevin.
There was something strange going on the artic zone, three people had disappeared in huge and fears snowstorms that were unusual in this time of the year. There had been some oil drilling in the artic zone, that was the reason that there were many lives been risked. Back on Ireland were Tess lived she felt the need to transform so she went deep into the park and transformed into a squirrel. She met a young chipmunk with which she darted across the park racing and playing joyfully. But this was strange also because supposedly there ware no chipmunks in this part of the world, why could this be? Was there another switcher in town or this animal had escaped the circus.
I think this is a fantastic book it has some boring parts but to understand the story you should read these parts of the book. Most of the book is filled with emotion and suspense. In some parts it makes you feel that you are really mutating into an animal. Later on the story she finds out that switchers have other amazing powers that may come in handy to try to stop what ever is causing the snowstorms. If you want to live this strangeness it is up to you to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Switchers
Review: I bought this book at first because it sounded like Animorphs, which I really like, but its nothing like Animorphs. It's very different but good in its own way. I would have to say this book is the best in the Switchers trilogy. The way Kate Thompson writes bring you into the story. The book doesn't get boring but never seems too rushed, either. The two main characters in this book are Kevin and Tess, two Switchers who have the power to 'switch' into any creature they can imagine. They are just beginning to learn how to use their powers to the full extent. The other two books in the series are Midnight's Choice ( almost as good as this one) and Wild Blood ( nowhere near.) And I know I said they're nothing like Animorphs, but anyone who has read 48-The Return and Midnight's Choice will notice some strange similarities.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Was Exellent!
Review: I'm not usually into sci-fi stuff, but this book really made me want to read the rest of the trilogy. I am trying to collect all 3 books in the series. I definately reccomend it to people about 9 yrs and up. There is a lot of action and mystery.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Children's Classic
Review: Switchers and its two sequels (Midnight's Choice and Wild Blood) add to the canon of true literary children's classics. Kate Thompson combines touching psychological insight into Tess's troubled, lonely heart and vivid imaginings about the minds of animals with a thrilling plot about world weather catastrophe and a great friendship between Tess and the mysterious Kevin; there's also plenty of humour (the rats are fab). The moments when Tess first "switches" and Kevin makes his Big Choice at the end made me gasp - as you can see, I loved this book! However, Switchers suffers slightly by being first: there's too much narration about what Tess is thinking and not enough description, dialogue and action sequences. But don't be put off by this one complaint about technique; the writing just gets better and better through the series. This is a fabulous adventure story about being brave enough to care about the world, to reach out and make friends, to change who you are.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this book down
Review: Switchers is nothing like animorphs.So I wish people would stop comparing it to them.There are many shape - shifter books It came out long before animorphs in Ireland. It's a fabulous book and books 2(Midnights Choice) and 3(Wild blood) are just as good.It took me one day to read it.I thought the rats and Lizzie were very funny and that the climax was brilliant.

Rating:
Summary: "I Know Who You Are. I Know What You Can Do..."
Review: Tess is a reasonably distant and lonely child, who takes long walks out into the forest and park lands each day, returning home each evening to somewhat bemused parents. They don't believe anything is seriously wrong with their child despite the fact she has no friends - they just think she's a loner that loves the outdoors. But it just so happens that Tess is *very* different from other teenagers, and harbors a secret that she keeps from every other person on the planet. She has had the ability from a very early age to change into any animal she desires, and her daily walks into the wilderness are due to her transformations and adventures in animal form. It is a wonderful life as a "Switcher", and she's not lonely - just alone.

Until one day, when a boy begins to follow her home from the bus station and utters some terrifying words: "I know who you are. I know what you can do..." Who is this elusive Kevin and what does he want from Tess? Terrified that the fellow Switcher will reveal her secret, and suspecting that the "help" that he asks for has something to do with the steadily growing cold front that is moving southwards from the north pole and destroying all human-life in its wake, Tess agrees to accompany him to someone who knows what's going on.

This someone is an old lady named Lizzie, a former Switcher who tells the children about krools - monstrous creatures that are slowly pulling the earth back into an ice age. Whilst dodging the police and the government airforces, Kevin and Tess take it upon themselves to use their shapeshifting powers to stop the krools. But a person's Switching abilities cease when one turns fifteen, and Kevin's birthday is steadily approaching...

"Switchers" is a book that was initially is difficult to get into. The idea of people changing into animals is a well-trod path in children's literature, and for a long while it seemed that this was just another rehash of what has gone before. Tess and Kevin are a little difficult to connect with - both are quite distant, and it's rather implausible that Tess would choose to leave her home and her parents in order to follow someone she barely knows to an unknown destination. Lizzie is also a bit of a tired cliche (crazy old lady with lots of cats) and there are a few scenes that are unnecessary or stretch on a bit to long (Tess and Kevin's escapades as goats, for example).

But the book drastically improves as time goes on. The "Switcher" device is put to excellent use as the story continues, with the children instigating their powers to travel swiftly, hide from the police, to bear the terrible Artic cold and to finally defeat the krools and escape human bombing - each transformation is more ingenious than the last. To tell would be spoiling it - half the fun of this book is realising what great plan the children will come up with next.

So although you may be dubious at first, stick with it as "Switchers" and its two sequels "Midnight's Choice" and "Wild Blood" are immensely satisfying and rewarding, just below the likes of J. K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander, but on the shelf next to Tanith Lee, Sherwood Smith, Nancy Springer and other fantasy authors of this calibre.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and exciting
Review: The book Switchers was a real thriller and an award winner. Tess is a very shy teenager who moves all over the globe. For the time being she is living in present day Dublin, Ireland. Then one day she meets another teenager Kevin who is 14. Once he is 15 he can't morph. As the weather gets colder and colder Tess and Kevin try morphing into different animals while trying to stop the massive animals causing this next ice age. Can they do it before Kevin turns 15? I think this book was fantastic and my #1 book of all times.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing like animorphs....
Review: This book is a great book!Tess is a switcher and doesn't trust anyone and doesn't have any friends. She then meets Kevin, a fellow shifter, and they become friends. They travel to northern Ireland and meet Lizzie, an eccentric old switcher. she sends them on a quest to get rid of some "Krools." they travel to the antarctic and fight the krools. this book is awesome! but i was a little confused at the end. see, i've only read wild blood...i haven't read midnight's choice. in wild blood, kevin is a human but at the end of this book, he turns into a phoenix for life. I guess i gotta get midnight's choice to find out what happens...oh, bummer:)