Rating: 
Summary: Twelve years later it remains one of my favorite novels.
Review: I first read this novel twelve years ago, and it has remained a part of my life ever since. I have loaned my copy out innumerable times over the years, as it had been somewhat hard to find. I've wished many times for a sequel to it. What fun it would be to find out more about Chant's life- not to mention Sorry's! Thank you Margaret Mahy for such an enchanting story.
Rating:
Summary: Probably my favorite book of all time...
Review: I picked up The Changeover nine years ago in a bookstore because it sounded interesting and it was long (my family was going on vacation or something, I think). One of the best choices I ever made! I LOVE this book! To this day (and at 21 I'm a little old to be reading Young Adult fiction) I still reread The Changeover again several times a year. Mahy's prose is intensely descriptive and very powerful; it transports readers to Laura Chant's world. Eventually you forget you're even reading a book, and you begin to think you *are* Laura. Sometimes I (still) wish I were! =) And I'll be the first to admit that I'm still waiting for Sorenson Carlisle to pop up on my doorstep - however dysfunctional a spouse *he'd* be. The "supernatural" aspects of the story coexist harmoniously with the "natural" aspects so as to create a seamless quality which is rare in works of its genre. This book is definitely a class act, and worthy of its awards - it definitely beats out Christopher Pike and (I presume) R.L. Stine.
Rating:
Summary: A favorite forever
Review: I read this book over a dozen times and it still among my favorites. Even as an adult, I love it.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I think the thing I enjoyed most about the book, was the way Mahy managed to write a YA novel without being trapped in the condescending mold that most other YA authors are (with the exception of a few). Sorry and Chant's relationship was an uneasy, complex, yet inevitable thing and their journey together was full of interesting, and sometimes disturbing, magic. As far as villains go, Carmody Broque is one individual that gave me the willies for days after I finished the book. Kudos to Mahy for that. This book was amazing and I'd sell my first born for a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I thought this book was great. I wanted to read something romantic, but I was sick and tired of dopey girls wandering around in crinoline being saved. This romance was way better because it had the supernatural aspects which were very intriguing and also because the romance part was well-developed and realistic. I loved it and have read it 3 times.
Rating:
Summary: A fair reflection of a world that is entirely possible.
Review: In this book, the character of Laura is your average "school outcast" who peeks into a world full of mysterious changes and even more mysterious feelings. The story isn't so much about her changing into a full witch, it's more about her becoming a woman in her own right. Her advancement through her mind to get to the point of no return is like her journey through her life. There are many twists and turns, hard places and beautiful places. She really epitomizes a teenage girl's struggle to become what she is destined to be. This book is incredible- I have already gone through two copies of it! I am not very interested in Romance novels, but this is definitely an exception that I am glad I have made. It has come to be my favorite book and I encourage any fellow outcasts to pick it up and share the experience.
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!
Review: It doesn't matter how young you are read this book.It has a little supernatural, a little romance and is just great!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly and sensitively written
Review: It has been said that the true test of an author's success is the number of times his/her reader rereads the book written. If that is the case, then Margaret Mahy is a most successful writer. To be able to continue to lure readers, both new and old, to read and reread a book, starting from the first reading at 10, then again when the shelves are cleared and the book rediscovered at 14, and then again at 18, and so on...and for the reader to still be enchanted by the same characters doing the same thing, saying the same lines over and over again...The Changeover really does 'change you over' into Mahy's private world, where nothing matters except for Laura Chant,her quest to save her darling brother Jacko, and of course, not forgetting the peek-a-boo relationship she has with Sorry Carlisle, which makes the relationship all the more sensual, in a non-sexual way. Read it...and read it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Yeah, it's the prefects you need to watch out for!
Review: Margaret Mahy's book is an unusual take on the juvenile magic-user theme. It takes place in New Zealand, in a single-parent home. Laura Chant lives with her divorced mother, and her toddler brother. Nothing is entirely reliable in Laura's world, certainly not her slightly flaky mother, their extremely flaky car, and especially the surrounding landscape, being transformed from forest and farm into a new subdivision. Chant, perfectly named, can sense things that others can't. She can sense that her brother's rapid descent into illness is supernatural, and that it is linked to the boy's unfortunate contact with the also perfectly named Carmody Braque. She also can sense that the mysterious prefect at her school, an older boy named Sorensen Carlisle, is a "witch" and that he may hold the only key to healing her brother. Sorry, as he's called, is one of those magnificent characters, the enigmatic boy who shows all the signs of being a proto-romance hero. But here, he's young, sly, and not above using his advantage over Laura. Mahy writes Laura as a strong character, and watching her handle Sorry is a lot of fun. This novel is full of brooding atmosphere but with a great contemporary setting. Mahy's protagonist carries her weight, but everyone else is equally nuanced and fascinating. The book calls itself a romance, but I've never read an adult romance filled with such menacing ambiguity.
Rating:
Summary: Supernatural Romance
Review: Supernatural romance is right... It is a book about a young girl named Laura (age 14 yrs) and a young male witch named Sorry(age 17 yrs). Together they work together to combat the evil spirit threatening Laura's brother. In the process Laura does a changeover and becomes a witch herself, linking herself with Sorry. Of course Laura is too young to be having a romantic encounter... it has a very satisfying ending.
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