Andrew Marcus, a second-grade student, wants more than anything to look like Nicky Lane. Nicky Lane has freckles covering his face and neck. Andrew tried to count all of Nicky's freckles. Before he could finish, their teacher, Miss Kelly, told them to pay attention. Andrew only has two warts on his fingers. He is willing to try anything to have freckles like Nicky’s. If Andrew had freckles, his mom wouldn’t be able to tell when his neck was dirty and make him wash. Sharon, another classmate who is known for teasing her peers, overhears Andrew asking Nicky where he got his freckles. She convinces him that if he drinks a special potion, “Freckle Juice”, then he will get freckles. Sharon swears that it worked for her, and she charges Andrew fifty cents for the Freckle Juice recipe. He rushes home to make the juice, but it consequently makes him sick with all of the unusual ingredients. Andrew’s mother makes him skip school the following day. The next morning, Andrew uses a blue marker to draw freckles on his face in hopes of fooling Sharon into thinking that the juice worked. Unfortunately, everyone laughs at Andrew for drawing his freckles with a marker. Miss Kelly gives Andrew a bottle of “Magic Freckle Remover” so that he can get rid of his “freckles.” Ironically, Nicky asks Miss Kelly if he can use the freckle remover as well because he despises his freckles. Miss Kelly assures Nicky that freckles were not meant for Andrew, but they look great on Nicky. Sharon overhears Nicky’s concern, and convinces him to buy her secret recipe that makes freckles go away.
This book has the potential to be used in two different occasions. You could use this book as a chapter book read aloud, and read a few pages every day during free time, the morning, etc. You can have students predict what they think will happen next (Will Andrew grow freckles?) and ask them how they would feel and what they would do if they were in Andrew’s shoes. As the teacher, you can remind students that everyone has insecurities, but their differences are what make them unique, exciting individuals. You could also use this book to teach students how to read a recipe. The teacher can ask students to create their own special “juice” using different ingredients. For example, you could make a recipe on “How to do well on the End of Grade tests.” The teacher can even bring in different recipe books and show students how recipes are structured.
