The New You by Kathleen Leverich is about Abigail Hunter, a girl who has just started her first day in a new school wishing she could be anyone but who she is. After what she feels was a humiliating day she hides in the phone booth rather than boarding the bus with the other students. While hiding, she searches the Yellow Pages for "New Identities" in hopes of finding a place that will provide her with a new self. To her surprise she discovers a store called "The New You". In a rush of hope and excitement Abbey takes the subway to the shop she hopes will change her life. Instead she finds a closed hair salon which is occupied by three twenty-something year old women. Before Abbey can leave however, she nearly faints and the three women let her stay until she is feeling better. One thing leads to another and the women decide to give Abbey a new hairstyle, one that she (thankfully) loves much more than the one she had (personally, I wouldn't trust three chicks I just met to have a go at my hair all willy-nilly, but whatev's, to each their own). After a chapter's ado over Abbey's new hair, she is sent home where she finds herself alone and she collapses into bed. She awakes to find that she has been in bed for a few days due to the flu. She is told that she did not actually visit "The New You" and that she came straight home in a cab. The next day she discovers that the route she took is out of order, the neighborhood doesn’t exist and there is no shop called "The New You". In school she is coaxed by a teacher to tell the dream to the class. This strikes the interest of some of the other students and by the end of class she finds that she now has an identity. Two of her classmates begin speaking to her and strike up a friendship, inviting her to hang out at the mall with them before she gets her hair cut. The book ends at the mall where Abbey discovers the truth behind her dream and her new identity.
The New You is a good book, not brilliant nor the best I’ve ever read, but still good. Definitely more for a younger crowd, say Junior High age or younger. It has a neat sort of Sci Fi/Time Travel twist to it, though I guess that is up to the reader to decide. It can be predictable at times (I guessed the “twist” pretty soon off the bat) and the writing can be a bit stiff at times. I would definitely recommend this to kids entering their teen years, who, like the main character, are searching for their own identity. It has a good moral without being didactic and holds the interest pretty well. All in all, it was a good, fast read, probably better for a younger crowd, but still worth the read.