43 pages • 1 hour read
Wendy Mass11 Birthdays: A Wish Novel
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
Leo and Amanda meet in the courtyard. Leo complains that the guidance counselor has it is for him; Amanda wonders why he is going to the counselor, but she doesn’t ask. Leo apologizes about the things he said the previous year and tells Amanda that he didn’t mean what he said. He didn’t have fun at his own birthday; he missed Amanda and felt guilty.
They discuss the enchantment, and the moment they both realized that the other was also experiencing it. Leo realized that Amanda was also repeating her day when she didn’t turn up for school the second time their day repeated. Leo suggests that they skip school together the next day; they get a clean slate each day, so there’s no worry that they’ll experience consequences.
Chapter 14 Summary
Amanda is discouraged when her mother still gets fired from her job. The next morning, Amanda tells her mother that she is sick. To avoid having to do the doctor’s appointment in the middle of the day, Amanda asks her dad to cancel it, and he agrees to. Leo climbs up the tree and arrives at her window. He has withdrawn his life savings—$300—from his bank account for their day of fun. Amanda brings her savings, $42. Leo has “borrowed” two scooters and helmets. They scooter into town and have a decadent breakfast at a diner. Amanda remembers how much she has missed spending time with Leo.
Suddenly, Amanda remembers that Stephanie called during the day when she was at home sick. They ride the scooters to school. Leo runs to Stephanie in gym class to tell her that Amanda’s mom has said that her friends shouldn’t call her while she’s at home sick.
They get back on their scooters, and Amanda follows Leo. She is surprised when they stop outside the Senior Citizens Community Center.
Chapter 15 Summary
Much to Amanda’s surprise, Leo joins an open poetry reading at the Senior Citizen Community Center and reads a poem about his remorse for treating his friend badly on her birthday. Amanda is amazed and flattered. They ride their scooters into the city and get hot dogs for lunch. Amanda remembers that Emma will have brought the cupcake to school for her but that she won’t be there. She reflects her failure to recognize how much her existing friends have been there for her as she’s been so caught up in the drama with Leo.
Leo takes Amanda to an audition to drum in a rock band. Amanda is terrified and reluctant. The two men, Larry and Laurence, are twins. They don’t take Amanda seriously, but when they hear that Amanda and Leo have the same birthday they think that they are twins and insist that Amanda auditions. Amanda drums well; the men are impressed. They tell Amanda that they can’t have a kid in their band, but they give Amanda and Leo band T-shirts and encourage Amanda to come back when she’s older. Amanda feels exhilarated, and Leo is impressed and congratulatory.
They go to the mall. Suddenly, they are grabbed by a security officer, who says that they’ve been reported missing. He takes them to the security office where their furious parents, as well as Kylie, are waiting. Both Amanda and Leo are grounded.
Chapter 16 Summary
Amanda is relieved to see SpongeBob in the middle of her room the next morning. She hugs her bemused family members and does a successful back handspring in the yard before she gets ready to take the bus to school. Amanda looks for Leo’s poem. It’s not in her pocket even though she is wearing the band T-shirt from the day before.
At school, Leo has decorated Amanda’s locker again and has left a note for her reflecting on how fun the day before was, but how bad getting in trouble was. His party was crowded with all the people from her party, and his mother glared at him all night. Amanda passes Leo a note in class in response, suggesting that maybe the hypnotist from his birthday enchanted them into the repeating birthdays.
After school, Amanda tells Stephanie she doesn’t want to try out for gymnastics, so she and Leo go to see the hypnotist. The hypnotist assures them that he is not skilled enough to make a day repeat. Amanda and Leo work out that things on their person (such as the Band-Aids on Amanda’s ankles or the band T-shirt that she wears to bed the night before) stay on them, but that everything else is reset. Amanda remembers what Mrs. Grayson said about the disagreement between their ancestors, and the security guard at the mall mentioned it as well. Deciding that the feud might be associated with the enchantment, they decide to ask someone who has lived in Willow Falls for a long time. They go to the senior center.
Chapter 17 Summary
When they ask to speak to someone over 100, Leo and Amanda are directed to Mr. Whitehead. Mr. Whitehead tells Amanda and Leo about the infamous dispute between Ellerby and Fitzpatrick, who owned neighboring apple farms and who worked to destroy the other’s crop every year, such as by flooding the other’s farm or damning the river. Mr. Whitehead tells them that one day, the two made up, but no one knew why. They returned to being best friends as they had been before the years-long dispute. Leo and Amanda decide to go to the historical society the next day to find out more.
Leo’s mom, who is delighted that they are friends again, picks up Leo and Amanda. She confirms that their ancestors were in a feud that was resolved.
Amanda comforts her mom about losing her job and then draws a periodic table to give to the crying boy in the hallway the next day.
Chapter 18 Summary
Amanda wakes up and realizes that the periodic table won’t exist anymore, as if it wasn't attached to her person during the reset. At lunch, Amanda tells Stephanie that she doesn’t want to try out for gymnastics that afternoon. Stephanie asks, as she has before, if it’s because Amanda wants to try for the marching band. Amanda says maybe, but that she won’t be auditioning for the band that afternoon either (she and Leo are going to the historical society).
They go there and talk to Angelina, whom Amanda recognizes from the bus. They look at some of the families’ old possessions, but Angelina tells them that all records from the dispute between Ellerby and Fitzpatrick have been lost. Angelina tells them that the men were told that they had to solve their differences before Harvest Day, and they did. They told Alexander Smithy, the town’s founder, about what happened, and he wrote it in their diary, but his diary, as well as the diaries of Ellerby and Fitzpatrick, were lost. Amanda tells Angelina that she will see her on the bus the next morning; Angelina agrees.
Chapters 13-18 Analysis
Amanda and Leo continue to exert increasing control over their lives through the enchantment, which allows them to spend a day of reckless fun repairing their relationship. Amanda reflects, over their extravagant breakfast that, “being with Leo now makes me realize I never should have let a whole year go by” (143). She exerts The Power of Forgiveness to help repair the relationship. Their happiness at being friends again emphasizes the importance of their friendship. Neither has to worry about fitting in or being rejected when they’re together.
Amanda realizes that Leo, whom she believed to be popular and confident, experiences the same feelings of inadequacy that she does. This insecurity causes him to speak rudely about Amanda on their last birthday: “they were hanging out in my room and those guys never wanted to hang out with me before. I didn’t want them to think that my best friend was a girl” (126). Amanda’s own insecurities—such as feelings about Stephanie’s friendship with Ruby or about trying out for the gymnastics team to be perceived as cool—help her find compassion for Leo’s choice to betray her to try to fit in. Amanda feels validated when she realizes that her problems, feeling excluded and awkward, are problems for Leo as well—and likely for everyone else their age. When Amanda feels friendless, Leo reassures her: “I know you have lots of friends.” His perception proves that her self-concept isn’t accurate (126). Still, peer pressure shapes those self-concepts. When Stephanie nervously asks Amanda whether she will audition for the marching band, Amanda “can tell by the way she’s holding her breath that she really wants me to say no. It wouldn’t be very good for our popularity ranking next year” (188). If Amanda joins the marching band, Stephanie fears their social capital will fall, and then perhaps Stephanie herself will feel left out.
Through repairing with Leo and learning that Leo has his own struggles, Amanda gains perspective on her other relationships. She begins to feel better about herself. Amanda reflects on her loyal friends, Stephanie, Tracy, and Emma, and realizes that she’s taken them for granted in her preoccupation with Leo: “they’ve been really good friends to me this year, and I’ve been so caught up in my own stuff that I’ve sort of ignored them” (151). This moment is another turning point for Amanda as she learns to see situations from someone else’s point of view. As Amanda grows in maturity and confidence, she makes more authentic choices, such as skipping the gymnastics tryouts. The back handspring, which has been both a physical and mental obstacle, is a symbol of Amanda’s insecurity. After her repair with Leo, she runs outside and lands her “best back handspring ever” (168). Her ability to pull off the challenging trick demonstrates her increasing self-confidence.
The mysterious repair of Leo and Amanda’s ancestors Fitzpatrick and Ellerby also suggests The Power of Forgiveness. Angelina tells them that after years of hatred and mutual sabotage of the shared apple orchard, “one day, they just patched everything up” (180). Leo and Amanda begin to realize that what may have seemed like just one day to everyone else in town, may have actually been days, weeks, or months for Fitzpatrick and Ellerby, who may have been caught in a similar time-looping enchantment: “‘Do you think there’s some connection?’ Leo asks when we’ve calmed down. ‘Like between them and what’s happening to us?’” (182). Through Magic and Fate, the Fitzpatrick and Ellerby ancestors reach through the generations to heal another rift between the families.
Magic and Fate continues to be explored through Amanda and Leo’s enchantment, and through their mysterious connection to their ancestors’ dispute. In addition to the parallels of the disputes separated by generations, there are undeniable parallels between Amanda and her great-great-grandmother and between Leo and his great-great-grandfather. Wendy Mass also uses these parallels to hint at or foreshadow events that transpire in later Windy Falls novels.
The SpongeBob balloon continues to operate as a symbol of the enchantment in this section. The balloon, which reappears in the center of her bedroom every morning after she has shoved it in the closet or pushed it out the window, signals to Amanda, and therefore the reader, that the enchantment is still in effect. The balloon signifies that Amanda gets yet another “do-over.” Amanda is relieved that the day resets after she and Leo get in trouble for skipping school: “I twirl SpongeBob around the room, dancing like I’ve just gotten out of jail” (166). As they figure out how to manipulate the time loop to their advantage, they heal the underlying rift that made the time loop necessary.
Angelina’s connection to the enchantment becomes clear in her conversation with Amanda:
“See you on the bus tomorrow, Angelina,” I say as we walk to the front door. “See you then, honey.” She waves as she closes the door behind us. It’s not until I’m in bed later that it hit me. Angelina didn’t correct me when I said I’d see her on the bus. She didn’t say, “No you won’t, because tomorrow’s Saturday” (198).
Amanda begins to realize that Angelina alone is aware of their enchantment. Their discovery of how to lift the enchantment is foreshadowed in Amanda’s realization that Angelina knows more than she is letting on, as breaking into the historical society, run by Angelina, allows them to discover more secrets about Fitzpatrick and Ellerby.
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