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 19-24Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 19 Summary
Amanda is happy to find the periodic table, which she put in her pocket as she slept, has survived the reset. She rushes onto the bus, but Angelina is not driving. At school, Amanda rushes to tell Leo that Angelina is associated with the enchantment; she is sometimes the bus driver and sometimes not.
At lunch, Amanda waits for the distressed boy and gives him the copy of the periodic table she made the night before. He is confused but grateful.
Hoping for answers from Angelina, Amanda and Leo go to the historical society after school, but it is closed and locked. They sneak in by opening a window at the back of the building. They search it and eventually find Leo’s great-great-grandfather’s journal hidden at the back of his old desk.
Chapter 20 Summary
Leo and Amanda hide from a group of Girl Scouts who have come for a tour; the Girl Scout group is upset about the closure. They leave an angry message on the answering machine, which Leo and Amanda hear as they hide behind a couch. Leo and Amanda look through Leonard Fitzpatrick’s journal. Fitzpatrick reveals that he and Ellerby have been trapped in Harvest Day for many days. The enchantment is broken when they help people around the town, repair their relationship, and toast their friendship.
They stow the journal back where they found it, and Leo’s mom drives them home.
Chapter 21 Summary
Amanda creates a list of the ways she helps others: She ensures that her sister and her mother have the right posters, brings her father a gift bag of helpful gifts for his sickness, offers to help people on the bus, and offers to lend a peer a pen, and creates the periodic table for the upset boy. She is kind to Ruby even when Ruby is snide to her, and she manages a perfect back handspring and makes the gymnastics team. More people come to her birthday party because Stephanie brings the gymnastics team.
Leo calls Amanda at her party. Without revealing they’ve been friends again for days, they pretend to make up on the phone. Amanda, her parents, and her party guests go to Leo’s party. Amanda’s parents are delighted to see Leo again, and Leo’s parents are delighted to see Amanda again. Amanda is impressed with Leo’s decadent party. They toast to their friendship and dance to the very bad band. Amanda thinks that she sees Angelina out of the corner of her eye. They are confident that they have broken the enchantment.
Chapter 22 Summary
Amanda is shocked and disappointed to wake up on yet another Friday morning. Frustrated, she throws her alarm clock out of her window. Amanda uses Kylie’s phone to call Leo’s house; Leo’s dad is thrilled to hear from her. Amanda and Leo once again pretend that they make up for the first time and resolve to talk at school.
Kylie is confused by Amanda’s outburst when she complains that it’s her 11th birthday for the 11th time.
Amanda, amazed to see that Angelina is their bus driver, demands answers. Angelina talks to Leo and Amanda at school and explains that she put the original enchantment of Fitzpatrick and Ellerby. She suggests that the plants that they were both given for their fifth birthday need to be maintained in order to break the enchantment because the seeds were from apple trees from Fitzpatrick’s and Ellerby’s backyards. Amanda reveals that she threw the plant out of her window after their fight the previous year. The three agree to meet outside Amanda’s window after school.
Amanda sees Leo laughing with Vinnie as he comes out of the guidance office. Amanda decides to go to band auditions instead of gymnastics tryouts.
Chapter 23 Summary
Amanda plays drums at the audition. She really enjoys playing and hopes that she did well enough.
Amanda, Leo, and Angelina discover the apple tree plant, which has rooted in the soil beneath Amanda’s window. She re-pots it in the picnic basket that came with her Dorothy costume.
Amanda and Leo decide to have their party together rather than pretending the joint party is a last-minute decision. Mrs. Ellerby reaches everyone except for Tracy and Emma’s parents; they turn up to Amanda’s in their full Oompa-Loompa costumes (Leo’s isn’t a costume party). Kylie lends them clothes, and the group goes to Leo’s house.
The group is impressed with the hypnotist, who manages to make Amanda’s hands stick together. Amanda and Leo leave for their toast before the end of his performance.
Chapter 24 Summary
Amanda’s mom wakes her up, and Amanda is relieved that it is finally Saturday. They go to Leo’s to open their presents, as is tradition. Leo gets Amanda a SpongeBob alarm clock, and Amanda gets Leo postcards to keep in touch once they get older.
Mrs. Fitzpatrick embarrasses Amanda and Leo when she makes a joke about the two dating when they get older.
Angelina looks on, unseen, from outside.
Chapters 19-24 Analysis
Leo and Amanda discover they were stuck in a time loop just as their ancestors were. Fitzpatrick’s journal provides the information that confirms the link: “for endless days now, I have been harvesting my apples” (210). Angelina mysteriously appears and disappears in various roles, both as the school bus driver and as guide at the historical society. When she’s at the historical society, Angelina clearly wants the two children to explore the space for clues about their enchantment. As the bus driver, she is the only other person (apart from Leo and Amanda) who can effect change on the repeating day: “‘It’s Angelina!’ ‘What’s Angelina?’ ‘She wasn’t my bus driver this morning!’” (200). Amanda’s realization that Angelina plays a key role in the enchantment helps them to break the spell as they corner Angelina and learn the important missing piece of information about the apple tree.
Their potted apple trees provide the connection to their ancestors: “I gave Amanda an apple seed from Leo’s great-great-grandfather’s tree, and Leo one from Amanda’s great-great-grandfather’s tree” (242). They each received seeds from the other’s family as a symbol that they are to look after and care for one another as they look after and care for the plants. When Amanda recovers the apple tree from the ground beneath her window and carefully repots it, she demonstrates her care for her friendship with Leo, her forgiveness, and her recommitment to their friendship. The Power of Forgiveness is part of what helps them break the enchantment, and they commit to nurture their friendship through the rest of the rest of their lives: “to make sure we’re never out of touch, we can just mail each other these postcards every six months” (266). As long as they stay in touch, the enchantment won’t recur.
Mass also plants a suggestion that there is more to come in a sequel: Mrs. Fitzpatrick jokes about a future romance between Amanda and Leo, and she validates and accepts Amanda when she says, “‘when you ARE old enough, I’d love it to be you’” (267). The 11-year-olds are embarrassed by the suggestion.
As Leo and Amanda heal their relationship, they experience a significant coming-of-age through the strange experience of the enchantment. Instead of being terrified of the repeating pattern, as they are initially, the two eventually are able to harness it to help others. In one example, Amanda works out the rules of the enchantment in order to help the crying boy with his periodic table: “the periodic table is still there, right where I tucked it last night. I feel a surge of pride that I was able to make it stay overnight” (199). Despite Ruby’s cattiness, Amanda treats her with kindness and respect: “I answer honestly that I’m not likely to make it, but that I’m sure she will” (219). Instead of telling Amanda the usual intimidating anecdote about freezing up, “this time she [Ruby] actually gives me a small smile” (219). Amanda learns that being kind to others brings a measure of peace and satisfaction, as opposed to her previous self-centeredness, which made her overly sensitive to the perceived slights and critiques of others. With her newfound confidence, Amanda can successfully complete a back handspring, and she realizes she likely could do it all along. She takes control over her life and her experiences instead of allowing others to define her self-concept.
Amanda also learns about the importance of authenticity. She successfully makes the gymnastics team but realizes she is doing it for the wrong reasons. Her anxiety at going to the gymnastics tryouts is contrasted with her authentic joy at reaching the music-filled auditorium: “as I push open the door to the auditorium, the swell of music fills my ears. I smile” (246). Both Leo and Amanda realize that authenticity is more important than fitting in, and that authentic behavior will attract true friendship. Leo vows never to criticize Amanda publicly again, and Amanda goes to the audition that feels right for her. They celebrate their authenticity by realizing, “This version of our birthday has been one of the best” (260).
Related Titles
By Wendy Mass
