Gordon Korman. Mixed Up. Scholastic, 2023.

Mixed Up is more serious than many of Gordon Korman’s novels, but he still our favorite YA author. Mixed Up is worth reading as it deals with some serious ideas.

We were reminded of a couple of movies as we read Mixed Up. One film was Yesterday. Readers who saw that recall that there was some kind of “anomaly” in nature that caused everyone in the world except for a handful of people to forget all about the Beatles. A young, struggling British musician was not affected and became a rock superstar by playing the Beatles songs as his originals.

Mixed Up has a different kind of anomaly. Two twelve-year-old boys who live in the same city but in different neighborhoods begin sharing each other’s memories. Theo begins to remember things that happened to Reef and vice versa. It becomes more complicated as these memories begin to become more real than the things that actually happened to them.

Reef was raised by a single mother who died recently. He was taken in by the family of Jenna, his mother’s best friend, and Willis with three kids of their own. The two older kids in high school pretty much ignore him, but their younger son Declan is downright evil in the way he torments Reef (e.g., he calls him Reek). He has a way of doing things that would get him into trouble except that he makes it look like Reef did it.

However, because of this “mixed up” memory situation, Reef reaches a point where he cannot even remember what his mother looked like if it were not for photos he kept on a cellphone—but he knows what has been happening to Theo.

Theo’s family is intact, but he has been a big disappointment to his father. His father was a jock type who “ruled the school” when he was in middle and high school. Theo is simply not interested in those things. He would rather keep a vegetable garden and keep to himself. His father is really demeaning to him, but Theo seems to handle it about as well as he can. But things get more complicated as Theo begins having memories about his mother dying and having an adopted brother who torments him.

Eventually Theo and Reef meet up. This is somewhat awkward for both of them. They know that they can probably help each other, but they are not sure what to do.

It also becomes a little complicated as Reef blames himself for his mother’s death. Portia, a girl he really liked, invited him to a party. After the party, Portia got sick and was out of school for three weeks. A week later, Reef and his mother both came down with Covid—this is right before the Covid shutdown. The virus killed his mother, so Reef blames himself for his mother’s death.

So we have Reef mourning and Theo not able to live up to his father’s expectations. These are problems that many people can identify with to some degree. And then there is the memory mix-up. The two boys are forced to help each other get through this.

Things get more complicated. Theo begins to volunteer at a food bank near Reef’s school so he can stay in contact with Reef. Portia also volunteers there, and Theo develops a crush on her, too. Reef had used to be outgoing, but since his mother’s death he has withdrawn. Portia and a lot of others who knew him feel sorry for him but do not know what to do to help. Theo and Reef both want to help each other to somehow change their memories.

Even though this is more serious than many of Korman’s stories, it still has a kind of crazy ending that many of his tales have. Without spoiling anything, let’s just say that the wrap-up might remind some readers of the movie Back to the Future.

Except for obvious science-fiction element of the memory mix-up, Mix Up is honestly realistic. It speaks to many of us because the problems the boys encounter are not uncommon. There is not a perfect ending, but it is one that shows us that some things we have to accept and learn to live with.

As kind of a postscript, Mixed Up also has another message. Even though sometimes we wish we knew what other people were thinking, it is a good thing that we do not. I would say to my students, “If we could read one another’s minds, the school would have fired me a long time ago.” The students usually chuckle at that and perhaps imagine some of the things I might have been thinking. Then I add, “And the school probably would have kicked out half of you!” The students usually laugh at that, too. We have enough problems dealing with our own thought lives without having to worry about what others are thinking.