Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Not only did I enjoy this one, but I passed it to my 7yo and she loved it, too. We both thought it was great fun to discuss the upsides and downsides to being a first kid. I really appreciated the diversity and how each of the POV characters really felt unique and relatable in their own way. This was fun to read during inauguration!

For sisters Ingrid and Winnie it is hard enough to be America’s first daughters but when they welcome the incoming first daughters with a harmless prank the peaceful transition of power is at risk.

Both families experience being the “firsts” For Winnie and Ingrid, are the first Latinx family. Skylar and Zoe’s mother is the first female president. All eyes are on these two families and the White House staff and their parents expect them to be on their best behavior.

But that is difficult when the perfect prank is within reach.

I liked how the author talked about the unfair burdens people of color experience in high positions of power face. Both sets of sisters are expected to be shining examples of not only the President's daughters but the Latinx or Black communities.

The relationship between Winnie and Ingrid feels authentic as does Skylar and Zoe. Each sister team works together but they also experience normal feelings of sibling jealousy and
Frustration.

The pranks are tame but show how even small jokes get out of hand.

This book is good for 4-6 grade readers.

Shaking Up the House incorporates multiple points of view, featuring each of the fictitious first daughters (current and future), as they prepare to transition between presidencies. I love how the story starts from this point- featuring a Latina family and a Black family- and the “traditional” pranks for the incoming First Family that goes awry...
Funny, witty, relatable; this book will have readers in suspense and cheering on each “team!”

Thanks to Harper Collins Children's Books & NetGalley for this review copy of Shaking up the House by Yamile Saied Mendez.

Such a fun (and hopeful - especially during these times of 2020) view of life in the White House when young children live in it. Pranks, friendship, and family alongside learning about the White House and presidential history of the United States, is fantastic. I highly recommend.

Middle grade realistic fiction. This story takes us inside the White House, where a Latinx family is ending their term, and a Black family is moving in. The Lopez daughters moved in so young that they can't remember life without secret service agents following their every move. The incoming Williams daughters, who are twins, are a bit nervous about living up to the picture-perfect image that the two Lopez daughters portrayed. A renovation glitch means that the Williams family is moving in a bit earlier than usual, weeks before the Inauguration. Ingrid and Winnie discover a tradition of pranks towards the incoming first family and get to work. Their first prank goes a bit wrong, and they know that Zora and Skylar will be retaliating. Can the girls share the house for weeks without hurting each other or getting in the tabloids?

I loved that this story incorporated real facts about the White House and presidential history in it. I had a little bit of trouble keeping the four girls straight and thought the public nature of the pranks made them more mean than funny. I definitely liked the idea that a Hispanic man was the outgoing president and a Black woman was the incoming president. It will be great for kids to see that representation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read a digital advanced copy of this book.

A prank war spirals out of control when, for the first time ever, two Presidential administrations will overlap their time in the White House by seven weeks. I appreciated the diversity of the Presidential office in the story and found some of the trivia tidbits about the White House, and its staff, to be interesting. However I struggled with the number of perspectives in the story (four main characters POV) and felt like I was missing something in the arc of the girls friendship. They got along fabulously on the campaign trail but then that abruptly changed during their time living together at the White House, and I was never really sure why.

This title is definitely an accurate description of what goes on in the White House when the president elect moves in early with her twin daughters, Zora a d Skylar.
Winnie and Ingrid have lived in the White House for eight years, most of their life. There is a long standing history of the current administration setting pranks for the incoming president and Winnie and Ingrid aren't going to cede the house without a prank or two for the new first daughters. This turns into an all out prank war between the two sets of twins, really shaking up the house. Disruptions abound as the girls try to outdo the others pranks, but also end up growing their friendship as members of the "First Kids Club."
The chapters bounce between each girl and I really enjoyed how each had a distinctive voice, interests and personality. No cliches of twins being identical in everyway, or else polar opposites!

I am writing this review exactly one week after Election Day 2020, and while I enjoyed this middle grade contemporary novel, it almost felt like a fantasy sometimes. A transition of power so peaceful the incoming and out-coming administrations live together? A dream!

Shaking Up the House by Yamile Saied Mendez is on sale everywhere January 5, 2021.

The Lopez sisters--Winnie and Ingrid--have lived in the White House for 3/4 of their lives--since they were wee tots--and as they prepare to leave it as their father's administration comes to an end, they have some mixed feelings. The loss of their home is hard, obviously, but they're also excited for changes and more freedoms. The incoming first daughters--twins Zora and Skylar Williams--have similarly mixed feelings, if not in the opposite directions. When the Blair House renovation doesn't go as planned, President Lopez offers to let the Williams family live in the guest quarters of the White House in the lame duck period, giving the girls a chance to bond and teach each other about their roles. But what really happens is....a bit different.

A prank war ensues between the two sets of sisters, a ferret is lost, the White House Christmas season turns people green with...something, and as they count down towards inauguration day, the sisters will have to figure out where to draw the line and what they're really looking for in these moments of funniness and joy, and what their role will be from the outside looking in.

It was realy fun to read a young kids book set in the White House--especially around Christmas season! It's fun to see the way the author changes history and leans into it, the way she makes the presidency her own in a lot of ways. I loved reading about really diverse families in the White House--especially the Lopezes who love their culture and family and don't shy away from being Hispanic, even when the public isn't so nice about it. I've always been really interested in first kids and the way they are and are not treated by the public, and I think this was a fun read that also just made me laugh and tear up a bit and think about what it was like to be young and in a weird position--though never as outgoing or incoming first daughters, I will admit.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and am hopefully going to find a way to feature it this winter at our local public library!

Does reading about fictional political systems serve as a welcome distraction from the current US election? Maybe that's exactly what it does. If this was a YA book like Running, it would probably be more focused on the actual politics, but this one isn't. It's a fun look into what goes on between the kids at the White House, and I'm pretty sure it was partially inspired by true events.
Winnie and Ingrid López's father, Matías Lopez, became President when the girls were three and four years old. They barely remember anything from before, but now, eight years later, they only have seven weeks left until their father's term is over and they have to leave the White House for a new life in California. But life as they know it is forced to change sooner when renovations cause the next president-elect Theresa Williams and her family to move in to the White House early.
Identical twins Skylar and Zora can't wait to begin this new chapter. Skylar, the outgoing fashionista, loves the fame and the five-star treatment by the staff, and Zora, the quieter history lover, hopes to find out the truth behind her favorite White House theories. But what they don't expect is what the López girls have planned to give them a proper welcome- a prank that results in Zora spilling her drink on a prominent reporter's son. The twins only have one choice now: to fight back, while keeping it a secret from their parents and the tabloids, who hold the Latina first daughters and Black incoming first daughters to a nearly impossible standard. Reporters will do anything to make it appear that they don't get along.
But what happens when the pranks go too far and have the potential to ruin the Christmas party AND the inauguration?
I don't know if this is set 8+ years in the future or in an alternate 2021, but I'll take either. I don't know much about them, but I feel like President López or President Williams would have handled the events of the past few years much better than what we've gotten. Not naming any names, but you know what I mean.

Once I got over the absolute thrill and joy of a book showcasing not only the first Latinx president but the first Black female president as well, I loved this fun and exciting story. I think young readers will be fascinated by the inside peek at life in the White House and will enjoy the adventures of the young protagonists. Highly recommended.

This book was adorable and I loved it! It showed two diverse families with their daughters living in the White House. One family is moving in and the other is moving out. The tradition for the first children is to play pranks on each other and boy do they do in this story!
I love the diversity in this story and I cannot wait to share it with my students.

Grade 3-6 “Shaking Up the House” is the latest arrival in the emerging genre of “presidential family” fiction. With young and new adult titles such as “Red, White, and Royal Blue” and “The State of Us” flying off the shelves, it is no surprise to see 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as the backdrop for this Middle Grade title. Ingrid and Winnie Lopez have spent the last eight years at the White House as the country’s first daughters. It is now time for them to turn the keys over to Skylar and Zora. However, preparations for the incoming family are delayed and the four girls will have to stay under the same roof for several weeks. True to the White House’s tradition of playing pranks on the incoming family, Ingrid and Winnie engage in an on-going series of harmless gags with their successors. Events take an unfortunate turn when the pet ferret goes missing and the girls’ practical jokes interfere with official presidential business. Yamile Saied Méndez has created a funny and diverse cast of characters subverting the representation usually seen in the White House. Ingrid and Winnie are Latina, and Skylar and Zora are African American. They openly talk about their experiences with racism and the pressure they feel to be on their best behavior. While their pranks began as innocent fun, they culminate in a touching friendship and show of solidarity. “Shaking Up the House” is an entertaining read, and a clever re-imagining of First Daughter tropes showing that anyone can be in the White House, and have fun doing so.

Winnie and Ingrid’s father is the outgoing President, and due to renovation problems, they are unable to move out of the White House so that Zora and Skyler’s family can move in when their mother is elected the new President. Both families live in the White House after the election until Inauguration Day. Although the girls met and were friendly on the campaign trail, the battle for which group will be remembered as the best First Daughters ensues. What begins as a prank war spirals out of control as the pranks are played out publicly and take unanticipated turns.

There was a lot to like about this book: diversity, female President and a window into what the lives of the children of Presidents must be like. I felt this story fell a little flat, though. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around the fact that the girls were friends on the campaign trail, but then there was so much animosity between them and it seemed like they had never really met before. Then all of the sudden, at the end of the book when their pranks were discovered by their parents and they got in trouble they were oldest and dearest friends again. I found all the girls a tad annoying, and kept waiting for this story to get a jolt of excitement. The pranks weren’t quite as funny as they were intended to be, the loose ferret in the White House for the length of time it was loose was unrealistic, and the trouble between the girls ultimately ended up being “girl drama.”

This is a very tame, innocent story, and I’m sure it will find an audience - as I mentioned before - there was a lot to like. I wanted to like it, but sadly just couldn’t.

This book is so enjoyable and full of life and energy! Meet two fun feuding pranksters duets trying to "shake up" the White House in this book: the Lopez sisters and Williams sisters. One is the outgoing first kids and the other the incoming. Through a variety of pranking antics the girls come together and show a positive and hopeful dream for the American White House!

This book was ok. It was fine, and I do plan to recommend it to kids (grades 3-5). I think they'll enjoy the book, but it's not really anything to write home about.

For me, the book winds up falling short because it raised a lot of questions that weren't exactly resolved; this is different from saying the plot had loose ends. The setting of it being in the White House with the daughters of the president and president-elect didn't enhance the story. I'm left wondering why the author/publisher decided that it should be set in the White House rather than anywhere else. I thought maybe they'd talk more about the White House, presidential kids, or something more that would com in to teach about the executive branch or something, but nope...

The whole set-up for the premise of the prank war falls a bit short for me too. There was no communication, no mutual acknowledgment, which is ok, if the kids communicated more between pranks. But really, they didn't talk to each other or acknowledge with each other that they were in a prank war. The pranks went from innocent to harmful super fast too. In my opinion, they weren't necessarily in the name of friendship...

On another note, there are too many perspectives in the book. The whole book is told in third-person, with four featured characters. It would feel a lot more manageable if it focused on two of the daughters instead of all four.

At the end of the day, I wasn't a fan of the book, and I can't say it was good. I didn't really like it, but I also didn't read it for my own pleasure. I read this book to see if the kids I work with would enjoy it, and I think they would. The characters are relatable enough, their families are affectionate, and the tension of a prank war will always attract readers. Kids might like the book, so I"d be happy to have a copy in my library.