A swimming scholarship student from modern day Australia switches places with an aspiring competitive swimmer from 1908 through mysterious incident involving a watch. Highly engaging. I could scarcely put this book down!

My favorite part of the book was the contrast provided by the characters’ relationships with their siblings. As a teacher and a mom, I found the illustrations of competing siblings verses cooperative siblings. I imagine that my students and my personal children would benefit from such a story.

The story is told through alternating perspectives. The voices of the two girls, Fanny and Cat, are distinct. I really enjoyed their reactions to their new eras. Although it felt a bit drawn out in places, it was necessary to establish the adjustment period for the girls.

I enjoyed learning the true story of Fanny, who paved the way for female athletes. I also appreciated the parallels between the historical fiction portion and the modern story line.

I would use this book in a classroom library and as a reading recommendation or small group novel. This is definitely entertaining and a worthy inclusion in any classroom.

This was a really cool middle-grade novel about Fanny and Cat, 2 swimmers who end up switching bodies in different time periods. I really liked the historical fiction aspect of going to the early 20th century. Fun, easy to read.

This was a very interesting story. It tells the story of two girls from different backgrounds and I enjoyed the way it was written and how the author created it.
I think a lot of readers will enjoy this one also.

I’ve always been a fan of time-slip and body-swap novels, but Elsewhere Girls is the first book I’ve read where the two genres are combined. Because of this, I approached with some trepidation. Could the authors successfully blend the two? I’m happy to say they did.

Fanny Durack and Cat Feeney have a lot in common. They live in the same neighbourhood. They are both competitive swimmers. They both care deeply for their families, but they live more than 100 years apart.

One day, while the girls are swimming at Wylie’s Baths in Coogee, time unwinds. Fan lands in Cat’s body in 2021, and Cat lands in Fan’s in 1908.

This touching and often humourous story is told in two voices. The chapters alternate between the characters with the authors skillfully weaving historical facts and women’s issues from both time periods into the narrative. As Fan and Cat try fit into their new lives, they earn a lot about themselves. Each makes important decisions about their future. If only they could figure out how to get home.

At the end of the book, I was delighted to learn that Fanny Durack and her friend Mina Wylie were real people and that their determination earned them medals at the 1912 Olympics. I was even more delighted to find that Wylie’s Baths still exists. If I ever make it to Australia, you know I’m going for a swim!

This book is suited for readers aged 10 and up. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for the advance copy of Elsewhere Girls.

What a sweet middle grade novel. I'm a sucker for time travel and the switching lives trope, so I knew I would love this one. We follow two main characters; Cat from present day and Fan from 1908. One day they both go for a swim and wind up switching places. Both characters were strong and bold, but Fan especially really challenged the norms of her time. I loved her character. The family dynamics of both characters was very sweet as well. The setting of 1908 was so fun to read and I really felt like I was there, the authors did a great job of capturing that time.

My only complaint was during one of the 1908 chapters, CPR was used. They go into detail about compressions and mouth to mouth which was not something people did at the time. I doubt many middle grade readers would catch on but it was something I noticed and it removed me from the story a bit.

I am reviewing this for Net Galley.

In this story we follow Cat who is living in the year 2021 and is a swimmer for her school. Fan is living in the year 1908 and is also a swimmer for her school. Cat is about to swim for one of her most important races. Instead of going to school and training she takes a day off to go to a place called Wylie's baths. There she finds herself immersed in her swimming but doesn't realize until she is done swimming that she has transformed not only into a different year but a different body entirely.

Cat has had to go from having life so easy for her with the way things are done in the 2000's so a whole different lifestyle. She has to do chores that take her hours to do instead of a few minutes. She doesn't have a bathroom, let alone a real nice stove. Fan on the other hand has had to get used to running a dishwasher, making sure she doesn't say things like having rabbit for dinner. She also has to get used to the new lifestyle of young kids having parties.

Once Cat and Fan figure out their new lifestyles and bodies can they figure out their way back to their own life? I really enjoyed this story. This isn't something I would typically choose to read, but I wanted something different. I don't have anything negative to say about this story. The author did a very good job of making this story the right length and not feeling dragged out. If you are looking for something different to read, then I highly recommend this.

A quick, easy and cute read that I found really enjoyable to fread. Well written with a riveting storyline and well developed characters. I really enjoyed the time travelling aspect of it, as I havent read many childrens books that comtain this element. Really enjoyable.

I enjoyed this time-traveling take on the Freaky Friday story! The first person narrative presents two distinct voices that children would easily be able to identify with as they follow along with challenges each character faces. This book would be a nice addition to a historical fiction unit as the students are able to learn about the historical period (1908) through a modern day character's voice. The authors did a great job of using the switched places structure to guide the reader through understanding the difference in the two time periods. Without spoiling anything, I would have loved to see more at the end as I wondered what impact the characters had on their respective times and how that connected back to the real history that inspired the story.