The Copycat by Wendy McLeod MacKnight (review)

When Ali Sloane and her parents move in with her great-grandmother Gigi, she knows from experience that fitting in at a new school will be tough, especially when she suddenly starts exhibiting the family Copycat ability, which allows her to turn into other sentient creatures. She’s excited about meeting her cousin Alfie, though, and friendly Cassie and Murray seem like potential chum material. Navigating tensions between trying to be likable and figuring out her own identity is extra tough when being a Copycat means she could literally be anyone; it’s an amusing (if obvious) play on adult advice to just be yourself. Amid transformation hijinks, Ali’s life gets more complicated still when she’s paired with popular girl Emily for a science project, the Sloane family feud rears its ugly head, and Gigi’s health worsens even as Ali plans a spectacular hundredth birthday party. Ali’s poverty is sensitively contrasted with Emily’s affluence and Cassie’s casual generosity, and the foggy New Brunswick city of Saint John is lovingly described. Convoluted attempts to explain Copycat abilities via evolution don’t really contribute much, though, and the too-happy ending involving a long-lost uncle robs the family feud of some of its power and defuses the sense that there are consequences to misusing Copycat powers. It’s an amusing enough read nevertheless, with humor and some insight into the dynamics of middle-school friendship.