Freckle Juice

Freckles are the most prominent symbol in Freckle Juice. For Andrew, freckles represent the solution to all of his problems. Andrew is obsessed with having freckles, but more specifically, he wants freckles like Nicky Lane’s. Andrew thinks that “if he had freckles like Nicky, his mother would never know if his neck was dirty. So he wouldn’t have to wash” (7). If Andrew had freckles, “he’d hear Miss Kelly when she called reading groups” (7-8). If Andrew had freckles, he thinks that he would be able to concentrate in school, no one would laugh at him, and he wouldn’t get in trouble. When Andrew asks Nicky how he got his freckles, he is disappointed to learn that a person has to be born with them. The freckles become an unattainable dream until Sharon enters the picture.

For Sharon, freckles are an opportunity to cash in on other people’s insecurities. She is quick to promise that with freckle juice, Andrew “can get as many as [he] want[s]” (11). She plays on his fascination with Nicky’s freckles by saying that if Andrew drinks two glasses of freckle juice, he’ll look just like Nicky. The freckle juice recipe becomes a golden, precious opportunity, and Andrew treats it as such.