Genie with the Light Blue Hair

by Ellen Conford

When Jean finds a wish-granting genie in the lamp she receives for her birthday, she asks to be transformed into Tiffany Tupperman, a popular and beautiful classmate.

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Ellen Conford was an author for children and young adults. Among her writings are the Annabel the Actress and Jenny Archer series. Her books have won the Best Book of the Year Citation, Best Book of the International Interest Citation, Best Book of the Year for Children, Parents' Choice Award, and more.

Reviews

[Swankivy]

I thought this book was kind of disturbing. Mostly because it was about a girl getting unlimited wishes from a genie and she does nothing but screw everything up in ways that I guess are supposed to be funny to the reader. (It actually just irritated me. Characters who don't know what to do with magic so they can be put in slapstick situations always irritate me.) There are a couple explanations for why the magic never seems to give her what she wants--most notably, that the lamp she receives isn't supposed to be for her in the first place--but the genie rambles about weird references I guess little kids are supposed to understand (but probably don't), and the main character (who's goofily named, of course, Jeannie) wishes for generic things like "the perfect man." Word to the wise (which I guess doesn't include Jeannie): don't begin any sentences with the words "I wish" when the genie has been summoned and is listening to you. The book seemed less like a modern fantasy story and more like an excuse for wish-based jokes with terrible consequences.

[Laura Bartlett]

Wonderful book! I can certainly see why it was my BFF's personal fav when she was growing up! Thank you for sharing!!!

[Mads ʅʕ•ᴥ•ʔʃ マディ Heggen]

I think my mom read this back in high school or something and she gave me her old copy when we were cleaning up some time when I was maybe 11 or something. I remember thinking it was odd but otherwise really enjoying it, with some of the details really firmly sticking in my mind to this day (like when she paints her high heels lol). I reread it in the past couple years and was a little creeped out by how horrible everything turned out for her, but it was still a fun wild little ride, like an episode of an old TV show.

[J.X.]

This was an old favourite of mine from my childhood. Even though I haven't done much reading the past few years, I went back to this one to help inspire me with my current writing project. And I could hardly put it down. Even though it's very much a fluffy YA book, there's just something very charming about Conford's word choices and prose and easy humour. I'll have to look into the rest of her catalogue soon.

[Julie Decker]

Jeannie is the recipient of a lamp that, of course, contains a genie who will do anything for her. Unfortunately, everything she wishes for manifests in a way that makes things way worse for her, not better. What good is unlimited magic if it always seems to turn on you?

I would have given this more stars if the book hadn't consistently felt like a setup to tell a joke. First of all, the genie's "humor" often rests on kids getting a reference that wasn't current even at the time, and secondly, Jeannie always seems to phrase her wishes in such a way that they are guaranteed to backfire. The whole thing made me incredibly uncomfortable, because she clearly wasn't enjoying the way the magic affected her life, but every chapter banged along putting her in impossible situations as if we, the reader, were going to enjoy seeing her suffer. When a contrived reason popped up for why everything went so poorly for her, I wasn't very surprised. I don't like reading books that feel so much like they're dedicated to a relationship between the narration and the reader, leaving the character out of the loop.

[chelsea!]

2025: this was the first teenager book i ever read and i had such daydreams of finding a genie of my own and wishing for the life of my dreams. rereading this as a grown-up made me look back on young chelsea with such love. i think she’d be pretty impressed with the life i made all on my own with no magic at all. maybe it’s not the single greatest book of all time but maybe it means everything anyway.

[Jenny]

This book should NEVER have been taken out of print. Maybe kids today don't know who Groucho Marx is, but they have the Internet, and they can look him up. A brilliant piece of young adult fiction that I will treasure always. I'm amazed this was never turned into a movie.

[Beverly]

I remember this as a very funny book. The young girl gets a strange lamp for her 15th birthday, and when she lights it, out comes a genie that looks like Groucho Marx. And when she wishes for her room to be cooler, she gets NOT an air conditioner, but six inches of snow!

[Jillian]

Another favorite from childhood, just as good as I remembered.

[Gina]

This is a book that I read when I was in middle school. It was the first book that I ever read that made me realize how much fun reading could be. It opened me up to the world of fantasy/fiction.

[Erika]

One of my very favorite books growing up.