Overview

What if your deepest wish came true-and that's when everything fell apart? Thirteen-year-old Leo Martinez has had enough. Enough of being the smallest kid in seventh grade. Enough of Kyle Brennan shoving him into lockers. Enough of being so invisible that teachers forget his name. When he finds a strange coin in a janitor's closet, he makes a desperate wish: I want to be big. The next morning, Leo wakes up in a thirty-year-old body. Suddenly six-foot-three with muscles he didn't earn, Leo has to navigate an adult world he's completely unprepared for. Using his uncle's ID, he becomes ""Coach Leo""-a substitute gym teacher at Westfield Middle School. The same school where, just yesterday, he was being bullied in the hallways. For four weeks, Leo lives the dream. He's respected. He's powerful. He's finally big enough that people take him seriously. But the best part? He falls in love with Elena Brennan-a beautiful single mom who sees something special in the mysterious new gym teacher. And even better: he becomes an unlikely mentor to her thirteen-year-old son, Kyle. The same Kyle who made Leo's life hell. But magic always has a price. The transformation starts to reverse. Grey hair appears overnight. Leo shrinks inch by inch. The adult body is failing, and with it, everything he's built. Soon, everyone will know the truth: Coach Leo was never real. Just a scared kid playing dress-up in borrowed adulthood. Leo faces an impossible choice: Tell Elena and Kyle the truth-that the man they love is actually a thirteen-year-old boy-and watch their hearts break. Or disappear without explanation, letting them believe he simply abandoned them. Either way, someone gets hurt. Either way, Leo loses everything. This is a story about transformation. But not the kind you think. The Man Plan isn't about the four weeks Leo spends as an adult. It's about the fifteen years after the magic ends. The slow, painful work of growing up for real. Of learning that being big doesn't make you strong-showing up does. That shortcuts don't work. That some lies protect people better than truth. And that sometimes, if you grow into the person you pretended to be, you get a second chance. What readers are calling ""Big meets The Time Traveler's Wife with the emotional depth of Aristotle and Dante"" Perfect for readers who loved the magical consequences of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, the coming-of-age heart of They Both Die at the End, and the complex morality of We Are Okay. ★★★★★ ""I sobbed. This book broke me and healed me in equal measure. A masterpiece about growing up slowly instead of all at once."" ★★★★★ ""The most thoughtful exploration of masculinity, identity, and what it means to 'be a man' that I've ever read. Leo's journey is heartbreaking and hopeful."" ★★★★★ ""Couldn't put it down. The magical realism is just a vehicle for exploring real questions: Can you love someone when you're not really yourself? Can people forgive the unforgivable? Can growing up be rushed?"" Trigger warnings: Bullying, abandonment issues, emotional manipulation (unintentional), age-gap relationship (magical context), mild body horror during transformation reversal, parental grief, discussions of running away. For readers 14+ who are ready to have their hearts broken beautifully. A story about wishing to be someone else and learning that becoming yourself is the real magic.

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