Falling Over Sideways
Scholastic Inc | ISBN 9780545863247 Hardcover
272 Pages | Ages 12 & Up
A new hilarious, honest, and hopeful novel from the author of Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie!
Claire’s life is a joke . . . but she’s not laughing. While her friends seem to be leaping forward, she’s dancing in the same place. The mean girls at school are living up to their mean name, and there’s a boy, Ryder, who’s just as bad, if not worse. And at home, nobody’s really listening to her—if anything, they seem to be more in on the joke than she is.
Then into all of this (not-very-funny-to-Claire) comedy comes something intense and tragic—while her dad is talking to her at the kitchen table, he falls over with a medical emergency. Suddenly the joke has become very serious—and the only way Claire, her family, and her friends are going to get through it is if they can find a way to make it funny again.
Raves & reviews:
Praise for Falling Over Sideways
*"He portrays a diverse group of middle-school kids as interesting individuals, while creating a believable web of relationships among them. From her driven-to-perfection older brother to a vindictive teacher to a mean-girl classmate, the characters and their dialogue are convincing and often entertaining." —Booklist, starred review
Praise for DRUMS, GIRLS, AND DANGEROUS PIE
"A brave book . . . Jordan Sonnenblick carries it off with such charm and elan, you forget for a moment your heart is breaking." —Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes
"Sonnenblick shows that even in the midst of tragedy, life goes on, love can flower, and the one thing you can always change is yourself." —Booklist, starred review
"The reader falls in love with the brothers, laughing and crying by turns and rooting for both of them until it almost hurts." —Kirkus Reviews