Falling Over Sideways

Starred review from July 4, 2016
After the trauma of witnessing her father have a stroke, 13-year-old Claire Goldsmith and her family struggle with their new reality. Claire must simultaneously navigate dance-class drama, getting braces (which still manages to feel like the worst day of her life even after her father’s affliction), and boys, including former friends and her frustratingly perfect older brother. Told from Claire’s perspective, Sonnenblick’s story delivers an achingly vivid portrayal of her wide range of emotions as her father returns home still recovering, suffering from aphasia and having trouble with simple tasks like eating with a fork. Claire is a bluntly honest narrator, never holding back even when anger turns to depression and her father starts to waste away (“If I were being a hundred percent honest, I couldn’t really say I was thankful he was alive in this condition”). But Sonnenblick (After Ever After) incorporates a message of hope, too: Claire’s ordeal gives her new appreciation for the power of music and a more empathic view of those around her. It’s a powerful and profound look at a family coping with unexpected change. Ages 12–up.

Starred review from June 15, 2016
When Claire's family is turned upside down, her friends--and enemies--become a surprising source of support.Eighth grade is tough enough for Claire without new problems, including a prominent zit appearing on the first day of school and watching her friends at dance school move into advanced levels while she stays behind. But these problems fade in significance when her novelist father keels over during breakfast one morning. Her father's stroke means even more changes: the house is different, the looks of pity she gets are unfamiliar, and her father has changed. But he's still there--isn't he? With humor, grace, and an ear for middle school nuance, Sonnenblick navigates the tricky waters of eighth grade and manages to convey the heartbreak of a major tragedy alongside the more mundane, but no less horrifying, problems, such as getting your period while wearing white marching-band pants. Her dad's stroke serves as both a main source of anguish and a backdrop against which Claire explores all the relationships in her life, including the ones she has with her brother, her two best dance friends, her best school friend, and others she never knew were friends (including Latina Regina, who calls Claire "Starbuck" because, she says, "all white girls love Starbucks"). Authentic, funny, dramatic, fantastic. (Fiction. 10-14)

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July 1, 2016

Gr 6-8-Claire Goldsmith has been living a relatively cursed life, at least in her opinion. Her dance friends have all moved up a level, but she's stayed the same. Eighth grade is nightmarish thanks to mean girls and an even meaner boy. At home, her parents and older brother aren't exactly sympathetic to her plight. But one morning Claire's life goes from bad to worse when her dad has a stroke. Now Claire has to deal with dance and middle school drama and the emotional trauma that comes from watching her once strong father deal with the aftermath of his medical condition. The protagonist is a realistic 13-year-old; her struggles with bullies and friends and her attempts to get out of her brother's shadow are relatable. However, while the novel centers on the ways a stroke can affect the dynamics of a family, the story does not go very deep. The writing is only surface level; readers are told more than shown. The plot seems to meander among Claire's life at school, her dancing, and her situation at home, but a balance is never quite met. VERDICT This novel may resonate with some readers but is more of a supplemental purchase.-Paige Garrison, Augusta Richmond County Library System, GA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
Grades 7-10 *Starred Review* Claire feels left behind when her best ballet-school friends are unexpectedly elevated to a higher class. She spends the first day of eighth grade coping with menstrual cramps, a zit on her nose, and sniping classmates. But the worst is yet to come: her father has a stroke, making speech and movement difficult. After months of looking inward and trying to carry on normally, Claire realizes she's been avoiding the obvious: she has a role to play in her father's recovery. Although tentative at first, her response enables her to get beyond paralysis, weather the next storm, and move forward with her life. Sonnenblick has a knack for smart, droll first-person narration, and that's as true here as in his earlier books featuring male protagonists. 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. The book's beginning sounds so much like other, sunnier novels that readers, like Claire, will feel a jolt when the first crisis comes. But they'll stay with her every step of the way.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)