Falling Over Sideways

Jordan Sonnenblick

Sep 2016 · Scholastic Inc.

About this ebook

A girl navigates the chaos of eighth grade while handling a family tragedy in this funny and honest novel by the author of Drums, Girls, and 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.

Praise for Falling Over Sideways

“It’s a powerful and profound look at a family coping with unexpected change.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Authentic, funny, dramatic, fantastic.” —Kirkus Reviews

 “[Sonnenblick]does an exceedingly good job developing his adolescent characters . . . I would highly recommend this novel for any collection serving a middle school audience.” —School Library Journal

Ratings and reviews

I good book. I sweet story about Claire going through her life after a major thing happened that affected not only her, but her family.

About the author

Jordan Sonnenblick is the author of the acclaimed Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, After Ever After, Notes from the Midnight Driver, Zen and the Art of Faking It, Falling Over Sideways, and The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade. He lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with his wife and two children.