Mountain Upside Down
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Feb 11, 2025
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A funny and heartfelt LGBTQIA+ middle grade novel set against the backdrop of family drama and a library funding campaign in a small town.
Alex Eager lives in Faillin, OR with her grandmother, a retired librarian. Life should be great for Alex, since she finally worked up the courage to ask her best friend PJ if they could be more than friends and she said yes. But their new relationship will have to be long distance, because PJ is moving. On top of that, Alex is worried that something is wrong with her increasingly forgetful grandmother. And to make matters worse, Faillin is holding a referendum on library funding, and things aren’t looking good. Will anything good for Alex ever last?
Mountain Upside Down is a beautifully crafted story of a thirteen-year-old girl finding her place in her family and her community. It’s a queer-positive story that doesn’t center coming out. It’s a story of a library’s role in a community that doesn’t feature book banning. And it’s a story of long-held family secrets and resentment that focuses not on final resolution but learning how to communicate again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Everything is looking up for 13-year-old Alex Eager until suddenly it isn't: her new girlfriend PJ's mothers decide it's time for them to move, Alex's grandmother is becoming more and more forgetful, and there's rumors that the upcoming local election might threaten funding for her small Oregon town's public library, her home away from home. Alex is continually challenged by things outside of her control in this endearingly thoughtful middle grade debut by Ryan (Rules for Hearts) that leans into the messy nature of everyday life: complicated emotions plague Alex's relationship with her distant father and his second wife, she feels haunted by the ghost of her late mother whenever her grandmother refers to Alex by her name, and she's not sure what she can do to save the library. But instead of dwelling on all the things she doesn't know or understand, Alex learns to adapt—becoming "amphibious," as her grandmother says, to make the most of every moment, in the moment, as she builds a new life with those she loves, making for a tidy and satisfying tale in which one "rigid" teen resolves to make good with what she has. Main characters read as white. Ages 10–up.
