afro8921's review against another edition
4.0
Falling Over Sideways is a wonderfully funny look at a the complex topic strokes. Claire is an eight grader dealing with changes in friendship, dance class, and lately her family. Claire's father has always been her number one fan until a stroke changes their relationship. Falling over sideways explores the different challenges that each family member goes through with a comic realism. While Claire is the protagonist in the story, her brother, mother, and friends are well developed and provide a nice contrast to Claire. Loved this book, I laughed and cried many times in the story.
lady_mair's review against another edition
4.0
This book ended up being a lot more relatable than I thought it would be. While I never attended public school or was in dance, I struggled with loneliness and finding/keeping strong friends growing up. I also suspect the book carried a lot more punch since my grandpa had a stroke earlier this year.
Sonnenblick's narrative voice is top-notch and I commend him for his varied and believable supporting cast.
Personally, I thought the very end was a /tiny/ bit too good to be true, but it didn't hurt the overall story, which was highly compelling and emotive.
Sonnenblick's narrative voice is top-notch and I commend him for his varied and believable supporting cast.
Personally, I thought the very end was a /tiny/ bit too good to be true, but it didn't hurt the overall story, which was highly compelling and emotive.
amateur_geek's review against another edition
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lazygal's review against another edition
3.0
I always want to love the Sonnenblick books more than I end up loving them - why is that? Claire's life isn't going well, but it's all in predictable, middle-school ways (boys, friends, family). Of course it's all tied up with a nice bow at the end, which is possibly why I wasn't overly excited. But, as always, the target readers won't notice so...
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
beetective's review against another edition
2.0
Going into this book was rather a mystery to me, I had read it beforehand years ago, but had forgotten almost everything about it.
I think that was telling of things to come.
Falling Over Sideways is a simple story about a 13 year old girl named Claire and her struggles with her father's recent stroke. She has other things going on like dance, middle school and playing alto sax in said middle schools band. To me, anything else outside of her father's stroke was boring. We have heard this story a hundred times before of a teenager struggling with middle school and the drama which comes with that, her father's stroke doesn’t seem to affect that lifestyle all that much, save for people being ‘nice’ to her. She still dances, she still continues to be good at alto sax only being dropped a chair and she still gets the same grades she would always get. Nothing is truly challenging.
The characters are when it starts to get worse. First off, Claire is just a dislikeable MC. I know teenagers are meant to be dramatic, but not to the point that it just becomes unbearable to read. She’s selfish, constantly thinking of herself and often refusing to see how other people feel. At one point she states how much she hates her family right after her mother buys her a 200 dollar pair of shoes. Which she never wears again. It’s very much ‘woe is me’ here and it never wears off.
Both Ryder and Salinsky suffer the same problem as each other: being given a pass for their terrible behavior because of one bad thing happening to them. Ryder has berated and acted hostile towards Claire for years just because she laughed at him one time. Salinsky gets away with putting students in danger (she screams at them during a school lock-down potentially killing them), assaulting students, berating them for years and just overall being a bad teacher because her daughter died. Are we meant to feel bad for these people? Are we meant to go ‘oh I understand them now’?
Overall, the story is very average with some completely dislikeable characters.
Rating: 3/10
I think that was telling of things to come.
Falling Over Sideways is a simple story about a 13 year old girl named Claire and her struggles with her father's recent stroke. She has other things going on like dance, middle school and playing alto sax in said middle schools band. To me, anything else outside of her father's stroke was boring. We have heard this story a hundred times before of a teenager struggling with middle school and the drama which comes with that, her father's stroke doesn’t seem to affect that lifestyle all that much, save for people being ‘nice’ to her. She still dances, she still continues to be good at alto sax only being dropped a chair and she still gets the same grades she would always get. Nothing is truly challenging.
The characters are when it starts to get worse. First off, Claire is just a dislikeable MC. I know teenagers are meant to be dramatic, but not to the point that it just becomes unbearable to read. She’s selfish, constantly thinking of herself and often refusing to see how other people feel. At one point she states how much she hates her family right after her mother buys her a 200 dollar pair of shoes. Which she never wears again. It’s very much ‘woe is me’ here and it never wears off.
Both Ryder and Salinsky suffer the same problem as each other: being given a pass for their terrible behavior because of one bad thing happening to them. Ryder has berated and acted hostile towards Claire for years just because she laughed at him one time. Salinsky gets away with putting students in danger (she screams at them during a school lock-down potentially killing them), assaulting students, berating them for years and just overall being a bad teacher because her daughter died. Are we meant to feel bad for these people? Are we meant to go ‘oh I understand them now’?
Overall, the story is very average with some completely dislikeable characters.
Rating: 3/10
librariann's review against another edition
3.0
Ages 10+
A solid tween story about parental illness and trudging through middle school drama.
A solid tween story about parental illness and trudging through middle school drama.
krissyronan's review against another edition
4.0
Great middle grade book. I love that Sonnenblick brought realistic humor to the struggles Claire was facing but didn't minimize her difficulties.