Downside Up

by Richard Scrimger

Overview

Fred is a sixth-grader reeling from the loss of his beloved dog, Casey. Every day he walks home from school bouncing Casey's old worn-out tennis ball. One day, the ball falls down a sewer grate, and Fred can't bear to leave it down there. He pries open the grate and stumbles down. Through the sewer, Fred enters a parallel universe: Casey is alive, his mom and sister are happier, and there's a version of Fred who's happier too. Spending time with Casey, Fred feels joy for the first time since his dog's death, but he slowly realizes that the loss of Casey is masking an even greater loss: the death of Fred's father. Fred brings his sister, Izzy, to this upside-down world of lost things in the hope of finding their father and bringing him back. Can everything that is lost be found again?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770498457
Publisher:	Tundra
Publication date:	09/13/2016
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

RICHARD SCRIMGER is the award-winning author of twenty books for children and adults. His works have been translated in many languages and have been critically acclaimed around the world. His first children's novel, The Nose from Jupiter, won the 10th Annual Mr. Christie's Book Award. His novel From Charlie's Point of View was a CLA Honor Book and was chosen as one of the "Best of the Best" by the Chicago Public Library. Richard's latest, Viminy Crowe's Comic Book, was listed as a Top Shelf Honoree by VOYA magazine. His books Ink Me and The Wolf and Me are part of the Seven series with six other well-known authors. The author lives in Toronto, ON.

Read an Excerpt

It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t been looking down. I think about that sometimes, what it means. Down. I was looking down, all right.
I walked out of school bouncing Casey’s old tennis ball, like usual. Until Lance Levy kicked it out of my hand and I ran after it.
“Yesss!” Lance called. “See that? See the way I kicked Berdit’s stupid tennis ball right out of his hand? Yesssssss!”
His voice chased me across the playground, then passed me, fading into the distance as Lance raced away down the street. He was the fastest kid in sixth grade. Yesss he was.
I was holding onto the ball when I came up to Velma Dudding, who was on the sidewalk in front of the school. I thought about saying hi to her. Or bye. Or see you tomorrow. But I didn’t. Her mom drove up and Velma slipped into the front seat of the SUV. I walked on.
Izzy was waiting for me at the top of Sorauren Park. 
“Hey, Fred,” she said.
“Hey.”
Now that I was closer to home I was bouncing the ball and catching it again.
“I changed my screen saver. Wanna see it?” said Izzy.
“Nah.”
My eyes were on the ground. Cracked pavement. Weeds. Ants. Dirt. The tennis ball made a flat, hollow sound when it bounced.
“Come on, take a look. Harry has a new hat.”
“Nah.”
She’s my big sister. Isabel. We both go to Sir John A. Macdonald Public School. She’s in eighth grade, two years ahead of me. We cut across the bottom of Sorauren Park, crossed Wabash Avenue and headed down toward Wright Avenue. I bounced my ball off the paved path and caught it. Off the grass. Caught it again.
Izzy walked ahead of me. Her runners were broken at the back. The red heels flapped up and down. They looked like little mouths, opening and closing.
“Race you home, Fred!” she said.
“Huh?”
“Race you! Come on. From here to the back door. Ready . . . set . . . go.”
I gave up after a few steps. She stopped, turned back for me.

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR Downside Up:

"As the dimensional differences increase and the author introduces more and more fantastical elements, readers have a sure footing in their emotional connection to Fred, allowing the author to introduce some strange, Miyazaki-esque ideas and imagery with ease." —Kirkus Reviews

"A thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful work. Fred’s authentic voice provides a balm to those struggling to understand loss and inspires all to view the world with fresh eyes."
—School Library Journal

"What Scrimger does with Downside Up is present a story with just enough quirk and humour to balance the more serious issues. Whether a child has experienced the loss of a loved one or not, this book will resonate with its universal message of finding ways to cope with difficult situations." —Quill & Quire

"Downside Up is a brilliant, gripping . . . book." —CM Magazine

From the Publisher

10/01/2016
Gr 5–8—Fred's dog Casey died two months ago, and the Toronto sixth grader has been carrying around Casey's tennis ball ever since. Fred drops the ball one day, and it rolls through a sewer grate. When he jumps in to retrieve it, he discovers that Casey is alive and ready to play on the other side. At first, the upside-down world seems almost the same as the one left behind, with upside-down Fred (called Freddie on this side of the sewer) going to the same school with the same students. Freddie and Fred live in identical houses, and each has an older sister named Izzy. Everyone seems happier than Fred remembers. Soon, however, dragons and newfound athletic powers make Fred suspect that there is more to discover in this alternate reality. When Fred's Izzy follows him through the sewer to the upside-down world, his unnamed but growing feelings of dread and discomfort creep into this idyllic parallel reality and we discover that Casey isn't the only loved one Fred has recently lost. What initially appears to be a story about the struggle to accept the death of a beloved pet slowly reveals itself to be a sad, sweet, and unexpectedly complex examination of the grieving process, the balance between choice and inevitability, and the power of belief and remembrance. VERDICT A thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful work. Fred's authentic voice provides a balm to those struggling to understand loss and inspires all to view the world with fresh eyes.—Alyssa Annico, Youngstown State University, OH

School Library Journal

2016-07-20
A boy deals with his grief.Fred is still overwhelmed by the loss of his beloved dog, Casey. One day, while walking home and bouncing Casey’s worn tennis ball, Fred loses the ball down a sewer grate. Pursuing the ball, Fred finds himself tumbling down into a parallel universe where his mother and sister are happy, his doppelgänger, called Freddie, is popular and confident, and most importantly, Casey is still alive. As Fred explores this alternate reality with Casey and Freddie, he also delves through his own grieving process, which the author captures gently, letting readers soak up the ebb and flow of Fred’s emotions. As the dimensional differences increase and the author introduces more and more fantastical elements, readers have a sure footing in their emotional connection to Fred, allowing the author to introduce some strange, Miyazaki-esque ideas and imagery with ease. Less successful is the author’s bizarre pivot regarding Fred’s true source of grief. The reveal is indeed stunning, and the emotional payoff is earned, but the decision to camouflage his pain feels like a bait and switch. An ambitious, touching work that goes a step too far. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews