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Toppling
A moving and triumphant illustrated verse novel about childhood illness and support for friends.
Toppling is a fantastic new verse novel from Sally Murphy and a fitting partner title with her first title with Walker Books, Pearl Verses the World. John is obsessed with dominoes. But not with playing the traditional game, he is obsessed with toppling. He spends hours setting up spirals, ramps, patterns and lines of dominoes all for that satisfying toppling beginning with a small push in the right direction, everything falls as it is meant to. When John’s friend Dom falls sick and is diagnosed with cancer, it is John and his friends’ worlds that fall apart. Can they face Dom and support him through this uncomfortable illness? It’s hard for all at first but John and his friends find a way to comfort Dom and laugh with him again. They even find support and understanding from an unlikely source within their class, the school bully.
Toppling is a fantastic new verse novel from Sally Murphy and a fitting partner title with her first title with Walker Books, Pearl Verses the World. John is obsessed with dominoes. But not with playing the traditional game, he is obsessed with toppling. He spends hours setting up spirals, ramps, patterns and lines of dominoes all for that satisfying toppling beginning with a small push in the right direction, everything falls as it is meant to. When John’s friend Dom falls sick and is diagnosed with cancer, it is John and his friends’ worlds that fall apart. Can they face Dom and support him through this uncomfortable illness? It’s hard for all at first but John and his friends find a way to comfort Dom and laugh with him again. They even find support and understanding from an unlikely source within their class, the school bully.
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
4 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
About the author
Sally Murphy
62 books27 followersSally Murphy is an Australian author of over 30 children's books. She's also the slightly crazy mother of six beautiful kids. You'll find bits of her buried somewhere in every one of her books. She loves reading, writing, and speaking about reading and writing.
PEARL VERSES THE WORLD won the 2010 Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature as well as the 2010 Australian Speech Pathology Book of the Year Award for Best Book for Language Development. It was also an Honour Book in the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Awards.
TOPPLING won the children's book category of both the Queensland and Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, and was short-listed in the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Awards.
PEARL VERSES THE WORLD won the 2010 Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature as well as the 2010 Australian Speech Pathology Book of the Year Award for Best Book for Language Development. It was also an Honour Book in the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Awards.
TOPPLING won the children's book category of both the Queensland and Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, and was short-listed in the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
July 10, 2011
This is a heart-warming story in blank verse about a boy whose best friend has cancer. There are the usual stock characters of contemporary school stories: the irritating sister, the bully, the caring teacher, the friends from all corners of a multicultural society, but it's fresh and original because the boy's hobby is unusual (toppling dominoes) and the dialogue is authentic.
I'd recommend this for 8+ if read by a teacher to a class, and 10+ for kids reading it independently.
Shortlisted for the 2011 CBCA Awards.
I'd recommend this for 8+ if read by a teacher to a class, and 10+ for kids reading it independently.
Shortlisted for the 2011 CBCA Awards.
October 13, 2018
Quick first person narrative told in verse. John loves to play with dominoes and gets kidded by his sister for it. He has a close group of friends at school and when one of them gets sick, his dominoes help him through it. He and his friends learn the value of friendship and to not judge a peer only by their behavior.
Addresses cancer and classmates in a straight forward manner. Story ends on a hopeful note.
Would make a good read aloud as there is plenty to discuss.
Addresses cancer and classmates in a straight forward manner. Story ends on a hopeful note.
Would make a good read aloud as there is plenty to discuss.
August 10, 2015
Australian author Sally Murphy writes a winner here with a novel in verse about friends who discover that one of their group has cancer. John's best friend Dom goes home sick from school one day, and doesn't come back. The adults only tell him and his classmates that Dom is very sick, but this doesn't satisfy them. Kids know when you're not telling them the truth or the whole truth. Even if it's scary or upsetting, they need to know the truth. This story underscores that. When they're finally told the truth, some of them look for more information on cancer. It's less scary when you become informed about it. (I know that first hand!) The best part of the story, however, is the clever and creative way the group of friends found to make Dom welcome back in the classroom, and the way the side story of the bully Ky blended into that ending. I like the title too, because toppling dominoes can fail or be a beautiful work of art, which is like the chain of events in the story. Well done! Outstanding! I highly recommend this tearjerker story.
August 30, 2012
A well written children's book that portrays the story of a boy and his best mate, who has cancer. It's no easy feat to deal with heavy issues in a way that kids will identify and engage with, but I think this book managed to do just that. The metaphor of the dominoes 'toppling,' as the title suggests, was also poignantly used in this heart-warming story. Not too many books bring a tear to my eye, but this one certainly did!
February 26, 2013
Toppling, is a sweet book, well written. Sally Murphy captures perspectives of a young boy quite well, and some of the deep emotions that come with the circumstance he finds himself in. Overall it was not as touching to me as her previous book, Pearl Verses The World, and makes less sense as a novel-in-verse. Nevertheless, as a very quick read it is worth the time.
November 4, 2013
Was going to read it, and i checked it out to save from the weed shelf at my library. My 6 year old found it on the table, picked it up, so i read it at the same time as him. Not my 1st choice for a six year old, but i tell folks at my library, let kids read what they want. We have talked a lot about this book, which makes a nice change from Cam Jansen. This has an ambiguous ending, but he didn't get that, which I don't mind.
Read
August 5, 2011cried. like a baby.
January 23, 2021
This book sort of confused me. It seems very much like a late 80s, early 90s sort of book. In look, in style, in how it talks about people and issues, the illustration style, in that it has a kid who thinks it's super cool his friend has a Game Boy.... but then the copyright in my book says 2010?!?!? A part of me wants to say... oh, it's historical fiction, no big deal. But also... I'm not sure yet how to articulate it, but there is a way we wrote about/ talked about issues that is very 90s... like the whole "very special episode" sort of thing. And it's different from how we started approaching those same issues later on... so that's the big part of what feels weird, I guess.
June 23, 2019
A gorgeous verse novel about a young boy dealing his friend’s cancer diagnosis. Sally Murphy does such a beautiful job at dealing with complex topics with compassion and empathy. Themes of friendship, loyalty, courage and illness.
November 30, 2020
I had to read this for school and we had to discuss the topic of cancer.
The whole of our class was bawling their eyes out, including me.
The whole of our class was bawling their eyes out, including me.
November 27, 2023
This book was very interesting and I liked the twist, I also like how it didn't waste so much time and just went straight into the story.👍😘
January 19, 2026
This is a book I remember I read in primary school and it has forever stuck with me truly enjoyed this and the story is very heartfelt.
I can't say it's something I would re read now as an adult as I have now found the style of writing I enjoy to read but as a younger person I did love this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I can't say it's something I would re read now as an adult as I have now found the style of writing I enjoy to read but as a younger person I did love this book
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
April 20, 2018
In this book, the main character's best friend is diagnosed with cancer and can't come to school for a while. While he is gone, the class works on individual research projects that they will give speeches about. In the end, the day of speeches does not play out as the students expected.
December 19, 2016
John is in fifth grade, and he loves dominoes. He doesn't play games with them; instead, he likes to line them up in complicated patterns, then knock them over to watch how they topple. His hobby becomes a metaphor for a precarious situation in his best friend, Dom's life, when John and his classmates learn that Dom has cancer and may die.
This book is very nicely done. It looks at a serious situation from the masculine point of view, and portrays all the complex emotions associated with childhood cancer without becoming maudlin. Though John worries about his friend's future, he remains hopeful and positive in a way that I think shows the resilience of real kids. He and "the guys" show real compassion for Dom, and the ending, though uncertain, sounds a real chord of hope and happiness.
Kids are naturally curious about serious situations, and I think this book will appeal to that curiosity. Though the main focus is how John reacts to Dom's diagnosis, there are also plenty of great details about classrooms and childhood interactions that make the entire world of the story very vivid. I was reminded, at certain points, of the Calvin Coconut series, where Calvin's classmates and classroom also come to life in unique ways. I think kids will also appreciate the open-ended ending to the story, which allows them to decide for themselves whether Dom will beat his illness.
I enjoyed Toppling much more than Murphy's previous book, Pearl Verses the World. While Pearl's story left me feeling very sad, this book infused a sad situation with enough good humor to make me want to keep reading. This book was originally published in Australia in 2010 by Walker Books with a slightly different cover illustration. Readers who enjoy Toppling might also like Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie and Like Bug Juice on a Burger and Eileen Spinelli's The Dancing Pancake and Summerhouse Time. Though these books are not about cancer, they focus on kids dealing with difficult emotions and finding ways to cope.
This book is very nicely done. It looks at a serious situation from the masculine point of view, and portrays all the complex emotions associated with childhood cancer without becoming maudlin. Though John worries about his friend's future, he remains hopeful and positive in a way that I think shows the resilience of real kids. He and "the guys" show real compassion for Dom, and the ending, though uncertain, sounds a real chord of hope and happiness.
Kids are naturally curious about serious situations, and I think this book will appeal to that curiosity. Though the main focus is how John reacts to Dom's diagnosis, there are also plenty of great details about classrooms and childhood interactions that make the entire world of the story very vivid. I was reminded, at certain points, of the Calvin Coconut series, where Calvin's classmates and classroom also come to life in unique ways. I think kids will also appreciate the open-ended ending to the story, which allows them to decide for themselves whether Dom will beat his illness.
I enjoyed Toppling much more than Murphy's previous book, Pearl Verses the World. While Pearl's story left me feeling very sad, this book infused a sad situation with enough good humor to make me want to keep reading. This book was originally published in Australia in 2010 by Walker Books with a slightly different cover illustration. Readers who enjoy Toppling might also like Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie and Like Bug Juice on a Burger and Eileen Spinelli's The Dancing Pancake and Summerhouse Time. Though these books are not about cancer, they focus on kids dealing with difficult emotions and finding ways to cope.
December 12, 2012
Read more of my reviews at Dazzling Reads
Toppling is a extraordinary touching and valuable story that brought tears to my eyes. Murphy's beautiful verse pulled me into the story, and into the main characters head, and also into his heart.
This is the story of a boy, John. He loves dominoes, and he loves to create complex and long shapes with them and make them topple. The only thing that makes him look forward to school are his friends, specially his best friend Dominic. On the first day back to school, Dom throws up and he is sent home with his home. The next days, Dom doesn't show up, nor the next one, or the next one after. Dom is sick. Dom has cancer.
In this moving story, John deals with hopelessness, fear and sadness. But he also experiences support, love and understanding from his friends, family and school community. It is incredible how attached I grew to the characters of this story in a spam of only 128 pages. I was so touched by John's voice and the way he dealt and grew to understand the situation his friend Dom was going through that I found myself misty eyes multiple times, and crying by the time I turned the last page. In addition to John and Dom, there are several other characters I grew to strongly care and love such as Ky (the bully of the school who is much more than meet the eye) John's friends Joseph, Christian and Tran, Miss Timms, and Jon's parents and older sister.
With beautiful and detailed illustrations, Toppling is a heart-wrenching and touching story of friendship, illness, family, and most importantly, hope. ~ A meaningful and precious children's read. Highly recommended!
Toppling is a extraordinary touching and valuable story that brought tears to my eyes. Murphy's beautiful verse pulled me into the story, and into the main characters head, and also into his heart.
This is the story of a boy, John. He loves dominoes, and he loves to create complex and long shapes with them and make them topple. The only thing that makes him look forward to school are his friends, specially his best friend Dominic. On the first day back to school, Dom throws up and he is sent home with his home. The next days, Dom doesn't show up, nor the next one, or the next one after. Dom is sick. Dom has cancer.
In this moving story, John deals with hopelessness, fear and sadness. But he also experiences support, love and understanding from his friends, family and school community. It is incredible how attached I grew to the characters of this story in a spam of only 128 pages. I was so touched by John's voice and the way he dealt and grew to understand the situation his friend Dom was going through that I found myself misty eyes multiple times, and crying by the time I turned the last page. In addition to John and Dom, there are several other characters I grew to strongly care and love such as Ky (the bully of the school who is much more than meet the eye) John's friends Joseph, Christian and Tran, Miss Timms, and Jon's parents and older sister.
With beautiful and detailed illustrations, Toppling is a heart-wrenching and touching story of friendship, illness, family, and most importantly, hope. ~ A meaningful and precious children's read. Highly recommended!
January 4, 2023
Having only read one Sally Murphy book before this one, I was not sure what to expect but knew I expected a lot. This book blew away even those high expectations. Two things grabbed my attention, the title and the cover. But the story was so much more than that. A few years ago I did a course in university on grief literature for children. It was a great course with a number of very good books. To be honest this one is better than most from that course. I read it to my son and though he is 4 and a half he did not get it all but he loved the book and the illustrations. This is a book that is now amongst my all-time favorite children's books and I cannot give it a higher recommendation than that.
It is a story about friendships, about illness, and about change. It is mainly the story of John and Dominic. They hang out in a group in school and then Dom gets sick. Dom has cancer and they do not know if he will live. John is afraid he will die. Between visits to the hospital, treatments and growing up, this is an amazing story. It was incredibly well written and illustrated. It will touch the hearts of all who read it!
Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More.
It is a story about friendships, about illness, and about change. It is mainly the story of John and Dominic. They hang out in a group in school and then Dom gets sick. Dom has cancer and they do not know if he will live. John is afraid he will die. Between visits to the hospital, treatments and growing up, this is an amazing story. It was incredibly well written and illustrated. It will touch the hearts of all who read it!
Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More.
August 7, 2012
Having only read one Sally Murphy book before this one, I was not sure what to expect but knew I expected a lot. This book blew away even those high expectations. Two things grabbed my attention, the title and the cover. But the story was so much more than that. A few years ago I did a course in university on grief literature for children. It was a great course with a number of very good books. To be honest this one is better than most from that course. I read it to my son and though he is 4 and a half he did not get it all but he loved the book and the illustrations. This is a book that is now amongst my all-time favorite children's books and I cannot give it a higher recommendation than that.
It is a story about friendships, about illness, and about change. It is mainly the story of John and Dominic. They hang out in a group in school and then Dom gets sick. Dom has cancer and they do not know if he will live. John is afraid he will die. Between visits to the hospital, treatments and growing up, this is an amazing story. It was incredibly well written and illustrated. It will touch the hearts of all who read it!
Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More.
It is a story about friendships, about illness, and about change. It is mainly the story of John and Dominic. They hang out in a group in school and then Dom gets sick. Dom has cancer and they do not know if he will live. John is afraid he will die. Between visits to the hospital, treatments and growing up, this is an amazing story. It was incredibly well written and illustrated. It will touch the hearts of all who read it!
Read the review and with links to other reviews of books by the authors on my blog Book Reviews and More.
April 21, 2014
Toppling by Sally Murphy is about a fifth grade boy who loves to topple dominoes by making elaborate models and knocking them down. One day, one of his friends throws up in school and they expect him to be out for just a couple of days at the most, but as it turns out, the student has a cancerous tumor that needs to be removed and treated. The students are shocked at this news and begin to brainstorm ideas as to how they would show their friend that they love and support him. It also shows how the students overcame their differences to be there for this kid who was diagnosed with cancer. Even a kid who was considered a bully showed support and love to this student. This book would be a great book to read in an upper elementary school classroom. It is a book that shows how cancer affects students in the classroom, and if there are students in your classroom that may know somebody that has cancer, then they can truly relate to this fifth grade boy. Students could write letters as if they were writing a letter to the character who was diagnosed with cancer, in which they would think about what they would say to him and how they would go about helping him. This would allow them to practice a necessary skill.
July 30, 2013
"Maybe I'm not normal, but I'm happy," says the protagonist of his obsession with dominoes--not the game, but using them to create intricate collapsible structures, hence the title. Our protagonist is a kid who does not exactly fit in socially and academically, but develops meaningful friendships. The characters are nicely differentiated, and text is very simple, i.e., readable by a typical 3rd grader. The text layout is poetry-like in its very wide margins and purposeful line breaks. A cute touch is the domino illustrations with numbers of dots to correspond to the chapter numbers. But I must warn you that the book takes a turn for the serious, exploiting the toppling metaphor. This is some emotionally mature content. I'm not sure I would have read it had I known beforehand that this would be about a kid with CANCER (I'm an avoider), but glad I stuck with it. Will selectively recommend it to students.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2012
John loves setting up domino runs in his bedroom. It's his favorite thing to do. He also likes hanging out with his friends. One day at school, his best friend, Dom, throws up in the middle of class. Unfortunately, it's not just a stomach bug. Dom has cancer. This throws John into a tailspin. He misses his friend and he's worried. What do you do when your best friend has a life-threatening disease?
This is a great book that explores how it feels to have a friend in crisis. It's not a super depressing book at all, but very realistic. It's written in verse, so it is a very quick read. It deals very well with how it feels to be a friend of someone ill. This book is just an overall good book, but might help someone dealing with an illness of someone close to them.
This is a book that would appeal to 4-6th graders.
This is a great book that explores how it feels to have a friend in crisis. It's not a super depressing book at all, but very realistic. It's written in verse, so it is a very quick read. It deals very well with how it feels to be a friend of someone ill. This book is just an overall good book, but might help someone dealing with an illness of someone close to them.
This is a book that would appeal to 4-6th graders.
June 21, 2012
John loves arranging long, intricate domino runs, and then toppling them. When his best friend Dominic gets sick in class and doesn't return to school, John makes domino runs instead of worrying. But then it turns out that Dom isn't just sick, he has cancer. John tells his story in chapters of poetry, the lines lining up like a domino run. But while he'll topple dominoes, John and his friends will support Dom in every way they can, so that that cancer doesn't topple him. Sally Murphy has a gift for dealing with difficult emotions in poetic form, and Toppling is a good book it have around for the right someone who needs it.
February 7, 2013
I love Sally Murphy's ability to convey strong emotions and tell amazing stories in verse form. "Toppling" is a wonderful story. John and his group of friends, "the gigglers", are in 5th Grade and this trimester they get to do a project on "anything". When one of "the gigglers" gets sick and ends up in the hospital,they are left wondering what is wrong, what can they do and what will happen. The day the class presents their projects an unlikely classmate shares a story that will help them get some of the answers to their questions.
November 7, 2012
John loves dominoes and creating more and more elaborate "topples". He also likes to hang out with his friends, but when his best friend Dominic gets very sick and ends up in the hospital, everything changes. This is a short book in verse with numerous black and white illustrations, making it perfect for younger readers who may be facing the serious illness of a friend. It’s a lovely, moving book that still has a lot of kid appeal. This would be a great addition to our “Sensitive Issues: Death” booklist.
December 3, 2015
Just re-read this junior verse novel about a boy whose best friend gets cancer. Sally Murphy treads the line between being overly morose on this topic by having a parallel story in which the main character John is obsessed with toppling dominos. Not only was this a great device but it was a quirky, interesting hobby that lightened the story. The third story strand about the school bully was also sensitively handled. I thought this was a good example of a verse novel that didn't feel like poetry...if you know what I mean :)
April 25, 2011
This is a very well written non-rhyming verse novel told from the perspective of 11-year old John who has found out his best friend has cancer.
The importance of friendship is the main message behind this book but the subplot of a bully and why he behaves how he does is thoughtfully interwoven in the story.
This would make a great resource for teachers or parents.
As a side note without spoiling the story, page 124 is heart-warming.
The importance of friendship is the main message behind this book but the subplot of a bully and why he behaves how he does is thoughtfully interwoven in the story.
This would make a great resource for teachers or parents.
As a side note without spoiling the story, page 124 is heart-warming.
August 1, 2015
As we finished reading, both my kids exclaimed, 'That was a great book!' It somehow strikes the perfect balance, tackling a serious subject with nuance and depth without being relentlessly depressing. The free verse format (not blank verse, as some reviewers have stated - anyone looking for iambic pentameter will be disappointed) seems redundant, as it reads like prose, but it is well written and consistently engaging.
December 31, 2014
Touching as a young boy deals with his best friend's serious illness. The book gives us adults quite a bit to think about too, our insecurities in dealing with grave illness and death, always unsure what to say and how to act and in this making it worse for the person affected by the illness or loss.
September 9, 2011
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER!!!
i am so disappointed that this book did not win this year. it shows what true friendship really is. a bully to a caring person. sick to feeling well. friends staying around forever.
i am so disappointed that this book did not win this year. it shows what true friendship really is. a bully to a caring person. sick to feeling well. friends staying around forever.
March 29, 2012
This book is a quick read. Simply written from the perspective of the best friend of a boy diagnosed with cancer.
Very sad
Everyone should read this book, similar to (younger level) Life on a Refrigerator Door.
Very sad
Everyone should read this book, similar to (younger level) Life on a Refrigerator Door.
March 28, 2015
Great format for kids; written in verse and tells the story of a domino-loving boy whose friend gets cancer. Could be an awesome book to hand off to a student or library patron facing some of these issues.
Also, I love how the chapter numbers are labeled using dominoes!
Also, I love how the chapter numbers are labeled using dominoes!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews