Mountain Upside Down

by Sara Ryan, Elena Rey (narrator)

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.

Genres: Middle Grade, Queer, LGBT, Romance, Contemporary, Audiobook, Realistic Fiction

Audible Audio

First published February 11, 2025

About the author

I write books and comics for teens and others. Reviews and star ratings make me anxious, but I'm reporting what I read here.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

This was a heartfelt and funny middle grade novel about a queer small town girl fighting to help her local library get funding while also dealing with a grandmother who has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. With a diverse cast of characters and lots of family drama, this was an easy read/listen and perfect for fans of authors like Gayle Forman. Many thanks to @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.

[Dramapuppy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really readable and cute, perfect for breaking out of my reading slump

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Alex lives in Failin, Oregon with her grandmother. Her mother died when she was young, and while her father and his new wife were glad to have custody, her grandmother, a retired technical services librarian, is raising her. Alex's best friend is PJ, and she's had a crush on her for a long time. The book opens with them deciding to date and "kissing in a tree". PJ is an avid swimmer, and she's been tense and unreachable lately. Her mothers, who both teach at the local community college, also seem stressed. The two girls enjoy hanging out at the public library, where they are both on the Youth Council, and help with things like cleaning toys in the children's room and helping with events. Alonso is the librarian who helps with the group. They like him, but aren't wild about the security guard, whom they refer to as "the Creeper". Alonso is also tense, since local politics are heating up, and there is concern that if new city council members get elected, library funding might be affected. Alex has another friend at school, Yesenia, who is into dance. Things have been slightly odd at home; Grandma sometimes forgets things, and when Alex looks through her keepsake chest for a Halloween costume, she finds a picture of her mother as a child with a young boy she's never seen. After PJ moves to Portland, she invites Alex to a swim competition, and Alex manages to scrape up money for a ticket and talk a young person she meets at the bus station to say Alex is traveling with them. It's good to see PJ, but her mom's aren't super happy that Alex came alone. Not only that, but Alex gets a call from Alonso; Grandma has shown up at the library, thinking that she still works there, even though she's been retired for three years. PJ's moms drive Alex back to Failin, and she talks to Alonso. It turns out that the boy in the picture is her uncle, otherwise known to her as the Creeper. Her uncle Dean is also Alonso's partner, and while there is clearly some family quarrel, Dean steps up to help care for his mother and Alex. At Thanksgiving, Alex and Grandma go to visit her father, his wife Laura, and their two kids, Liam and Logan. Laura has redecorated a room just for Alex, and approaches her gently about the grandmother's need for a place in assisted living, even driving her to look at a facility. The grandmother also goes on a tour but won't have it. Alex calls Dean and asks him to come get the two of them, which leads to some awkward moments. Back home, Alex hangs out with the Youth Council, working on weeding the teen section of damaged items, but when she gets home, her grandmother isn't there. She calls Dean, worried, and they eventually hear that the grandmother has crashed her car. No one else is hurt, but the car is totalled. Soon after, the local election results are in, and the decision is made to close the library completely, which means that Alonso and Dean are both out of jobs. They move out of their apartment and in with Alex and her grandmother, and the four must find a way forward.
Strengths: There aren't as many books that involve public libraries as you might think, and it was fantastic that Grandma had worked at Alex's spot. There are plenty of grandparents serving as caregivers, but it was reassuring to see that Alex had a father and stepmother who would care for her if it was necessary. PJ and Alex had a good friendship and romance, and there is a bit of age appropriate kissing and handholding, which middle schoolers really like to read. The family problems didn't overwhelm the rest of the book. I was glad to see that PJ swam, Yesenia danced, and Alex was involved in the Youth Council; activities are very integral to tween identities. This had a very unique voice; I'm half tempted to read Ryan's other adult books to see if this voice was just Alex's, or Ryan's style. It seemed almost like talking to a 7th grader; a bit chaotic and focused on a variety of things that weren't necessarily the most important things at the moment.
Weaknesses: This had a lot of very serious issues that weren't explained or discussed as much as I would have liked. Also, I wish that middle grade literature would portray senior facilities in a more positive fashion; Grandma would certainly have been safer and happier in one. When it was clear that my father couldn't care for my mother, my brother and I insisted that they sell their house and get the care they needed, and it made their last years a whole lot more pleasant.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoy problem novels that showcase libraries as the setting, like Bishop's 2020 Things You Can't Say and Tan's 2019 A Kind of Paradise.

[Dana Berglund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle schooler Alex lives in fictional but relatable Failin, Oregon and has a lot of good things in her life: a best friend who might become her new girlfriend, a grandmother who cares for her, a great volunteer gig at the library. But all of these things start to go off track for Alex, and she has to make some tough calls and navigate some difficult waters. Families are complicated, friendships and relationships are complicated, and getting through your middle school years with only partial agency over your own life is HARD. The novel was really good at making us care about Alex and the people in her life, though the plot wasn't completely straightforward.
*****


Much like real life, all of the conflicts and issues don't all get neatly fixed and wrapped in a bow by the end. I wasn't sure how I felt about that at first, but after a few days of letting it sit, I think that it's okay for middle schoolers to see that some problems are just going to be long term, and not going to go away in 200 pages. While all of the plot strands are stressors for Alex, real people often have multiple stressors, too.

[Heather Marvel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story about a girl growing up in a small town in Oregon. I enjoyed the unique family dynamic and the sweet lgbtq teen love story. A little too short, I would have enjoyed a deeper dive into the family dynamic and past, but still a good read.

My least favorite part was the characters/authors obsession with tampons. This poor 13-year-old and her friends were on their periods the entire book and changing her tampon, or worrying about bleeding through her clothes was mentioned many times. Not sure if this was a nod to Judy Blume or just a way to remind the reader how embarrassing being an adolescent can be, but it didn't fit within the story in a natural way or for any purpose.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mountain Upside Down: four stars! Engaging depiction of nuanced family issues, with lots of casual queer rep. Nicely done setting. Includes multiple casual mentions of dealing with periods! Alex's narrative voice took a little getting used to (lots of long, rambly sentences) but ends up suiting this introspective, emotion-based story. I did feel like the library-funding sub-plot wasn't super necessary or integrated with the rest of the plot, but overall a solid MG pick. (The cover and Alex's voice lean younger, but the plot and mentions of sex/kissing feel more upper-MG or even YA-crossover to me.)

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book came on my radar when I heard about the author event at Powell’s. While I enjoy middle grade fiction, I don’t enjoy the cringe of young love, immaturity and awkwardness. This book starts out pretty heavily in the 13-year old sapphic friends-to-lovers storyline, which (as someone who sailed past “16 and never been kissed”) I could neither relate to nor appreciate. As an apparently prude mother of young daughters, I also would worry about a sleepover in which romantic feelings are mixed in at such a young age. The best part about this book was the family dynamics especially around Alex’s aging grandmother. I listened to the audiobook on Libby.

[Sushie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The expectations I had going into this Did Not Match what this was. So the big feelings were a sucker punch for sure! I ended up reading it all in like a little over 24hrs and I really liked it. It mostly felt like a snapshot of being 13, but so well crafted and specific. I think I could reread this immediately and see different things in it. The writing is really straightforward which took me a second to get into, but really made Alex’s voice. The library stuff is so so backseat to Alex’s family and how it’s uncertain and changing.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this story, but I was confused about what age this was written for. On one had it feels very middle grade, and young with the dialogue and actions of the main characters. But then seems teen when the story goes into the romance. I guess it could be potential 5-8th grade? Anyway not huge deal, as the story itself was good.

[Elizabeth]

I found the wording throughout the book confusing and not quite normal, which made it frustrating to read. Also, I felt like the storyline that made up the cover was such a small part of the book, and therefore the cover could have been different to better reflect the actual story.

[Meredith Katich · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sure I felt about the story for the first quarter and honestly I thought that it was a lot at the end when her grandma was in a car crash, her uncle being the "Creeper" and him dating Alonso and all of that. I overall just thought it was so slow until the end it was just overwhelming.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will literally be thinking about this book forever. This is a fantastic resource for kids with family members dealing with memory loss, and a great example of relationships all around.

[kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

sweet lgbt middle-grade book that even includes libraries! my 9yo boy even liked it surprisingly

[norah melden (death by tbr) · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmm.
i liked some parts but others made me cringe....idk.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this one more than I did. I felt like it ended abruptly and there was still more to explore with the grandma’s dementia and Dean’s relationship and estrangement from his family.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little slice of life book - I've read better and I've read worse.

[Corrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the main character's voice - I found her the perfect level of anxious and adolescent. I would have liked more answers to some of the family drama, but overall a solid middle grade book

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story telling, really enjoyed the characters.

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good!!

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 rounded down. I felt like this book just ended in the middle of a family dinner (literally). I have more questions than answers.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot is changing in thirteen-year-old Alex's life-- her best friend and first love, PJ, is moving out of their small Oregon town to Portland, her grandmother is becoming more forgetful, and the local library is at risk of closing. She's doing the best she can, but it's hard for just one kid to manage it all on her own. A sweet novel of family and community in a small town.

[Elizabeth Dickerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A coming of age type novel where Alex has to navigate the changes that come with her girlfriend moving away and her grandmother /caregiver’s progressing dementia.

The plot was loose- not a ton of obvious timing of things and lots of changes but it read like a 13-year-old’s account of life. The lack of connection with her father and his new family was confusing but needed for some progression of the story.

[Jennybeast · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice book with a lot going on in it -- first love, moving, dementia, long-lost family, library closure, competitive swimming, queerness, blended family -- it's really a lot, but in a very believable way. Sometimes life just goes along until it suddenly slides off in an unexpected direction. I appreciate that Alex has some personality quirks, and that she is such a brave, thoughtful, interesting kid. I also love that the adults around her are engaged -- it makes a story that could be awful more about accepting change and finding new paths forward.