The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet
Penguin Young Readers Group · Paperback · May 28, 2024
A hilariously honest book about surviving middle school while navigating a chronic illness from the Stonewall Honor-winning author of Almost Flying.
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- Who it’s for
- A funny, candid middle-grade story about the hard work of speaking up and finding community.
- Genres
- LGBTQ+ Stories, Illness & Injury, Growing Up
- Published
- Penguin Young Readers Group, May 28, 2024
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Start with this bookAbout this book
A hilariously honest book about surviving middle school while navigating a chronic illness from the Stonewall Honor-winning author of Almost Flying. Twelve-year-old Al Schneider is too scared to talk about the two biggest things in her life: 1. Her stomach hurts all the time and she has no idea why. 2. She’s almost definitely 100% sure she likes girls. So she holds it in…until she can’t.
Continue reading
After nearly having an accident of the lavatorial variety in gym class, Al finds herself getting a colonoscopy and an answer—she has Crohn’s disease. But rather than solving all her problems, Al's diagnosis just makes everything worse. It’s scary and embarrassing. And worst of all, everyone wants her to talk about it—her overprotective mom, her best friend, and most annoyingly her gastroenterologist, who keeps trying to get her to go to a support group for kids with similar chronic illnesses. But, who wants to talk about what you do in the bathroom? The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet is a wildly funny and honest story about finding community, telling the truth even when it’s hard, and the many indignities of middle school life.
Candor and Comedy
A funny, candid middle-grade story about the hard work of speaking up and finding community.
Come here for
- Middle school’s awkward indignities, told with humor and candor
- A story that brings chronic illness and questioning sexuality into the same conversation
Expect
- Bathroom embarrassment alongside earnest moments
- A close-up of navigating Crohn’s disease and liking girls
Where it sits
| Illness & Injury | 78% |
|---|---|
| Growing Up | 50% |
| LGBTQ+ Stories | 48% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Illness & Injury
- Growing Up
- LGBTQ+ Stories
- Authors
- Jake Maia Arlow
- Publisher
- Penguin Young Readers Group
- Published
- May 28, 2024
- Format
- Paperback
- Reading lane
- Illness & Injury