Downside Up

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.