Traumatic moments of loss can turn our world upside-down. For Theo, the world has literally flipped.
In Jason Walz's new graphic novel, The Flip Side, fourteen-year-old Theo loses his best friend. What follows is an adventure through a world where gravity has fully reversed. The challenge of navigating the new law of physics is coupled with a mysterious, amorphous entity chasing Theo and his hard-nosed companion Emma.
Through the simultaneously familiar and strange settings, themes of sadness and depression are highlighted both directly and symbolically. While crawling across crudely fashioned bridges and hanging on by their fingertips, Emma and Theo are both struggling with an emotional journey as well. "What I do like about writing for teens... I like that teens are experiencing life raw and fresh and with an open mind," says Walz. "There's a purity to that that I just love... it keeps me thinking."
The Flip Side is the winner of the Minnesota Book Award in the YA literature category, and it can be found at a variety of retailers and online.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
