The Upside of Unrequited – Disability in Kidlit

Molly – who is Jewish, fat, and has an anxiety disorder – has had twenty-six crushes and zero kisses. When her twin sister finds a girlfriend, she tries to set Molly up with a new guy.

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The Upside of Unrequited

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I don’t entirely understand how anyone gets a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. It just seems like the most impossible odds. A perfect alignment of feelings and circumstances

Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love. No matter how many times her twin sister, Cassie, tells her to woman up, Molly is always careful. Better to be careful than be hurt

But when Cassie gets a new girlfriend who comes with a cute hipster-boy sidekick, everything changes. Will is funny, flirtatious, and basically the perfect first boyfriend.

There’s only one problem: Molly’s coworker, Reid, the awkward Tolkien superfan, she could never fall for … right?

A heart-warming and hilarious story about growing up and learning to be comfortable in your own skin.

Practical information

Author: Becky Albertalli
Publisher: Penguin
Publication year: 2017
ISBN: 9780141356112
Age category: young adult
Disabilities portrayed: anxiety disorder, mental illness
Genres: contemporary, romance

Accessible formats

audiobook available

Author

Becky Albertalli is the author of William C. Morris Award winner and National Book Award longlist title, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (now a major motion picture, Love, Simon); the acclaimed The Upside of Unrequited; and the New York Times bestsellers Leah on the Offbeat, What If It’s Us (cowritten with Adam Silvera), and Yes No Maybe So (cowritten with Aisha Saeed). Becky lives with her family in Atlanta.

Molly’s experiences were very strongly inspired by my own experiences growing up. Like Molly, I was this chubby, anxious Jewish girl who had a lot of crushes but got no action. Unrequited love was probably the defining experience of my adolescence, and I always felt really alone with that. For a long time, I honestly thought I was the only person I knew who had never kissed anyone in high school. Only later did I find out how wrong I was about that.

(Creek Secrets, November 2017)