The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet

Jake Maia Arlow's The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet is a very funny, very honest story for 10 year olds about a girl whose stomach won't leave her alone.

What happens

Al Schneider is twelve and just starting seventh grade at an American middle school. Her tummy aches constantly and she's forever running to the loo. She's also pretty certain she has crushes on girls. She'd rather talk about neither, thank you. Honestly, she'd prefer to be a brain in a jar.

Then comes gym class. Al has to sprint across the track into a portable toilet with the whole class watching. It isn't the last disaster, either.

Her mum takes her to a "poop doctor" (Al's words!). The answer, after some very embarrassing tests, is Crohn's disease. And the doctor keeps nudging her towards a group where kids with the same illness meet up. Who'd want to chat about THAT?

Meanwhile her best friend Leo lives across the hall, above his mum's kosher bakery. Al and Leo have a secret handshake that ends with "MATEYS FOR LIFE" and they talk in pig Latin so their mums can't follow. Then Leo announces he wants to join drama club. For Al, that feels like a punch in the stomach (the one part of her that really doesn't need it).

It's all in Al's voice, and she's hilarious. She's mortified about everything and says so. There's a lovely warmth to it too, from Leo's mum handing out the end of the challah loaf to the slightly bumbling way Al's own mum keeps trying to help.

Be ready for this one being very frank about bodies. There are accidents at school, told in detail. There's a doctor's examination that Al describes with lots of wincing. There's also a short explanation that Al's mum had her after a one-night stand.

Some children will squirm, and some will absolutely love that someone is finally saying this stuff out loud. If your reader lives with a tummy condition, or just finds their body embarrassing sometimes, this could be a real comfort.

What to read next

For another twelve-year-old whose body has kept her on the sidelines, try The Mighty Heart of Sunny St James. Sunny is waiting in hospital for a new heart, and she's lost her best friend along the way.