The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet

Arlow, Jake Maia. The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet
August 1, 2023 by Dial/Penguin

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Al has a lot of stomach troubles; she's in constant pain, and she often has uncontrollable urges to poop. But what 7th grader wants to spend all of her time thinking about pooping, or talking to her mother about it? She claims she's fine, but it's gotten bad enough that her mother has made a doctor's appointment for her, and even her close friend and neighbor Leo has noticed and is asking if she's okay. The doctor runs tests, including an unpleasant colonoscopy, and determines that Al has Crohn's disease. Medication is prescribed, and Al wants to move on. She doesn't even really want to go to the Irritable Bowel Syndrome support group, but when Leo is busy with the school play, she decides to go. There are just a few people; Mina, who is very friendly and has a colostomy bag, Ethan, who has Crohn's, Carl, who has ulcerative colitis, and Rikako, whose pronouns are they/she, is involved in the play, and has Crohn's as well. Al is reluctant to talk at first, but finds some comfort in being with a group of people who understand her need to visit the bathroom. While things are getting on a more even keep with her health, Al is hit with something else; her mother and Leo's mother are not just best friends, they are dating. Will people think that Al is copying her mother, if she tells people that she herself is a lesbian? Al has spent a lot of time on a private TikTok account so she can find out more about people who share her interests, but she doesn't have much real life experience, and is reluctant to tell others about things like her stomach issues or sexual identity, with which she isn't comfortable. The first person who finds out is Mina, because she "like likes" Al, and the two are soon going out. Mina is a very open person, and she eventually gets angry at Al for not being similarly open, espescially with herself.  It turns out that all of the other members of "the bathroom club" all identify as different types of queer, and by the end of the book, Leo is also out. Will Al be able to come to terms with her own life and get her mother to quit treating her like a baby? 

Strengths: I would like to see a lot more middle grade books where the main characters struggle with a variety of health issues, but also have other interests, like Gerber's Focused. I have had students with severe allergies, hearing loss, diabetes, and even the lack of a leg since birth, and those are just a few of the ones that I know about! Al's embarrassment at her condition will strike a cord with most middle grade students, and it's good to see that the support group helps her. Readers who are looking for LGBTQIA+ representation will find a wealth of characters here. 
Weaknesses: The group watches The Breakfast Club, and because it's an "old" movie, it's described as grainy. I don't think I've seen any movies that look grainy since HD television came out in 2007 and reception no longer counted on an antenna! I wasn't a huge fan of Al's unsupervised TikTok usage; if her mother was so concerned about her, why was she able to spend so much time on screens?
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Luckoff's Different Kinds of Fruit or Sass and Melleby's Camp Quiltbag, or who want to raise awareness about digestive health issues.