
My Eyes Are Up Here is a razor-sharp debut about a girl struggling to rediscover her sense of self in the year after her body decided to change all the rules.If Greer Walsh could only live inside her...
My Eyes Are Up Here is a razor-sharp debut about a girl struggling to rediscover her sense of self in the year after her body decided to change all the rules.If Greer Walsh could only live inside her...
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- Unabridged
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My Eyes Are Up Here is a razor-sharp debut about a girl struggling to rediscover her sense of self in the year after her body decided to change all the rules.
If Greer Walsh could only live inside her head, life would be easier. She’d be able to focus on excelling at math or negotiating peace talks between her best friend and . . . everyone else. She wouldn’t spend any time worrying about being the only Kennedy High student whose breasts are bigger than her head.
But you can’t play volleyball inside your head. Or go to the pool. Or have confusingly date-like encounters with the charming new boy. You need an actual body for all of those things. And Greer is entirely uncomfortable in hers.
Hilarious and heartbreakingly honest, My Eyes Are Up Here is a story of awkwardness and ferocity, of imaginary butterflies and rock-solid friends. It’s the story of a girl finding her way out of her oversized sweatshirt and back into the real world.
Excerpts-
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From the cover
Prologue
My mother believes there are two types of people: those who like to be the center of attention, and those who are too shy to want anybody to notice them. She thinks I am the second but should be the first.
What she’d never understand is that some people like to be noticed for some things but not for other things. Like to be noticed for being an excellent piano player, but not for being allergic to peanuts. Or noticed for wearing new shoes, but not for speaking with an accent. Or noticed for being the only Kennedy High student to score a 5 on the AP Human Geography exam, but not for being the only Kennedy High student whose breasts are bigger than her head.
Chapter 1
“Come on, Greer. Maybe you’ll make a new friend.”
I answer in annoyed blinks.
“It’s nice to help someone get settled in a new place. It’s a chance to give back.”
I blink at her harder, because she’s pretending like I volunteered for this.
“Half an hour. Forty minutes, tops.”
Mom’s half hours do not top out at forty minutes. Mom’s half hours can last hours. Especially if she has an audience.
We’re here for her work. She is a relocation advisor with Relocation Specialists, Inc. Big companies hire her to help settle new employees in the area. She leads neighborhood tours, arranges school visits, and recommends pediatricians, handymen, or Brazilian waxers.
She’s very good at it. It satisfies her constant need to share her opinions and justifies the over-the-top luxury SUV she leases, with its interior of baby-seal leather.
Sometimes, like now, if she has a client with a kid my age, she’ll drag me along to meet with them, like a junior re-lo advisor. I’m supposed to answer their questions about being a teenager in suburban Illinois. They never have any questions.
It’s always the same. It’s even the same Starbucks. I sit next to Mom and try to look extra welcoming. The new kid stares at their phone under the table so I know that wherever they came from, they had friends cooler than me. If the client is a mom, she’ll ask me the kind of questions she thinks her sulky kid would want to ask if they weren’t too sulky to ask them, and once I start to reply, my mom will interrupt with what she thinks I should answer. It’s completely uncomfortable for everyone, except Mom. Kathryn Walsh is never uncomfortable.
Believe it or not, there are times being a mild-mannered, high-achieving, generally agreeable teenager does not work for me, and dealing with my mother is one of them. If I fought with her more, like Maggie fights with her mom, or if I was embarrassing, like Tyler, she wouldn’t make me do these things. It would be too exhausting. But Kathryn Walsh exhausts me more than I exhaust her, so here I am. She isjust so. I am just so not.
It is why I go with her to meet the uninterested progeny of people cruel enough/important enough to make their families move during high school.
It is why I help my brother, Tyler, with math homework he could find the answers to online.
It is why I faithfully attend the yearly reunion of the moms and babies from her childbirth class, hosted by this very coffee establishment every May.
This branch of Starbucks is located on the path of least resistance. I follow her inside.
The kid I’m supposed to meet will be a sophomore at Kennedy, like me. That’s something. All I have in common with the Natural Birth and Beginnings crowd is being dragged out of the womb by the...
About the Author-
- Laura Zimmermann is a multiple-time champion of the Twin Cities Moth and Word Sprout story slams, and she was chosen to participate in the 2018 Listen To Your Mother storytelling show. She lives with her family in Minneapolis, MN. My Eyes Are Up Here is her first novel.
Reviews-
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July 20, 2020
In Kennedy High sophomore Greer Walsh’s opinion, there are two things holding her back: Maude and Mavis, her size-30H breasts. She can’t find a bra that fits, and the tops her mother buys for her would “burst Hulk-style” if she tried to put them on. Greer hides in men’s XXL shirts, trying to avoid notice and ignore harassment from boys in her suburban Chicago school. Then Greer meets Jackson Oates, a transfer student who seems more interested in her mind than her physical attributes. She’s attracted to him, but is romance possible without Maude and Mavis getting in the way? Jackson gives her the encouragement she needs to try out for volleyball, and making the team leads to a series of life-changing experiences, including finding some creative solutions to her problem. Zimmerman’s debut has a witty, unabashedly honest voice, addressing the age-old issue of not fitting in. Employing a vibrant, often comedic first-person perspective, Zimmerman movingly depicts Greer’s low points, like not being able to find a dress that fits for winter formal, and her highs, exemplified when she’s playing volleyball. Ages 12–up. Agent: Tina Dubois, ICM. -
Kristen DiMercurio captures the many emotions of a body-conscious teen as she voices the story of Greer Walsh, a high school student who is uncomfortable with her cup size. DiMercurio's amiable narration conveys how Greer learns to navigate feelings about her body, her identity, her spot on a sports team, and even her crush on a new boy. DiMercurio capably distinguishes a variety of characters--teenage girls, embarrassing parents, annoying younger siblings--weaving a cohesive yet well textured plot from these many different voices. Although the audiobook deals with serious teen issues, including body image and mental health, DiMercurio's playful narration makes it a fun and entertaining story, as well. She deftly communicates Greer's insecurities, hopes, and unique voice, making this personal yet relatable story all the more intimate and important. E.J.S. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
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Burn to CD:PermittedTransfer to device:PermittedTransfer to Apple® device:PermittedPublic performance:Not permittedFile-sharing:Not permittedPeer-to-peer usage:Not permittedAll copies of this title, including those transferred to portable devices and other media, must be deleted/destroyed at the end of the lending period.