Horn Book Review
Sixth grader Fred discovers a portal to an upside-down, parallel world where dead dogs and people are alive and dragons roam. This other world helps Fred and his sister process their grief over the loss of their dog as well as--revealed much into the book--their father's death. Fred's moving first-person narrative and well-developed characters compensate for unbelievable plot points and a dawdling pace. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A boy deals with his grief.Fred is still overwhelmed by the loss of his beloved dog, Casey. One day, while walking home and bouncing Caseys worn tennis ball, Fred loses the ball down a sewer grate. Pursuing the ball, Fred finds himself tumbling down into a parallel universe where his mother and sister are happy, his doppelgnger, called Freddie, is popular and confident, and most importantly, Casey is still alive. As Fred explores this alternate reality with Casey and Freddie, he also delves through his own grieving process, which the author captures gently, letting readers soak up the ebb and flow of Freds emotions. As the dimensional differences increase and the author introduces more and more fantastical elements, readers have a sure footing in their emotional connection to Fred, allowing the author to introduce some strange, Miyazaki-esque ideas and imagery with ease. Less successful is the authors bizarre pivot regarding Freds true source of grief. The reveal is indeed stunning, and the emotional payoff is earned, but the decision to camouflage his pain feels like a bait and switch. An ambitious, touching work that goes a step too far. (Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
All Fred wanted to do was retrieve the ball that his dog Casey loved to chase after all, now that Casey is dead, it's the only link to his beloved pet that Fred has. When the ball lands in a sewer, Fred does not hesitate to head down. Somehow, the world is quite different when Fred climbs out. He is in an parallel world where Casey is still alive, and his mother and sister live in a house exactly like the one he knows. But then there's Freddie, an alternate-world version of Fred. Who would ever believe this is possible? This novel explores life and loss from an unusual perspective; in Freddie's world, loss is simply accepted as someone's time coming to an end. What seems on the surface a fantasy is actually a philosophical examination of how best to deal with loss, done with a subtle hand. Tie this to Neal Shusterman's Downsiders (1999) and Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander (2003).--Lesesne, Teri Copyright 2016 Booklist