When my freshman English teacher approached me in the hallway a few weeks ago, telling me about this amazing book she just read, I didn’t fully know what to expect. But my indifferent curiosity (an oxymoron of the highest proportions) quickly turned to distaste after she told me that “When the World Tips Over” is a young adult novel. As a sophomore and (sadly) former avid reader, I have high expectations for a book: it needs to be sophisticated, with well-planned characters and realistic scenarios (is that too much to ask?). Young adult novels don’t do that for me. In these young adult novels that I have tried and ultimately failed to read, one of two things happen. Either the author tries too hard to have flowery prose that I can’t even focus on the plot and instead have to focus on what specific shade of “green orbs” a character has, or the author has amazing writing skills, but their characters are so unrealistic that it makes me want to put down the book and never pick it up again. Or, in a terrible turn of events, both happen.

But as my teacher continued to preach about this book, I decided to read it. How bad could it be?

It turns out it was absolutely not bad at all. Spectacular, even.

“When the World Tips Over” by Jandy Nelson, who also wrote the best-selling novel “I’ll Give You the Sun,” follows the Fall siblings—Dizzy, “Perfect” Miles, and Wynton—and how their lives are changed after encountering a mysterious rainbow-haired girl with a deep voice. 

Each Fall sibling secretly possesses some powerful ability, from seeing ghosts and stealing sadness to even talking to dogs. And when tragedy in the family strikes, the siblings have to reevaluate their relationships with each other through family legends and road trips, which somehow all connect to the rainbow-haired “angel.”

While this is frankly an overdone premise, Nelson writes each character as if she knows each person intimately in real life. Nelson clearly conveys each character’s struggles, thoughts, and feelings in such a way that it makes Dizzy, Miles, Wynton, and the rainbow-haired girl feel real, despite their unreal abilities. 

Beyond Nelson’s intricate characters, her prose is Goldilocks standard. It’s not too soft or unneeded, not too hard or textbook-like, but just right: personable and detailed. It feels easy to read. It feels fun to read. It makes me want to laugh, and sometimes, I would send quotes that I like to my friends to see their reactions.

Beyond that, between each chapter are sometimes short, sometimes chapter-length asides that provide even more insight into the intricate plot that spans from the current day to just after the 1849 Gold Rush in Northern California.

Some are serious, like Miles’ unsent emails to his father. Some are mystical, like the rainbow-haired girl’s story about the Fall’s ancestors and their own abilities. Some are lighthearted, like the mother’s letters to food: ”Dear Chocolate Cake at Annie’s Paradise Deli, You make me want to hop on a motorcycle and ride like a banshee out of all my responsibilities. I. Love. You” (70).

On the other hand, this book is quite long. I won’t lie. It’s 500-some pages. But trust me, every single one of those 500-some pages is worth it.

I found myself invested in Dizzy’s optimistic views and interesting facts, in Miles’ search for himself, and in Wynton’s determination in the violin. Every page was a journey that made me want to continue reading. And at the end of every chapter, I felt the need to continue, to see what happened when Miles and Dizzy went on a road trip, or what happened to Wynton and the rainbow-haired girl. Each sentence was a surprise, a gift: full of personality and wit that made me feel like I was talking to a friend, not reading a book.

And while at first I was skeptical about how good this book would be, I am so glad I decided to give it a try. Nelson takes a common young adult novel plot about a family finding themselves and spins it into something new and almost revolutionary.

If every young adult novel was like “When the World Tips Over,” I would have never lost my faith in books and, in turn, never, ever, stopped reading.