Tessa Reynolds is finishing up her junior year of high school. She's just had a humiliating experience at the prom, and she's constantly struggling with her weight and her perfectionist mother.

When she sees a dodgeball zooming toward her head in gym class, she doesn't bother to duck. As she falls to the gym floor, she floats up to what seems to be heaven while examining the scene beneath her. When she arrives, she finds that heaven looks a lot like the mall, where she's spent most of her free time over the years.

After initially rebelling at having to relive what are often painful memories, she slowly begins to gain a better perspective of her life, her friends, and her family. She sees the decisions she made, and now, with hindsight, she can learn from them. She is given the choice to return to her life, and she takes it, armed with a new self-esteem and big hopes for her future. After all, high school doesn't last forever.

Written in witty, accessible verse, this poetry novel will both move and entertain readers and make them reevaluate their own lives, too.

"Although Mass takes a chance by offering readers an unlikable protagonist, albeit one who eventually (and literally) sees the light at the end, this free-verse, emotionally realistic novel will resonate with many." Booklist

"The short, free-verse format might entice reluctant readers to pick up the book." VOYA

"What makes this novel unique is its ability to bring the character to this realization without being preachy or condescending. Funny, thought-provoking, and at times heartbreaking, this story will entertain and inspire readers." School Library Journal

Written in accessible free verse, this poetic novel follows a disillusioned teenager who, after being hit in the head by a ball in gym class, finds herself floating up to what she thinks is heaven. Rebelling at having to relive painful memories, she slowly begins to reconcile with her past and gain a better perspective of her life.

Wendy Mass is the author of the ALA Schneider Family Award winner A Mango-Shaped Space and Leap Day. Her most recent novel, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, was a Book Sense Pick. Wendy lives in Sparta, New Jersey with her husband and her twin daughter and son.