Skip to main content
Books, videos, and music - all free from your public library!
LoginSign Up

Footer

Hoopla logo, Go to homepage
  • For Patrons
  • For Libraries (opens in new window)
  • For Vendors (opens in new window)
  • Facebook (opens in new window)
  • X (opens in new window)
  • Instagram (opens in new window)
  • YouTube (opens in new window)
  • TikTok (opens in new window)
  • LinkedIn (opens in new window)

Our Company

  • Our Story
  • Get Hoopla for your Library (opens in new window)
  • Get your content on hoopla (opens in new window)
  • Join our team (opens in new window)
  • Accessibility Statement

Our Content

  • Audiobooks
  • Ebooks
  • Movies
  • Television
  • Comics
  • BingePasses
  • Music
  • The Loop Blog

Help

  • Help Center
  • Submit Feedback
  • Facebook (opens in new window)
  • X (opens in new window)
  • Instagram (opens in new window)
  • YouTube (opens in new window)
  • TikTok (opens in new window)
  • LinkedIn (opens in new window)
  • Download on the App Store (opens in new window)
  • Get it on Google Play (opens in new window)
  • Available at Amazon Appstore (opens in new window)
© 2026 Midwest Tape, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use
  • Hoopla logo
    Powered by Hoopla
  • Browse
  • My Hoopla
  • Log In
  1. Navigate Home
  2. Ebooks
  3. Walking Backward

EBOOK

Walking Backward

Catherine Austen
5
(1)
sign up
Pages
176
Year
2009
Language
English
Publisher
Orca Book Publishers

About

When Josh's mother dies in a phobia-induced car crash, she leaves two questions for her grieving family: how did a snake get into her car and how do you mourn with no faith to guide you?

Twelve-year-old Josh is left alone to find the answers. His father is building a time machine. His four-year-old brother's closest friend is a plastic Power Ranger. His psychiatrist offers nothing more than a blank journal and platitudes.

Isolated by grief in a home where every day is pajama day, Josh makes death his research project. He tests the mourning practices of religions he doesn't believe in. He tries to mend his little brother's shattered heart. He observes, records and waits-for his life to feel normal, for his mother's death to make sense, for his father to come out of the basement.

His observations, recorded in a series of journal entries, are funny, smart, insightful-and heartbreaking. His conclusions about the nature of love, loss, grief and the space-time continuum are nothing less than life-changing.

Related Subjects

  • General (Family)
  • Family
  • Juvenile Fiction
  • Death, Grief, Bereavement
  • Social Themes
  • General (Religious)
  • Religious

Extended Details

  • Lexile840L

    Artists

    Catherine AustenAuthor

    Similar Artists

    • Dandi Daley Mackall

    • Ilsa J. Bick

    • Julie Cross

    • Lauren Myracle

    • Walter Dean Myers