The Inside of Out
Meg Cabot meets Glee in this breezy, hilarious, deceptively smart YA about privilege, pretense, and realizing that every story needs a hero. Sometimes it's just not you.
When her best friend Hannah comes out the day before junior year, Daisy is so ready to let her ally flag fly that even a second, way more blindsiding confession can't derail her smiling determination to fight for gay rights. Before you can spell LGBTQIA, Daisy's leading the charge to end their school’s antiquated ban on same-sex dates at dances—starting with homecoming. And if people assume Daisy herself is gay? Meh, so what. It's all for the cause. What Daisy doesn't expect is for "the cause” to blow up—starting with Adam, the cute college journalist whose interview with Daisy for his university paper goes viral, catching fire in the national media. #Holy #cats.
With the story spinning out of control, protesters gathering, Hannah left in the dust of Daisy’s good intentions, and Daisy's mad attraction to Adam feeling like an inconvenient truth, Daisy finds herself caught between her bold plans, her bad decisions, and her big fat mouth.
REVIEWS & PRAISE
“What happens when your best friend comes out of the closet and falls in love for the first time - all in the span of a few weeks? In [this] young adult comedy-of-errors . . . Daisy learns about the wrong way to be a straight LGBTQIA ally . . . It’s a story about friendship, about coming of age, and about first love. But it’s also a story about Daisy realizing and understanding her own privilege.”
BUSTLE
“Hilarious, heartwarming, and timely.”
BILL KONIGSBERG, author of OPENLY STRAIGHT
“Thorne expertly drops plot twists like bread crumbs . . . Although it takes on some heavy subjects, the work remains light through its [humor] . . . Teens will enjoy reading about Daisy’s good intentions gone wrong as well as the bumpy love stories . . . Recommend to fans of John Green and David Levithan’s Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Kris Dinnison’s You and Me and Him.”
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
“Successfully drives home the point that, sometimes, it’s better to support the voices of others than try to speak for them. One’s growing awareness of one’s own privilege is a topic too infrequently addressed, and makes for compelling reading.”
BOOKLIST
“Thorne writes engagingly about complicated relationships, the importance of communication in understanding others’ perspectives, and the blindness of privilege. This book will fly off the shelves to a broad range of teens who will enjoy the humor and drama that Thorne brings to this story.”
VOYA ★ PERFECT SCORE
“This sweet-natured deconstruction of the straight savior narrative is smart, funny, and revealing. It’s a perfect primer for the post–Faking It era on when to let someone else be the hero of their own story."
VOX.com
“Energetically plotted with a fresh, consistently engaging voice, this very current high school story is flavored with subtle back notes of insight regarding how tricky it can be to negotiate friendship and identity in today’s wash of gender fluidity and all varieties of privilege."
BULLETIN OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS
“A progressive book in a new era, one of the first of its kind. Shattering the traditional walls defining what ‘should’ be discussed in teen fiction, this book addresses real and relevant issues that the modern young adult deals with daily.”
THE MISSOURIAN