Eli and her older sister, Anna, don't quite know what to do when their mom is sentenced to 90 days in treatment for repeated run ins with the law while drunk. She's been an alcoholic all of Eli's life. The girls, not wanting to deal with foster care and possibly being split up, have Anna dress up as her aunt and claim to take care of the girls in her mom's absence. The ruse doesn't work well, especially when there is a fight and skipping school, and a social worker shows up at the house causing the girls to go on the run. During their road trip they learn a lot about their lives and end up seeking shelter and care with their actual Aunt Lisa. The girls go to Alateen, learn more about their mom's disease, and meet other kids dealing with similar issues.
Eli is thinking about her gender identity and how much to reveal to her friends about her life.
The book hooked me in with the strong relationship of the sisters and the ways in which they dealt with obstacles in their lives. ( )

this was pretty charming, while still dealing with serious and hard issues. these two sisters really looked out for each other when forced to grow up faster than they should have had to, and it was really nice to see. i also really loved the way their aunt was introduced and turned out; she was pretty awesome. the gender queer themes in a book for kids this age is fantastic, and well described.

i really, really liked this. ( )

Having siblings can be complicated; they can be your best friends, your tormentors, or both (sometimes simultaneously. Sarah Moon's "Middletown" has two sisters, 17-year-old Anna and 13-year-old Eli, two sisters, at the heart of its story. When their mother is ordered by the court to 90 days of rehabilitation due to her alcoholism, the sisters must figure out how to stay together and avoid foster care. Anna pretends to be the girls' estranged Aunt Lisa, and the two must keep up the charade, hiding the truth from their friends and teachers. Complicating an already tricky situations are friendship drama, first crushes, predatory teachers,financial worries, and a family history that includes alcohol abuse. Through it all, the sisters fight, but they also know that they can always depend on each other even when they can't depend on anyone else.

The story focuses on Eli, who struggles not just with her mother's absence but also with coming to terms with her sexual identity, her crush on her best friend Meena (who Eli thinks is straight), and a bully at her school. Moon portrays Eli in a sensitive manner, with Eli's humanity shining through at all points in the book. While Anna does not receive the same attention that Eli gets, Moon lets us see beneath her surly exterior to the hurt girl who worries about her sister and her mom while also resenting the responsibilities thrust upon her.

If the book has a drawback, it's that it tries to do a lot in a limited space. The mother who is an alcoholic, the teacher who tries to prey on Anna, Eli's crush on her best friend, not one but two estranged fathers, plus an estranged aunt make for a great deal of plot to content with. It is to Moon's credit that the book manages to tackle all of this and not veer into after-school-special territory. At worst, the story can seem convoluted. However, at its best, it illustrates just how much people might have to contend with.

The other potential limitation is that the ending might tie the numerous plot threads up a little too neatly for some readers' tastes. However, given everything that the main characters have gone through, this is forgivable.

Although there numerous themes that appear in the book, the story's center remains Anna and Eli, and the end result is a moving and realistic depiction of their relationship. ( )