Learn more about Libby in a new excerpt from Jennifer Niven’s HOLDING UP THE UNIVERSE!

Jennifer Niven’s new novel Holding Up The Universe is fast approaching and now we’ve got a new excerpt to help us prepare!

In the first excerpt from the book, readers were introduced to Jack. The teen boy has a rare disease called prosopagnosia that prevents its sufferers from remembering the faces of anyone they see, including their family and best friends.

The second excerpt, which comes courtesy of USA Today, focuses in on Libby, who has had a unique set of struggles of her own following her mother’s death.

My name is Libby Strout. You’ve probably heard of me. You’ve probably watched the video of me being rescued from my own house. At last count, 6,345,981 people have watched it, so there’s a good chance you’re one of them. Three years ago, I was America’s Fattest Teen. I weighed 653 pounds at my heaviest, which means I was approximately 500 pounds overweight. I haven’t always been fat. The short version of the story is that my mom died and I got fat, but somehow I’m still here. This is in no way my father’s fault.

Two months after I was rescued, we moved to a different neighborhood on the other side of town. These days I can leave the house on my own. I’ve lost 302 pounds. The size of two entire people. I have around 190 left to go, and I’m fine with that. I like who I am. For one thing, I can run now. And ride in the car. And buy clothes at the mall instead of special-ordering them. And I can twirl. Aside from no longer being afraid of organ failure, that may be the best thing about now versus then.

Tomorrow is my first day of school since fifth grade. My new title will be high school junior, which, let’s face it, sounds a lot better than America’s Fattest Teen. But it’s hard to be anything but TERRIFIED OUT OF MY SKULL.

I wait for the panic attack to come.

READ THE FULL EXCERPT NOW!

Holding Up The Universe hits shelves on October 4, 2016. You can pre-order now via Amazon.