Tear Jerker / Flipped

• The book has a very realistic one that also doubles as Nightmare Fuel—-The Reveal that Bryce was nearly strangled by his umbilical cord as a baby during birth. And how is it revealed? Because The Reveal that Juli's uncle suffered from brain damage at birth due to similar circumstances drives Bryce's mother to tears. She and her husband subsequently have a fight over the latter being a judgmental Jerkass about the Bakers, and he spends the night on the couch.
• The cutting down of the sycamore tree, Juli's best friend. How she sits up in the tree refusing to come down and tries to get her friends to come up with her in an act of desperation is just heart-wrenching.
  • Bryce actually felt like crying after the tree got cut down, and he thought it was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen.
  • But imagine if you were Juli, knowing that the one thing you cherished the most was gone...
• The moment when Bryce shatters Juli's crush on him when she catches him throwing away her eggs and he claims that her yard is dirty and her eggs probably have salmonella because of it. You can hear her heart shatter in the prose.
  • Bryce only realizes that what he said was cruel and wrong when Juli stops talking to him. It digs in deeper when he sees her starting to clean up her yard, and he's too much of a Dirty Coward to start helping her. When he finally musters up the courage, his grandfather has decided to take initiative and help her.
  • Juli angrily telling Chet that he doesn't have to come and help her because of the eggs. This surprises Chet, who didn't know what Bryce had done, and he explains that he came because Juli reminds him of his late wife, due to her protecting the sycamore tree (which he says his late wife would have done as well) and clearly sharing her fiery spirit.
  • Chet calling out Bryce for what he did, without raising his voice or having to spell out why it was wrong. At dinnertime, he makes eye contact with Bryce after his daughter asks why Chet's helping Juli making it clear that he knows about the eggs but doesn't rat out Bryce, then comes to see Bryce in private. After not responding to Bryce's small talk, his grandson breaks down and admits he was an idiot. Chet then tells him "Do the right thing from now on. It'll hurt everyone less in the long run."
• After spending a night on the couch, Mr. Loski still doesn't seem to realize that judging the Bakers in his wife's presence is a bad idea. When she forces the family to eat Sunday breakfast together and reveals she's going to invite the Bakers for dinner, he considers it "punishment" for his stupid remarks. She has to tell him that he has to behave "like the man she thought she married" for him to get the point.
• Bryce's confusion when Juli picks another Basket Boy over him and he tries to kiss her in a fit of Green-Eyed Monster. The climax of the book makes him realize that none of his actions have been winning favors with Juli, so he Must Make Amends. Which he does by planting a sycamore sapling in her yard, that will eventually grow to replace the old one.