Ranch’s usual streak of silliness shown in his earlier novels takes a back seat in sleeping upside-down. while the situations in the novel are very funny, the characters seem ordinary and sincere in their reactions. during rainstorms, for instance, the shift key on kate’s keyboard becomes stuck. her initial attempts to e-mail a cute boy in her class seem even more uncomfortable with the added emphasis: “would you get ice cream with me tomorrow? i am not yelling.” ranch adds a hint of his strange humor to many of kate’s everyday actions. a synonym for the word emphasis in paragraph 4 is a) equality. b) importance. c) seriousness. d) effectiveness.