Customer Reviews

Deliver Us From Normal

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ok, so I just read Deliver Us From Normal from start to finish without a break. And here is what you need to know more than anything else - this book is NOT just for children. This is a book for everyone who had enough self-awareness when they were a kid to realize that growing up is a struggle.

If you ever felt awkward, alienated, or just plain different when you were young, you will find a kindred spirit in Kate Klise's Charles Harrisong. If you ever got to the point at which you just wanted to pack up and leave for somewhere else, -anywhere as long as it is different from where you woke up today, but never did - you will want to follow along with the Harrisong family on their journey from Normal to something better than normal.

Your kids should definitely read this book - but you should too. Be like the Harrisongs and do embarrassingly wonderful things as a family - like reading together.

P.S. After I finished Deliver Us From Normal, I walked down to my local bookstore, and moved a couple of copies from the children's section to fiction and literature.

Sixth-grader Charles Harrisong feels like his family is the only abnormal one in the town of Normal, Illinois. He keeps a list of things that humiliate him. This list includes his family's unusual last name, his father's rattletrap truck, their mustard yellow brick house with spooky bushes in front, his Bargain Bonanza brand clothes, his embarrassingly curly hair, and the quirky personality traits of his four other siblings. Each night Charles says the same prayer: "God, please let us be a normal family. Let us get a normal car. Let us live in a normal house and do normal things and not always be so embarrassing and different and loud."

Charles believes he has another abnormality. He possesses a secret gift that allows him to see and hear things ("words, messages, hidden meanings") without his eyes and ears. It is through Charles's keen observations that readers of DELIVER US FROM NORMAL get to discover his humiliating, and often humorous, world.

What Charles doesn't realize is that he is about to lose the normality of his daily routine. After a cruel prank relating to his sister's decision to run for 7th grade class president, the Harrisong family moves away from Normal in the middle of the night. They drive to Alabama, sell everything they own, and buy a dingy houseboat in a desperate attempt to make a new home.

Despite Charles's "secret gift" of uncovering the meaning and motives behind the actions of other characters in the book, DELIVER US FROM NORMAL ends with a number of unanswered questions. Why did the family take such drastic measures in response to a school prank? What will happen to the Harrisong family now that they've found a new home? How will the family make money? Where will the kids go to school?

Limited to Charles's knowledge and viewpoint we will never know. These questions, while disturbing, do not detract from what is otherwise an entertaining and insightful book. DELIVER US FROM NORMAL presents an unusual portrait of a fiercely loving family's struggle with poverty, and the impact that struggle makes in a young person's life.

--- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

Charles Harrisong may live in Normal, Illinois, but he knows his family is anything but. They practically live at Bargain Bonanza, and they're the only family in town who rents a home with no air conditioning. They're loud, and do everything together, and cause a scene wherever they go. Then, there's just him, Charles, who makes lists and sublists of "The Most Embarrassing Things in (his) Life," such as his horrible summer at scout camp and "The Yearling" incident at school. With his unique ability to feel the hidden meaning behind peoples' actions, Charles can't escape what other people think. All he prays for is for his family to be normal.

When his older sister's attempts to run for president of her class end with disastrous results, the Harrisong parents decide that they have had enough of their unforgiving town. After some quick decisions, they drag Charles and his four siblings away from Normal in the middle of the night on a quest to purchase a cheap houseboat docked in Alabama. As they leave the city limits, Charles offers up a new prayer to God to "deliver us from Normal. Get us out of here. Thank you."

Can the Harrisong family make it, or will this houseboat thing just be another horrible mistake?

Klise offers a refreshing voice in the young, shy Charles, and a hilarious look at a family who maintains a close bond throughout much tribulation. Layered with meaning, this masterful work will touch anyone who has survived their own, abnormal family.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

This was excellent. This clever tale about coming to terms with personal identity and communal identity (in this case familial) was a treat. Charles was an interesting character with a witty but serious take on life that learns in the most abnormal of situations to embrace himself and his family and to see their beauty. The characters and situations were very vivid and despite the abnormal quality of Charles family and there situation readers will identity with feelings of outcast and loneliness. I particularly enjoyed the Clara and the use of To Kill a Mockingbird in this story. Excellent pick. The only reason this doesn't earn a five are some of the cohesion problems in the plot.

What is normal, anyway? Kate Klise's book Deliver Us from Normal is an intriguing, adolescent view on what normal is and why it is so important to children and teenagers. Klise uses the perspective of a twelve year old boy who lives with his four other siblings and his parents in Normal, Illinois. The author provides readers with a glimpse into the life of a lower middle class family who, when it's all said and done, realize that not being "normal" really isn't that bad.

Charlie is a twelve year old boy with three sisters and a brother with whom he gets along surprisingly well. Mature for his age, Charlie gets picked on in school and ridiculed because of his family's financial status. Everything embarrasses him: his body, his family, his clothes and his house with its weird, spooky bushes. All his life Charlie has wanted to "BE NORMAL". When his family decides, on the spur of the moment, to leave their rented house and travel to Alabama he realizes his chances at being normal are over. His parents purchase a houseboat, sight unseen, and it turns out to be a real Junker. The whole family works on restoring it, getting it livable in less than a week. They set out to sail anywhere and everywhere and somewhere along the way Charlie realizes that perhaps being normal isn't all its cracked up to be.

Klise tells an enlightening tale of self discovery and adolescence, of the importance of family and confidence. Portraying circumstances that young readers will be able to relate to, she gets her point across that just being yourself is all that matters. As the main character puts it, "...everything was possible. Anything could happen. Because [they] had been delivered from normal."

Recommended for ages 9-12.

[...]

I thought that it was confusing because the author didn't really tell why they fled from their home during the night. I thought the whole Bargain Bonanza Store was funny. I could relate to the main character because I am a nerd and I don't have a lot of friends :). I would recommend this book to kids in Middle School, because the main character is facing many middle school problems. He has to deal with bullies, and having a weird family. It is very cool that the Author lived in Normal, because I used to live in Illinois.

How would you feel if you had seven people in your family (including you) who embarrass you 24/7? Would you feel like you were going to scream? This is exactly what Charlie Harrisong feels when he and his family lived in Normal, Illinois.
The main character of this story is Charles (Charlie) Harrisong. The other six people who live in his family are Sally, Laura, Clara, Ben, Mom, and Dad. Charlie thinks his family is the most embarrassing family he's ever known. Charlie is an eleven year old boy who loves his family, but is still learning to accept them. But when Charlie moves to the east coast of Alabama, he leaves all his problems behind him in Illinois.
I think Kate Klise `s books are not as exciting as other books are. I would recommend this book to 6th grade and older, and people who like realistic fiction. Although in some parts the story are really funny, Charlie has dramatic moments and sounds serious. But the book is still creative in a way of its own.

I loved this book!!! In a true coming of age during the tempetous time of middle school, this book shows the way. Deliver Us from Normal shows the difficulties of fitting in with the popular kids, and explores the realities of family and growing up while staying true to yourself. The family dynamics ring true to life, from the inadvertently protective mother to the tries ever so hard father. The main character, Charles, brings out the self-conscious introvert lurking inside all of us. Charles is so thoughtful and sweet, you want to bundle him up and take him home with you. The writing flows well and is easy to understand. Super book!

I was able to read this book through connections to my local bookstore, of which I buy from weekly (they know me) I read and reviewed this book. And loved it.
However, I do not grant it five stars because it is a little bit too easy.
It was poignant, and easy to relate with, and was definitely worth it. You'll fall in love with Charlie, and sympathize with him.

Read this!

I am actually living in Normal, Illinois and I can tell you there is no white trash here. It is nothing but subdivisions, bad commercials, State Farm, and college students. If this book was actually going to be about Normal, Illinois it would be about yuppies and college students, and families with 2.3 kids and a dog who live in subdivisions named after animals and colors (I live in White Eagle).