Customer Reviews

Waiting for Normal

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once in a while a reviewer of children's books likes to sit down and reassess their occupation. Here I am. I am an adult and I review books for kids. And most of the time I really enjoy it. I just have a fabulous time reading all these children's books and then spouting off opinions about why you should or shouldn't hand 'em off to the youngsters. But in the end I am still an adult and my opinion is that of someone over the age of 25. A lot of people in my position have a hard time separating their adult perspective from their knowledge of what kids like. Am I blabbering on here? Well, there's a reason for it. Nine times out of ten, when I read a children's book that mucks with my mind, I don't review it. Simple as that. I think, "Book hard. Me no review. Me watch Colbert Report instead," and that is that. But I felt compelled to push through my natural malaise to review "Waiting for Normal" by Leslie Connor. This is partly because the book has been garnering pretty much universally stellar reviews. The writing is strong, the characters interesting, and the plot tight. My problem? The audacity of hope, I guess. This book is awash in it. And so, I must pry my snide, callous, New York City sardonic self away from myself as a 12-year-old child and let these two components of my reviewer self duke it out.

Say what you will about Addie, she doesn't let a little thing like the complete and total dissolution of her family unit get her down. Addie's mom (or Mommers) and Addie's wonderful stepfather Dwight have just gotten divorced, and he is legally responsible for their children. Addie, on the other hand, is biologically just her mom's kid so she's left to live with Mommers in a trailer in the middle of Schenectady that Dwight has provided. Addie's always had a way of dealing with her mom's inconsistencies all her life, and now isn't any different. With Mommers disappearing for days at a time, Addie concentrates on the things she can control. Her flute playing, her hamster Piccolo, her friends at the corner convenience store, and getting to see her half-sisters and Dwight whenever she can. Yet as her sisters' lives get increasingly better without her, Addie's own world becomes more and more unstable. Strength of character is her best friend now and her eventual freedom will have to rely on danger.

What I'm trying to figure out is why I originally resisted this title. I think it may have something to do with the language that's surrounding the book. Phrases like, "one girl's giant spirit" and "will touch readers' hearts." Ew. We live in a society where real honest emotion is far harder to find than crass commercialized Hallmark moments. Plus I read so many books that try to take advantage of a reader's feeling by shamelessly tugging at the heartstrings like they were marionette lines. Do that once too often and the strings get lank and loose. Then "Waiting for Normal" comes by and it isn't flashy at all. It's packaging keeps pronouncing in big shiny letters, "A heartwarming gem", and the like, and badda bing, you're jaded before you've even read a page.

What I would have preferred would have been to have received this book as a coverless, blurbless manuscript. Just black words on white paper, because the power of Connor's writing doesn't lie in promising you a rollercoaster journey of the soul. She's a good writer precisely because she is understated. Look at her other books. This is the woman who wrote the brave picture book tale, Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel (Ira Children's Book Awards. Primary). If you haven't read that book then you have a gap in your library. Fill that gap. In that story Connor's words are honed down to their pure essential core, telling a story without fluffy details and ridiculous razzmatazz. And the same feeling shows up in this book, but in a different way. Here, Connor's voice as Addie is what holds everything together. Addie's not laugh-out-loud funny but she is wry, self-deprecating, and the kind of person a kid would want to spend a whole book with. Come for the tone, stay for the writing.

There was one other obstacle to overcome before I declared the book a winner. It has what can only be described as the most hope-ridden child since Pollyanna herself. A 21st Century Pollyanna for the masses, that's what Addie is. But there's a difference between being hopeful and being blind or ignorant to the world's injustices. Addie has faith in a way that, somehow, is never annoying. Do you have any idea how hard that must be to write? And what's more, when the obligatory "our heroine loses hope" scene comes up, it's its own beast. Some kids would stop eating, going to school, or seeing their friends. Addie returns a flute, and somehow that carries more weight. I mean, she's still a pretty unbelievably well adjusted kid, for all that's happened to her in her life. For example, when she finds out that her beloved step-dad is getting married to a wonderful woman and that he and her half-siblings are going to be cheery, merry, and gay with this person, does she dislike the interloper or resent Dwight telling her this news? No, instead she punches his arm lightly and says, "Thanks for telling me everything," which is verging on the disbelievable. If you can overcome your skepticism when this kind of thing happens, you'll have an easier time reading the book.

Was some of it predictable? Of course! Because (and this is what I, for some reason, have to keep reminding myself here) this is a children's book and if you read a certain amount of them then elements are going to crop up more than once. Addie's mother kept reminding me of negligent mom or pop characters in other books, but she certainly had a manic depressive style of her own. And none of this is to say that I wasn't delighted to see some of my jaded assumptions just go higgledy-piggledy out the window. The rule in children's literary drama is that if the child with a bad housing situation receives a cute fluffy animal (say, a guinea pig) in Act One, then that same fluffy animal is going to die sometime in the next fifty pages. I call this the Chinese Cinderella rule. A rule that Connor wasn't afraid to use to ratchet up the tension without actually pulling the trigger.

I would recommend reading the first chapter of this book (it's only five pages) in a children's literary course or a class on how to write for children as an example of showing, not telling. Our slow realization that Addie's mother is selfish and self-centered isn't crystal clear from page one. All the same, you're getting hints of it. It's like when you meet someone on the street and as the conversation continues you get that slow dawning sense that the person across from you is one Brady short of a Bunch. That's what Ms. Connor does. She draws you into her characters so that your faith in them is reliant on where a scene goes from one moment to the next.

Now I began this review by mentioning that an adult reviewer who talks about a book for kids should always remember that the intended audience is (shockingly) not twenty-nine-year-old librarians. So here's the million-dollar question: Are kids going to like this book? And the answer is: Darn tooting. Darn tooting they will, because if nothing else Waiting for Normal is infinitely readable. Here's why I think the book is going to work for the kiddies. It's clocking in at 304 pages, but it reads zippy quick. I didn't feel a lull or a gap in action at any point. The drama is focused pretty squarely on the family situation, which means we don't have to have the rote scene where the best friend at school suddenly befriends the popular snob. Also, my library often hosts a pack of sixth grade girls who only want one thing: realistic girl books. Finding titles for the tween set is always difficult because you don't want to hand them stuff that's too mature and you don't want babyish fare either. Waiting for Normal is going to be perfect for all parties involved, and I cannot wait to get it into their hands.

All right, I give in. It's a good book. Maybe even a great one, though I think it would take a rereading or two to know for sure. Kids will dig it, adults obviously do already, and as a reader I'd just like to say that if you or your kids aren't into "heartwarming" tales, I think you'll still enjoy this book. It's definitely been bitten by the honesty bug. A title that deserves attention.

The main character in the book is a young girl named Addie. Life is throwing her for a loop. Her mother has some problems and never takes the time to be a real mother to Addie. The book follows Addie through a time in her life that teaches her a lot about herself. She discovers that her life is not perfect and never will be but with people that love you by your side you will be just fine.

As I read this story it made me really thankful for the life that I have and the life that I am able to give my children. At the same time it broke my heart to think that there are kids out there today like the character Addie and are really raising themselves in the world.

This book would be best for girls. There is a scene in the book that discuses menstrual cycle. It is done in a tasteful way but co-ed reading of the novel may be uncomfortable.

I brought this book home for my daughter, and ended up reading it first, and loving it. In Addie, the middle schooler at the heart of this book, Connor has created a protagonist that readers will care for and relate to. The author deftly but lovingly balances Addie's troubles with her strengths, and makes even characters like Addie's dysfunctional mother real, fully fleshed out people we care about. The book is heartwarming without ever being cloying or sentimental,and the writing is pitch-perfect throughout. When I gave it to my daughter she buried her nose in it and didn't put it down until she was done. Fabulous.

I picked this up at the library because the cover grabbed my attention. I came to it with no preconceived notions (read review below mine). I am so glad because I just finished the book a few minutes ago and still have that warm fuzzy feeling that only a well-told story produces.

I think I just read a Newbery contender. Well done!

Twelve-year-old Addison Schmeeter's life has had more than its fair share of twists and turns. Her father died when she was barely three. Then Mommers married Dwight, whom Addie loved. The next few years were the closest to normal that Addie ever had. Even though Mommers was still 'all or nothing.' Addie had Dwight and `the Littles' - her two half-sisters, Brynna and Kate, to balance things out. But Mommers divorced Dwight and, after she left the girls alone for three days, Dwight got custody of the Littles. Not Addie, though, because she wasn't his `real' daughter.

Now it's just Addie and Mommers again, living in a tiny trailer on the busy corner of Freeman Bridge Road and Knott Street in Schenectady, New York. Dwight and the Littles visit whenever they can at first, but then Dwight gets a job up in Lake George, so Addie will be seeing them even less. Before too long, Addie isn't seeing much of Mommers, either. Once Mommers meets Pete she starts leaving Addie alone for longer and longer stretches of time. Mommers thinks it's okay, though, because she is determined to view pre-teen Addie as a full grown adult. The closest thing Addie has to a family now are Soula and Elliott from the Minimart across the street. They provide her with laughter and affection, even though Soula is waging a desperate battle with cancer.

Addie's resilient spirit, once so sure that a `normal' family like what Dwight and the Littles have is coming her way one day, begins to flag under the increasing weight of her mother's neglect. Addie even begins to withdraw from Dwight and her half-sisters when the pain of seeing their happiness becomes too much to bear. Just when things are at their worst, a dangerous and frightening accident serves as the catalyst for a few surprising new twists and turns in Addie's life.

I can't recommend this book highly enough - a truly wonderful read!

Waiting For Normal is by far above and beyond the norm. It is an absolutely wonderful and moving gem of a novel. The whole way, you're both rooting for and fully worried about Addie, the main character. She's so full of goodness and innocence, you are on the edge of your seat hoping that she finds the happiness she deserves -- It's all around her, but it cannot fully inhabit her life due to circumstances beyond her control. The novel is one of the most honest and heartfelt I have ever read -- it jerks your heart around, but in the best of ways, in the way it should be jerked around, in a way that reminds us that goodness is at the core, even in places that are marred by mistakes and shortcomings. It is there, and you will see that, as Waiting For Normal reminds us, as long as you have it in yourself. Addie has a plentiful supply of goodness, enough to share and then some. An unforgettable and inspiring character. A wonderful, honest, heartfelt book. Highly recommended.

I've been waiting for this one. I've previewed almost all of the "bests" this year, and this one ranks at the top. Leslie Connor knows kids. She understands the little things that make Addie special. What a great piece of writing! Give us more characters like Addie...honest,truthful trusting and extremely endearing. I will be using this as my featured read-aloud this year. Thanks Leslie..Keep 'em coming!!

"I had two boxes of mac and cheese, almost half a box of Cheerios, a sleeve of saltine crackers, a bag of egg noodles and a box of brownie mix. In the can department, I had two tomato soups, one fruit cocktail, and one cheapy tuna -- the squishy, cat food kind. There were two eggs in the fridge, along with four carrots, half a quart of milk and almost half a jar of peanut butter. There were three hamburger buns in the freezer. It didn't look like much but I had things figured out. Each box of mac and cheese would make two meals. Each can of tomato soup was ten and three quarters ounces of pure possibility. I could mix it with the cooked egg noodles and cat tuna. I could pour it over a toasted hamburger bun. Or, I could just make soup like the label on the can said. But whatever I did, I had to be careful about the groceries. Mommers had been gone for six nights in a row."

There is something seriously wrong with the mother of sixth-grader Addie Schmeeter. Addie's mother is way, way up or way, way down, seriously all here or seriously all gone. She either ignores the grocery situation for weeks on end or suddenly begins shopping (and cooking) for an army. And it can all change in a heartbeat.

When she's around, Addie's mother is chronically obsessed with watching a television courtroom reality show or spending all night in an online chat room, she has no room in her consciousness for daily care of her offspring.

Recent times have been bad: Addie's mother kicked Addie's good-hearted step-dad, Dwight, out of their old house. Then she misappropriated the mortgage money and took off for days at a time, leaving Addie alone to care for her two little sisters, Brynna and Katie. As a result, the subsequent divorce has ended with the house being gone, Dwight gaining full custody of Brynna and Katie, and Addie and her mom have moved into a funky little trailer in a seriously run-down section of urban Schenectady, New York.

There is also something wrong with Addie:

"Why was it so hard? My teacher and I had gone through my entire writer's notebook and had highlighted every left-hand margin in bright pink. When I wrote, I was supposed to come back and bump that pink edge with the first letter of every new line. It seemed like kindergarten stuff. But if I got my mind going on the words, I started to miss the margin. If I concentrated on the margin, I forgot what I was writing."

The same struggle Addie has with her writer's notebook is also apparent when she is having to use a placeholder while reading a book or -- even worse -- trying to read the swirling music notation for the flute she so loves to play.

Of course, the degree of responsibility Addie's mother displays for musical instruments is comparable to that of her parenting and grocery shopping and so, on top of everything else, Addie is burdened with the guilt of playing a flute that should have been returned to her previous school.

On the plus side of Addie's ledger is Soula, the woman who runs the filling station and minimart across the road from the trailer, and Soula's friend, Elliot. There is ex-step-father Dwight who had, in fact, tried to gain custody of Addie during the divorce. There is Addie's guinea pig, Piccolo. And there is Addie's resolute attitude that she is waiting for normal and that it will, eventually, arrive.

But as things keep getting better and better for Addie's sisters, Addie is stuck in the trailer with her mother, a mother who is becoming more and more unpredictable and irresponsible. And Soula, on whom Addie depends for some sanity, is clearly struggling with significant physical ailments.

The closest I ever came to Schenectady, New York was having taken Amtrak through there on my way to a dairy goat convention in Syracuse back in the early Eighties. Leslie Connor thinks of this story as a love letter back to the little city outside of which she grew up. I thoroughly enjoyed the sense of place portrayed such as including the connections to Union College, the toxic waste, and the (real-life) Freeman's Bridge out of the city that one approaches via the road which the trailer is situated alongside of.

I got thoroughly caught up in WAITING FOR NORMAL. The nearly-three-hundred pages went zipping by as quickly as the trains that send Addie's little trailer rocking every time they pass by overhead. The ten-to-fourteen-year-old set are going to seriously love the drama, the danger, the hope, and the isolation of Addie's waiting:

"So this is the smell and the feel of Halloween this year, I told myself. No sweets. No trick-or-treating. No candy bars to sort and trade. No fun. No Dwight, no Brynna, no Katie. I looked at the dark trailer. No Mommers."

Waiting for Normal is a bit younger than my normal reading age range, and it wasn't so good that I felt comfortable reading such a juvenile book. Don't get me wrong, it was fine for its age range. I'm sure 9-12-year-olds would enjoy, but I didn't very much. I could put this book down and pick it up days later without qualms. It was slow moving; there just wasn't much going on. Granted, for a younger age range, this is probably perfectly acceptable. It's also very realistic, which I think is a plus.

The main character, Addie, is 12 years old, and she appears to be the adult in the relationship between herself and her mother. They've just moved into a trailer owned by Addie's ex-step-dad, which means Addie is starting at a new school, has to make new friends, has to explain her learning problems all over again.

Addie's mom is clearly neglectful, leaving Addie alone for days at a time and using the money the step-dad sends for her own personal uses rather than to buy, say, food or clothing. But Addie loves her mom (as most children do... for a few more years at least), and she goes out of her way to protect her and to hide the extent of the neglect... until it just can't be hidden any more.

The story does have a happy ending for Addie, although her coming sibling leaves the adult reader a tad worried (albeit for a fictional unborn character). The book addresses the issues of cancer, homosexuality, neglect, stealing, adoption, step-relationships and half-relationships, and many other things that I think the juvenile crowd would find beneficial to read about and become familiar with. It also does it very well. I was not offended by any of the issues, nor did I feel like I was being beaten over the head with them. If a reader is very young, they probably wouldn't even notice.

So my 3 stars is merely because I wasn't drawn into the story very much, and that I am, obviously, much too old for the genre. But I really feel like readers in the juvenile age range would enjoy and could benefit from reading this story. It's very well written, and Addie's story is relatable and realistic.

Worth introducing to a young reader in your life!

Do you ever read a book and just think...WOW? The characters were so well developed and the voice so distinct. It had humor and tension and yet touched me to tears several times. It was so well written that the author hit so many important issues but didn't hit the reader over the head. Maybe I loved this book because it is about a little girl in a terrible situation who is making the best of it...ALL the time. But then, she has that point where she just can't take it. Where your heart truly breaks for her. Where you want to just hold that 12 year old and sob along with her. She has had humor and love despite it all, and yet, she just can't seem to find a way out. She is waiting for Child and Family Services to find her, but scared for them to find her at the same time. As a previous foster parent and adopted two foster children, I found this book to be delightful and insightful. I would recommend it to anyone. It is one of my favorite books I've read in a long time, and I read a lot of books!