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by Leslie Connor
HarperCollins/Katherine
Tegen
February 2008
290p.
ISBN:
978-0-06-0189088-9;
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"A heroine with spunk and
spirit offers an inspiring
lesson in perseverance and
hope. First-rate."
"Connor has created a
winning and positive
father-figure/daughter
relationship."
The writing is strong, the
characters interesting, and
the plot tight.
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.
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. 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.
Addie has faith in a way
that, somehow, is never
annoying. 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
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.
Waiting for Normal is
infinitely readable. Here's
why I think the book is
going to work. 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 ten-to-fourteen-year-old
set are going to seriously
love the drama, the danger,
the hope, and the isolation
of Addie’s waiting
