Title: Waiting for Normal
Author: Leslie Connor
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books, 290 pages (hardcover)
Copyright: 2008
Booklist Review:
We’ve seen this situation before: a parent neglects a child, while the child seeks a wider community to find support. Here that child is 12-year-old Addie, who lives with Mommers in a trailer on a busy street in Schenectady after her adored stepfather and half sisters move upstate. Mommers has lost custody of the “littles” because of neglect, and though she and Addie can laugh together, once Mommers hooks up with Pete, she is not much for good times—though she brings the bad times home. Addie finds solace in occasional visits to her sisters and in her neighbors, especially Soula, ill from her chemotherapy treatments. Connor takes a familiar plot and elevates it with smartly written characters and unexpected moments. Addie starts out being a kid who thinks she has to go along to get along, but as Mommers’ actions become more egregious, her spine stiffens. And though Addie loves her time upstate, she is willing to forgo it when the normality she has there is more painful than positive. This is a meaningful story that will touch many. Grades 5-7. --Ilene Cooper
Review:
A sweet story of enduring hardships and a crazy family with endless optimism. Little Addie has apparently hit bottom. They now live in a junky trailer underneath a train overpass in Schnectady. Mommers surfs the Web all day, relies on Addie for cooking and cleaning, and takes off whenever she feels like it. Addie misses her responsible, loving ex-stepfather and his two daughters. Will Addie be able to find "normal" again?
This book has a lot going for it: Addie is the quintessential cock-eyed optimist, but she never comes off as cloying or goody-goody. She's just sweet and loveable; the quietish kid you liked sitting next to in the lunchroom. Addie is strong and resilient – and far more adult sometimes than her mom (who may be a manic-depressive, or schizophrenic, or just plain inconsiderate and manipulative). She almost always manages to make the best out of the bad situations she finds herself in, and she’s mostly easy-going and happy. Her mom, on the other hand, is a mess, and creates drama for herself wherever she goes. She neglects Addie, and neglected her other two girls when she had custody, and by the end of this book she’s pregnant again as she attempts to reel in yet another man.
This book has a lot going for it: Addie is the quintessential cock-eyed optimist, but she never comes off as cloying or goody-goody. She's just sweet and loveable; the quietish kid you liked sitting next to in the lunchroom. Addie is strong and resilient – and far more adult sometimes than her mom (who may be a manic-depressive, or schizophrenic, or just plain inconsiderate and manipulative). She almost always manages to make the best out of the bad situations she finds herself in, and she’s mostly easy-going and happy. Her mom, on the other hand, is a mess, and creates drama for herself wherever she goes. She neglects Addie, and neglected her other two girls when she had custody, and by the end of this book she’s pregnant again as she attempts to reel in yet another man.
The amazing thing about this book is it lets you glimpse inside a life that most people would find unbelievably difficult, and yet Addie's voice shows you how tiresome and real life can be, even while she makes the best of raising herself, turning small things into triumphs and ordinary people into heroes.
