Waiting for Normal

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More About This Book

Overview

Addie is waiting for normal.

But Addie's mom has an all-or-nothing approach to life: a food fiesta or an empty pantry, jubilation or gloom, her way or no way.

All or nothing never adds up to normal.

All or nothing can't bring you all to home, which is exactly where Addie longs to be, with her half sisters, every day.

In spite of life's twists and turns, Addie remains optimistic. Someday, maybe, she'll find normal.

Leslie Connor has created an inspiring novel about one girl's giant spirit. waiting for normal is a heartwarming gem.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Connor (Dead on Town Line) treats the subject of child neglect with honesty and grace in this poignant story. Addie's stepfather, Dwight, has always been the responsible one in the family. But after he and her mother divorce, and he gets custody of Addie's two younger half-sisters, it's up to Addie, a sixth-grader, to keep order in the tiny trailer that Dwight has found for Addie and her mother. While her mother disappears for days at a time with her new boyfriend, Addie cultivates friendships with people she meets at a neighboring convenience store, but the affection she receives from others doesn't compensate for the absence of love in her home. Addie works hard to fill the void her volatile mother creates, and Addie's attempts to make things "normal" result in some of the most moving scenes: she keeps the cabinets full by putting empty boxes of food on the shelf "for show." In such moments Connor shows both the extent to which Addie has been abandoned and just how resilient and resourceful she is. Characters as persuasively optimistic as Addie are rare, and readers will gravitate to her. Ages 10-up. (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From The Critics
Twelve-year-old Addie is used to taking care of herself. Her mother is unstable, unreliable, and mostly absent, and she has been separated from her stepfather and little sisters. As Addie adjusts to a new life in a small trailer under a bridge in Schenectady, New York, she realizes that the thing she really wants is to just be normal. In this novel, we meet a heroine in a young girl whose future seems anything but bright. Connor introduces us to Addie, a ray of sunshine in the dismal world around her. Addie's optimism, sensitivity, and honesty bring joy to the people she meets. As you read this sincere though heart-wrenching novel, you will feel yourself wishing, more than anything, a "normal" life for Addie. Reviewer: Sarah de Verges

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780060890889
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 2/5/2008
  • Pages: 304
  • Sales rank: 382,322
  • Age range: 10 years
  • Lexile: 0570L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 5.00 (w) x 7.37 (h) x 1.01 (d)

Meet the Author

Leslie Connor has her own memories of the energy crunch of the seventies, and she got to thinking: What comes after the long lines at the pumps? What if the earth's supply of gasoline were to finally run out? She tried to imagine what it would look like: "I saw bicycles. And I saw them taking to the highways. I also saw a changing value of goods and services. Then Dewey showed up on my shoulder to tell the story of these kids home alone, trying to keep up with operating a busy bike-repair shop and coping with the unfamiliar condition of suddenly having something everybody else wants." Leslie is the author of many award-winning books for children, including Waiting for Normal, winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award, Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel, and Dead on Town Line, a young-adult novel in verse. She lives with her family in Connecticut.

Read an Excerpt

Waiting for Normal

Chapter One

Tin box on a tar patch

Maybe Mommers and I shouldn't have been surprised; Dwight had told us it was a trailer even before we'd packed our bags. But I had pictured one of those parks—like up on Route 50. I thought trailers were always in trailer parks. I expected a little grass patch out front, daisy-shaped pinwheels stuck into the ground, one of those white shorty fences and a garden gnome.

Dwight crossed traffic and pulled the truck up over the curb. When he stopped, Mommers' head bumped against the window. "What are we doing here?" she asked. I watched Dwight's face for the answer. Dwight is my stepfather. Well, he's really my ex-stepfather since he and Mommers split for good. That was two years ago. (It's best to know right from the beginning that my family is hard to follow—like a road that keeps taking twists and turns.) But Dwight had always told me, there'll be no "ex" between you and me, Addie, girl, and I believed him.

"I said, what are we doing here?" Mommers repeated.

"This is the place," Dwight mumbled.

Mommers sat up. She opened her eyes wide and looked out the front windshield. Then she screamed. "Dwight! You've got to be kidding me! This is the city!"

Dwight leaned away from her—protecting his ear—and in that quiet way he's got about him, he told Mommers, "Come on, Denise. Let's not go over it again. You know this is all I've got left. You can move in here, or go to Jack's place." He slid out of the truck.

Mommers swung her door open so hard it came back at her. She kicked it and it whined on the hinge."I can't live with Jack!"

She was talking about my grandfather on my father's side. I call him Grandio. That's his grandpa name, which my father taught me to say a long time ago. That's about all my father had time to teach me; he died when I was barely three. I've always kind of felt as if my father gave me Grandio—or tried to anyway—that he left him to me so I'd have as much family as possible. Thing is, he kind of left Grandio to Mommers, too. I've never seen two people who wanted less to do with each other.

"I hate Jack!" Mommers hollered at Dwight. "And I hate you!"

"I know," said Dwight, as if he had accepted that a long time ago.

I unfolded myself from the back of the cab, where I'd been squashed in the little jump seat, and slipped down to the ground. Dwight lifted our bags out of the back of his truck and handed Mommers a key.

"Go in and have a look. We can work on it some if you want," he said. "And the computer is in for you and Addie." He tried to say all this with a hopeful note in his throat—Dwight always did that.

But Mommers threw the key down hard as she could. It hit the ground with a tiny ringing sound like a little chime. "I suppose you want me to overflow with gratitude!" she yelled. "I get a cruddy tin box for a house and a dinosaur for a computer! Lucky me! What about the duplex, Dwight? You could have given me that!"

"The duplex is gone to pay for the house, Denise." Dwight kept his lips in a line. Mommers kicked at her own overstuffed suitcase. Then she said all kinds of other things I won't mention, but boy, did I hear some language.

Dwight walked away from her. That might have seemed mean to anyone who happened to be watching that day, but I didn't really blame him. He had my little sisters to think of—half sisters, that is. They're Dwight's kids. I'm not. (Like I said, my family is full of twists and turns.) He leaned down and gave me a shaky hug. I squeezed him back and swallowed hard. He whispered into my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Addie, girl." Then he looked at me eye to eye and said, "I'll be around—you know that."

I nodded. "And you'll bring Brynna and Katie, right?"

"Of course. As often as I can."

"Then it'll be all right," I said, and I faked a big old smile.

Dwight got back into his truck and raised a hand to wave good-bye. He turned his wheels away from us and with a screech and a lurch, he was outta there.

I stood next to Mommers, both of us looking at the trailer. The thing was dingy and faded. But I could tell that it'd once been the color of sunshine. It was plunked down on a few stacks of cinder blocks at the corner of Freeman's Bridge Road and Nott Street in the city of Schenectady—in the state of New York. It was a busy corner—medium busy, I'd say. The only patch out front was the tarry blacktop bubbling up in the heat of the late summer afternoon. No pinwheels. No garden gnome.

"Can you believe this, Addison?" Mommers said. She stared at the trailer door. "That reprobate."

"Reprobate?" I said. "There's one for my vocabulary book."

"Yeah, Addie. And for the definition, you just write Dwight!"

She fell into a heap and started to cry. I stooped beside Mommers. I gave her shoulder a pat, tried to get her to look at me, but she wouldn't. Then the little flash of silver caught my eye. I reached down and picked up the key.

Waiting for Normal. Copyright © by Leslie Connor. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
( 87 )

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 29, 2011

    Amazing

    I read this book in school and i love it. It is prabably my new favorite book.i would recommend it to anyone. :)

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 27, 2011

    Read it read it read it

    This book is AMAZING!!!!! Words cant describe how much I LOVED this book.... read it read it read it !!!!!!!

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 14, 2011

    Yay

    I didn't think i was going to read it till one day after a test i picked it up and fell in luv i took it home and was finished in 4 days!

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 27, 2011

    Luuvvv It!!!

    This book was inspiring, creative, fun, and i couldnt stop reading until i was finished.... this book was AWESOME!!! :D

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 14, 2011

    bad in some parts-not recemmended

    A girl named Addie lives with divorced cigarette smoking mom in old trailer in NYC.Addie's Dad or Dwight has custody of Addie's sisters.Addie makes friend but he/she died later on.Addie also has a new pet.A terrible accident happened to the trailer.Though some parts are pretty good.So,read to find out.

    1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 18, 2011

    Great

    Love it. The writer puts you in addies place and makes you think of how brave and strong she was. If i was put in the positions addie was put in i would have cracked. This is a great book and i recomend it to any and everyone

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 15, 2011

    Awesome

    If i had to describe this book i would say AWESOME!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted August 4, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    A Really Good Book...

    This is one of the best books I read in a while.
    It's about Addie, age 12, who moves to a "tin box on a tar patch" with her wry mother.
    At first, when I read the first few pages I couldn't get into the book. But giving it another chance, I found Waiting to Normal to be one of the greatest books I read, that changed the way I think a little bit, in a way.
    I recommend this book to kids 13 and younger (for girls, there are somethings in the book that a boy wouldn't quite "get"). I think it's worthwhile.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted May 22, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Laugh and cry

    I loved this book. This story was about a little girl whose mother leaves her alone all the time to go about her own life. This life style happens everyday in our society and it's very sad. In this story you just want to rescue this little girl and bring her home. Thank goodness for those who do love her. You will laugh and cry in this touching story.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 19, 2010

    pretty good overall

    kind of a serious book but I enjoyed it

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 16, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Great for Classrooms

    This group in school I was in and I chose this book for a project, and we finished it in no time! Even though it is an easy read, the topic is very mature (her neglecting mother) and teaches a valuable lesson. I recommend this book for people who are interested in the subject!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 5, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Waiting For Normal

    Waiting for Normal was a great book! I finished it really quickly and couldn't seem to put it down. I like how the main character, Addie, stays hopeful even through the rough spots. The author did a nice job writing about child neglect and the hardships of a girl growing up without a caring mother. This book is real, inspiring, and overall something I would recommend to girls who like realistic fiction. I loved it!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 9, 2012

    yay!!

    this book was really good, but REALLY descriptive, so i would reccomend it for 10+ girls and MAYBE 13-14+ boys (anyone younger wouldnt know what a period is, but i wont tell) also, LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 8, 2012

    Awsome

    I read this nd i couldnt stop its amazing love the book

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 2, 2012

    Awesome

    I loved the book it was amazing. It was sad annd touching and funny all the time. The main character addie is going throough hard times. I just cant belive it when soula dies. Not meant for girls.

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 1, 2012

    AWESOMEE

    Great book a must read

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 30, 2012

    Gurl book

    Boobsare so inappropisate and what the heck is a period? Plz respond i m extremely confused. Gabe

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 25, 2012

    ?

    I'm alittle confused on what this book is about...

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 18, 2012

    Everbody is normal

    The title sounds crappy

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 10, 2012

    Team-demigod

    This book is great I love it with the dance and horseback riding I do it is very relaxing but a little sad if you like happy good feeling books this might not be the one
    Thanks,
    Anabeth

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