Waiting For Normal by Leslie Connor
2008
Weight:12.8 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving to a Friend
I loved it so much! Okay, let me rewind. My Amazing was having trouble sleeping tonight and so I was reading to her via Skype. On the occasions I have read to her in the past she does not really listen to the words and falls asleep quickly so I did not think twice about reading a New Yorker article on how children with chronic illnesses are living longer and longer. About twenty minutes in I realized she was still tossing and turning and listening so I went on the hunt for a more suitable read. Something less jarring. I grabbed Waiting for Normal because it is a young adult book, and I thought it would read easily.
It did read easily and wonderfully. I did not put it down and continued to read it long after she fell asleep. I read it in bed, took it into the bath, brought it into the kitchen for a late night snack, and back to the bath. It was a very long bath. Pages from the end I was crying heavily and reading furiously. Addie, the main character, is extremely lovable, as is her makeshift family from the nearby minimart. She is a girl growing up with a deceased father, a stubborn grandfather, an almost absent mother, a very caring (but not blood related) ex-stepfather, a school friend named Hannah, an adult friend who is overweight and has cancer, and an adult gay male friend. She finds the positive in almost every situation and sees the good in people without trying. She strives to be her best and cannot always see it when she is succeeding. She is lovely, and I love her and her story. Any who, I highly recommend it to anyone, at any age.
