Waiting for Normal

Addie and Mommers live in a dilapidated trailer, sitting on cinder blocks on a busy street corner in Schenectady. The corner, not in Schenectady’s best part of town, has a vacant lot, a Laundromat, and thankfully, a mini mart and gas station. The trailer is a parting gesture from Addie’s ex-stepfather, Dwight. After Mommers fritters away the mortgage money on another Internet scheme and abandons Addie and her half-sisters while Dwight is out of town on a job, Dwight really has no other choice but to take his daughters (whom Addie affectionately calls, The Littles) and move on. But despite his love for her, Addie is not his daughter. Addie belongs to Mommers, and Mommers is what Addie describes as "all or nothing." The problem is, show more Addie often gets nothing, while business schemes, boyfriends, and Internet chat rooms, get all.

In spite of all this, Addie displays remarkable courage, self-sufficiency, adaptability, honesty and humor. She becomes friends with Soula, the sickly and overweight owner of the mini mart and and her employee, Elliot. She makes new friends at her new school. She waits for normal.

“Truth was I never really liked dinnertime. Breakfast was our best meal because it was the only meal that was normal. What I mean by that is we had either toast or cereal. That’s normal for breakfast – everyone eats those things for breakfast. But we often had cereal or toast for dinner, too. … So, toast dinners became my specialty.”

This first person account of a young girl's triumph over adversity is reminiscent of Susan Patron's Newbery winner, The Higher Power of Lucky, however, Connor's protagonist is more hopeful, more believable. Even the dismal Schenectady street corner trailer seems to offer more promise than Lucky's trailer in a remote California desert town.

Both a coming-of-age and a triumph over adversity story, Waiting for Normal is a winner. show less

Between Addie and her mom, Addie is the grown-up. She takes care of her mom who can’t get her act together. The stepdad she adores has finally given up and moved on with her two half-sisters, but he continues to be the stability in her life. Her mom, on the other hand, complains, spends too much time on the internet, and leaves Addie alone for days in their tiny one room trailer. Addie has a stepdad, grandfather and the two adults who run the mini-mart across the street, but there's only so much they can do. Addie keeps her situation a secret in order to protect her mom.

Leslie Connor is a fantastic writer. You have to appreciate the level of detail she is able to bring to the page. Addie's story is one that probably plays out for far show more too many kids everyday. Addie is unique in that she is wise beyond her years and is able to take care of herself, but we can sense how much she longs for something better. show less

Normal as defined by 12 year old Addie is something or someone you can count on.

This is a heart breaking story of a spunky, loving child who is forced to take care of herself. As she notes, her mother is either all the way or not any way. It is an all or nothing lifestyle and too soon, at a very young age, Addie Schmeeter learned that increasingly the parenting style of her mother is nothing.

Having multiple children that she cannot raise, self centered and emotionally abusive, Addie's mother flies under the radar of the social services. When Dwight, Addie's step father, delivers her mother and her to a beat up camper/trailer, located in an underpass, Addie tries to make the best of a horrible situation.

Dwight loves Addie, but simply show more cannot legally take her with him and Addie's two step sisters. Moving away, Dwight worries about Addie and does the best he can to help her long distance. When Addie visits her step father and siblings, in her heart she longs for their normalcy.

Leaving Addie alone for nights, then weeks alone, with little or no food, her sociopathic mother cares little for her welfare. Afraid to let others know about her mother, Addie tries to make the best of a terrible situation.

It takes a dire situation to bring the social services on board.

While difficult to read, this is a book worth the time and effort. Unfortunately, all too many young children in our society are very much like Addie. Alone, afraid and living in dangerous situations, these children develop a strong coping mechanism to survive.

Five Stars show less

Waiting for Normal is a great read for middle school readers, because it addresses serious and difficult issues that many kids experience in addition to all the “normal” stuff that is so complicated and often thorny to navigate on the journey between childhood and adulthood. The book is sensitive to the depressing topics it raises without bringing the reader down—in fact, the reader is reassured throughout the story that a brighter future for Addie, and children in similar situations, is possible. Addie’s strength and ability to remain optimistic is a tribute to human resiliency.

Addie is 12 years old going on 60 – she’s been coping with really tough stuff her entire life. Her father died when she was only 3. Her stepfather show more and mother’s divorce separates her from 2 baby half-sisters and a stepfather who provided love and security. Her mother has a nasty habit of disappearing for days at a time, leaving Addie to fend for herself with little or no food and money. Addie’s mother is unpredictable when she is home—sometimes fun and loving, but more often than not she ignores Addie to chat online or watch TV. And to top it all off, Addie has dyslexia and struggles with reading and writing.

But in spite of all this, Addie looks on the bright side of things as she struggles to survive while she’s “waiting for normal.” She creates a cozy environment in her corner of the trailer. She makes friends with neighbors and schoolmates. Because of her dyslexia, she struggles with reading and writing, but refuses to give up. She memorizes flute parts (because she can’t read music) so she can be part of the school orchestra. She is devoted to her family. She never tells anyone that her mother abandons her for days.

Addie’s steadfast and immense optimism is almost unbelievable given the harsh realities she constantly faces. But to adolescents (and even young-at-heart adults), this characteristic of Addie’s serves as a powerful reinforcement and reminder that though we cannot always control what others do to us, we do have control of our response to what is done to us. So, never lose hope for happiness, know that negative situations can be overcome, and as tough as the journey gets, a positive attitude and optimistic outlook can become the key to positive change. show less

How my heart cried out for this little girl. I got so involved with all the characters even Piccolo. The ending couldn't have been done better. More juvie than young adult but a really good book. I sat down to read it and a couple hours later was done. Not quite a 5 star read, but was well worth the time invested and I highly recommend it.

Children's fiction / realistic fiction; ages 10-14. A moving story about 12-year-old Addie's attempts to make the best of her new living situation as she and her dysfunctional mom (she reminds me a lot of the mother in Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle) move into a trailer following a divorce. Addie makes friends quickly with the kids at school as well as with her neighbors at the the gas station/convenience store across the street--Soula, a woman fighting a losing battle with cancer, and Elliot, the man that helps Soula manage the store (and also happens to be gay). Though it wouldn't seem likely for Addie's mother to get a happy ending, the story closes on a hopeful note, with Addie eventually being adopted by her stepfather and taken show more back to live with her half-sisters in the lovely country home they've created with the stepdad's fiancee, and the mother receiving "parenting lessons" from the state (she's pregnant again, and apparently the father-to-be is willing to stick with her despite being lied to, etc.).

During the story Addie reaches several epiphanies, coming to terms with her dyslexia, her notion of heroism (Soula, who in the end had to call social services, takes a big role here) and normalcy (which Addie defines as having enough stability in her home so that she doesn't have to wonder if her mother will be around this week or whether she'll have enough food left in the cupboards to feed herself). show less

Summary: This book is about an amazing tough young girl whos mother is mentally ill. The girl wants to be with her stepfather after him and mom got divorced, but mom has custody. The book climaxes with mom abandoning the daughter for 6 days and losing custody. She ends up being adopted by her stepdad.
Opinion: I LOVED it! As a child of divorce and a child of a bipolar parent, I could really relate. This book is a great window for kids who haven’t experiences family strife and a great mirror for kids who have. I recommend this book for every kid and adult who works with kids honestly.