Waiting for Normal

The IHS Book Club has been working its way through the Iowa Teen Award Nominees this year and we just finished Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor.

It's one of my favorite books from the list this year because it takes the notion of a "normal" mother-daughter relationship and tips it on its head. The mother acts like the child forcing the child to be the mother.

Addie and her mother (called "Mommers") are living in a trailer by the railroad tracks while her two younger sisters live with Addie's stepfather Dwight. Although Mommers has lost custody of her two younger children to Dwight, she still has Addie because Dwight is not Addie's father. However, it's pretty clear that Mommers can't be trusted to care for a hamster, let alone a child.

Addie is left home alone for days, where she learns to fend for herself and navigate the complexities of middle school alone. In addition to her own problems, she worries about her mother: the money she wastes, her new so-called job that comes with boxes of office supplies but never pays the bills, and her relationship with her new boss, Pete.

Her mother's all-or-nothing approach to life -- extreme happiness one day, vicious temper tantrums the next - grow old and Addie finds herself tired of always waiting for a normal life. Addie's attempts to bring normalcy to her life just make things worse until what seems like a tragedy finally brings what Addie's wanted all along.