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    Waiting for Normal
    Waiting for Normal
    Waiting for Normal
    Audiobook6 hours

    Waiting for Normal

    Written by Leslie Connor

    Narrated by Angela Jayne Rogers

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Author of the award-winning Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel, Leslie Connor has also won great acclaim for Waiting for Normal. Addie's life has always been all or nothing. And now that Dwight and mommers are divorced, Addie's stuck in a tiny trailer on a Schenectady corner with a mom who's rarely there. Finding friendship at the gas station across the street, Addie clings to the ever- dimming possibility that one day she'll have a normal, happy home. "Connor has created a winning and positive father-figure/daughter relationship."-School Library Journal, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 19, 2008
    ISBN9781436147682
    Author

    Leslie Connor

    Leslie Connor is the author of several award-winning books for children, including two ALA Schneider Family Book Award winners, Waiting for Normal and The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle, which was also selected as a National Book Award finalist. Her other books include All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, Crunch, and The Things You Kiss Goodbye. She lives in the Connecticut woods with her family and three rescue dogs. You can visit her online at www.leslieconnor.com.

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    Reviews for Waiting for Normal

    4/5

    311 ratings34 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this story, but the recording was very frustrating! It would skip big chunks of the story. Please fix this! I feel like I’ve missed major pieces in the story.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Addie is a 12-year-old girl with some very big problems. Her father died when she was only three. Her mother remarried and had two more children with her husband Dwight. When Dwight and Mommers divorced Addie became more of a caregiver to her little sisters than her mother did. When Dwight found out he wanted to take all three children, but Mommers wouldn't let Addie go. Now Addie and Mommers were living in a trailer. Dwight and the children came to visit when they could, but they weren't a family anymore. Addie finds friendship with the people who own and run the gas station next door. She goes to her new school and finds success in her flute playing. Addie is dyslexic and does not feel smart of successful at school, but she is personable and she makes friends. As time goes on Mommers stays away from home more and more leaving Addie by herself. It is implied that she is bipolar, but his is not spelled out in great detail. Addie goes to visit Dwight and her sisters, but she feels that that life is a fake for her and she will never have that family back again. With the help of some good people, Addie finds her way out.There are many themes in this book. Divorce, abandonment, learning disabilities, psychological disorders, cancer, and family structure. While I like the writing of the book, and the characters are endearing, there is too much going on at once. I would have preferred to see one or two issues looked at more closely.
    • 4/5
      Worthy of a few tissues!
    • 5/5
      I seriously loved this book. Addie is an amazing child who survives more "twists and turns" in her life than most and always with an optimism that makes you want to cheer her on.
    • 4/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      I marked this as survival, but it's not a "survival in the wilderness" type of survival, but a "survive my difficult home life" type of survival. This was hard to listen to as an adult, but I'm sure kids won't react to it the same way. I think they'll admire Addy's courage, optimism, and resourcefulness rather than being appalled by how this little girl has slipped through the cracks. Listened to Recorded Books audio edition narrated by Angela Rogers. Rogers did an excellent job with everything except the two little stepsisters and I couldn't tell if what annoyed me there was the way Connor wrote them or just the voices Rogers gave them; little kids are so hard to do well on audio. The voice for Addy was excellent and all the adults were easily distinct and personality appropriate.
    • 4/5
      MSBA Nominee 2009-2010

      I listened to the audio version of this book, and I really enjoyed it.

      Addie's mom is the all or nothing type. Sometimes she's there making fiesta meals. Sometimes she's gone for days at a time. When will Addie's life ever be normal?
    • 5/5
      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 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
    • 3/5
      Addie's life has never been normal - her mom is sometimes there, sometimes not and when Addie's mom gets divorced and Addie and her mom move into a trailer underneath an overpass, Addie goes back to the routine of taking care of herself. Though she knows she can do it, and has done it before, Addie wonders when she will have a normal home life with a mom who actually comes home. I liked the overall message of optimisim, but had a difficult time with the fact that she didn't actually take care of herself - she knew that her mom being gone was wrong (she lied about it) but she didn't do anything to change her situation. For her life to get better, someone else had to step in and it was almost too late. I was unsure of the message it sent that someone else will help, so you don't have to help yourself.
    • 5/5
      I've never read a book that moved me so much. Certain portions of the text reminded me of moments in my childhood. It was so refreshing to read a book that I felt I heard my own voice in. Other stories I've read have had similar conflicts but they seem so cleaned up, but not this book. This book shows the problems and explains why children will cover for their parents. While I wish Addie would have said something or someone would have reported it sooner it doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes parents like Mammers make mistakes after mistakes until finally they really mess up. Sadly that moment came when the trailer caught on fire. I was so happy that the book ended with her in the home of Dwight and not with a reformed Mammers. I think a lot of children would relate to this story because we all have some aspect in our lives that we wish was a little more normal. I'm glad Addie found her normal with the strong male role model in her life.
    • 5/5
      The author did a really good taking you into the place of the main character. It makes you really appreciate what you have.
    • 5/5
      A young virbrant, optimistic girl by the name of Addie struggles with dyslexia. Her mother suffers with bipolar disorder and Addie is forced to take care of her self when her mother takes off for three long days. This book will take you into an interesting place.
    • 4/5
      This was a great book! I loved the main character and how she coped with her mother's illness. The characters who gave Addie support were really well-developed. Lots of students can relate to how she had to look out for herself given her difficult situation at home. I really appreciated a step-dad who was there for her and not a literary stereotypical creep.
    • 4/5
      Twelve year old, Addy love with Mommers in a trailer in Schenectady and plays the flute. She is adapting to a new neighborhood and family situation after Mommers is divorced by Dwight (Addy's stepdad) and she is seperated from her two younger stepsisiters-"the littles." Addy tries to make the best of a bad situation becomes friends with Soula and makes the gas station her second home. Lots of good messages in this book a little girl with a big big heart! Listened to this book .
    • 4/5
      A more positive and optimistic heroine I can't recall. Addie lives with her mom in a trailer on a bleak corner practically under a train bridge. Her ex-step-dad set them up there. He's a good guy but off doing a construction job. He has custody of Addie's two young step-sisters as the mom has a tendency to leave the kids for days at a time. (to be continued)
    • 4/5
      While dealing with very sad facts of life, this book manages to be funny and inspiring and even hopeful. Addie/Cookie is a character that I will remember for a long tme, her strength of character was nothing short of amazing. There are many life lessons in this short book. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys watching the underdog triumph!
    • 4/5
      Addie's voice resonates in my head. Each character is drawn multidimensionally. I raced through to find out if life ever becomes normal.
    • 4/5
      Also a sad one but with a great resolution. We listened to this in the car to back-up the girls' summer reading.
    • 4/5
      Grade: 5-7Genre: Realistic FictionThemes: Diversity, poverty, coming of age, mental illness, familyAddie lives with her mom who is very unstable and often missing. The live in a small trailer in the middle of the city. Addie makes friends with people who run the mini-mart up the street. They are the closest thing that she has to a real family since her step father moves away and takes the littles with him (her stepsisters). This book is a sad tribute to too many families in today's society. Addies perserverence is uplifting throughout the book. Throughout the book, Addies comes to terms with her mother's behavior as well as realizing that she has to stop taking care of her mother and just be a kid. This book would be appropriate for 5th graders but I think middle school is where it should be in the library. You could use it in middle school to teach diversity because of so many of the different characters in this book.
    • 4/5
      This story of a sixth grade girl trapped in an unstable family situation and waiting for a normal life, this book is simple and sweet. Addie is a spunky optimist who tries to make the best of her situation even while living in a tiny trailer with a mom who swings from focused and enthusiastic to outright neglectful. I enjoyed reading about Addie's day to day life and her developing friendships with the neighbors, and I could identify with her plight, having had many students whose lives are strikingly similar, except for the fact that Addie is lucky enough to have so many helpful adult advocates in her life. At times the solutions were perhaps a little too simplistic and "cute", but I think younger readers would appreciate the hopeful ending.
    • 5/5
      Addie is one of those characters you just never forget.....I recommend this book strongly to girls who have families with strained relationships.
    • 4/5
      Addie is remarkably resilient in the face of an up and down mother who frequently doesn't come home. She longs for a normal life and a family on which she can rely. Rich characterization, short chapters, and interesting subplots help drive this touching story. Although reading novels with such bad parenting always ticks me off - plus the mom ends up pregnant AGAIN after failing spectacularly with her first three kids!
    • 3/5
      This book was a little too cutesy for my tastes. It was a very easy read and unchallenging, even for a children's book. The plot wasn't particularly original or interesting either. My biggest problem was the narrator. She just seemed to naive for a girl of 12. Calling her mother "Mommers" and her grandfather "Grandio", and just being pretty darn ignorant overall made her seem like she was 10 years old. I just didn't find it believable.
    • 5/5
      This is a great book I see why it won awards!Addie is a young girl hoping for a normal life,but with a a mother (mommers) who is an all or nothing type of person normal isn't likely to happen.This book shows that heroes are everyday people who care about each other.The characters in this book are compelling and real.Addie is the true hero in this book though through it all she keeps a positive attitude even when left alone for days on end.I highly recommend this book!!!!
    • 5/5
      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 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.
    • 3/5
      The main character is exremely likeable, but her mother's neglect begins to become tiresome by the end of the book.
    • 3/5
      A 12yr old girl struggles to live a normal life with a mother that is unable to care for her. Kids living in this type of situation will relate with her desire to protect her mother and hide her crazy home life.
    • 4/5
      Twelve year old Addie's parents' recent separation has split not only her father-in-law and mother, but Addie from her step-siblings. A driving force between the break-up is likely whatever mental illness drives her mother to spend all her waking hours on the Internet looking for "business opportunities". Dwight, the step-father, has without obligation sprung for a yellow trailer in the city in which mother and daughter will live, and sends monthly checks that usually catch flight once they're in "Mommers'" hands. At a service station across the street friom the trailer, Addie befriends Soula and Elliot. Soula is in chemo, and Elliot dates the owner of a local restaurant. When her mother's business opportunity finally arrives, Addie is often left home alone for days on end. She even resorts to packing empty cereal boxes with thumbtacks to cover when her grandfather comes over to check up on her. She has managed to mature beyond her years, but maturation isn't enough to avoid a terrible accident that will eventually alter her and her family's way of life.I really enjoyed Waiting for Normal. Addie's strong character really appealed to me, and the heartiness of Soula and Elliot was also endearing.
    • 4/5
      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, 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.
    • 4/5
      Twelve-year-old Addie's world disintegrates when her mother and step-father divorce. Addie and her mother move into a trailer in Schenectady, NY. Addie faces her mother's erratic and negligent behavior with optimism, hoping that one day her life will be more "normal."