DELIVER US FROM NORMAL
by Kate Klise
Scholastic Press
ISBN: 0439523222
Ages 10-14
256 pages

Sixth-grader Charles Harrisong feels like his family is the only abnormal one in the town of Normal, Illinois. He keeps a list of things that humiliate him. This list includes his family's unusual last name, his father's rattletrap truck, their mustard yellow brick house with spooky bushes in front, his Bargain Bonanza brand clothes, his embarrassingly curly hair, and the quirky personality traits of his four other siblings. Each night Charles says the same prayer: "God, please let us be a normal family. Let us get a normal car. Let us live in a normal house and do normal things and not always be so embarrassing and different and loud."

Charles believes he has another abnormality. He possesses a secret gift that allows him to see and hear things ("words, messages, hidden meanings") without his eyes and ears. It is through Charles's keen observations that readers of DELIVER US FROM NORMAL get to discover his humiliating, and often humorous, world.

What Charles doesn't realize is that he is about to lose the normality of his daily routine. After a cruel prank relating to his sister's decision to run for 7th grade class president, the Harrisong family moves away from Normal in the middle of the night. They drive to Alabama, sell everything they own, and buy a dingy houseboat in a desperate attempt to make a new home.

Despite Charles's "secret gift" of uncovering the meaning and motives behind the actions of other characters in the book, DELIVER US FROM NORMAL ends with a number of unanswered questions. Why did the family take such drastic measures in response to a school prank? What will happen to the Harrisong family now that they've found a new home? How will the family make money? Where will the kids go to school?

Limited to Charles's knowledge and viewpoint we will never know. These questions, while disturbing, do not detract from what is otherwise an entertaining and insightful book. DELIVER US FROM NORMAL presents an unusual portrait of a fiercely loving family's struggle with poverty, and the impact that struggle makes in a young person's life.

   --- Reviewed by Sarah A. Wood

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