Halfway Normal

Barbara Dee
2024-11-20T06:44:55-08:00

Middle school is hard enough, but how do you adjust when they've missed two years due to an awful illness. Norah Levy will tell you. She just completed treatment for leukemia and is ready to start a "normal" life as she heads into seventh grade. However, no one can quite define her normal. She has parents who are overprotective, but for different, understandable reasons. She has friends, but the relationships feel strained. She hates getting pity or having certain treatments just because of her illness. And please, just call it cancer - don't tiptoe around the subject! She has to deal with people making fun of or mistaking her identity based on her new appearance. Plus how can she possibly explain to a new, cute student about her experience when she just wants to move on. It was easy to get lost in her struggles and sympathize with the challenges that she was facing. There are many books that focus on sick children, but I love that this one told the other half of the story. How hard it is to step back into your old life and pick up on relationships and experiences that were halted once your world was flipped upside down. I love Norah. She has a great voice and I definitely felt her many frustrations. I absolutely love her doodling and all of the mythology that was woven into the story. The author was inspired to share this story after her son faced his own cancer battle. You can tell that her writing drew from personal experiences and felt very real. I loved this book, and I give it 5 stars.