Holmes, Elizabeth. The Normal Kid. Carolroda
Books see Lerner 241p $17.95 978-0-7613-8085-6 2012 elm/ms VG-BNe Realistic fiction
Three
children try to find their niches at home and at school. Each one experiences a new life
journey: Charity’s family has returned from doing missionary work in Africa,
Sylvan is facing the divorce of his parents, and Brian experiences life in an inclusive setting. In Kenya, Charity’s father loses faith when his helper falls off the
church roof while putting up a spire.
The
family returns to America to start over again. Sylvan is the son of a man who wants some
normalcy in his marriage and his life,
and Sylvan’s mother is a woman who fights for every cause imaginable. When Sylvan gets caught, literally, up a tree
helping with one of her causes, his classmates bully him by calling him “Tree
Boy”.
Brian is a boy with developmental delays who is brilliant in math and exhibits
the characteristics of Asperger’s syndrome, spending his free time jumping on a
trampoline. Although they sound like examples of children who may be a part of a typical school community, their problems become
real to young
readers, who will enjoy exploring the conflicts that author Elizabeth
Holmes has penned to make her characters relevant. The subplot involves saving their teacher’s job when it is
threatened, and with a
mother who has taught him to fight for worthwhile causes, Sylvan is a natural choice to lead the others.
Of course, the compassionate Charity is on board as well! The theme, of children who are unique not needing try so hard to “fit in” because everyone has something to offer, is not a new one,
but the way that Holmes lays out her plot puts a new twist on it! What
the reader will enjoy the most is that the story does not end all hunky-dory;
instead, both Charity’s father and Brian continue to face their challenges.
Coming
of age stories --Martha
Squaresky
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