Ten Miles Past Normal
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From bestselling author Frances O’Roark Dowell, a “funny and winning” (Kirkus Reviews) tale of one teen’s quest for normalcy—and the much more exciting detours she takes along the way.
Janie Gorman is smart and creative and a little bit funky…but what she really wants to be is normal. Because living on an isolated farm with her modern-hippy parents is decidedly not normal, no matter how delicious the goat cheese. High school gives Janie the chance to prove to her suburban peers that she’s just like them, but before long she realizes normal is completely overrated, and pretty dull.
If she’s going to learn how to live large (and forget the haters), Janie will have to give up the quest and make room in her life for things from the fringe—like jam band, righteous chocolate, small acts of great bravery, and a boy named Monster.
Ten Miles Past Normal is a quirky road map for life—and also a reminder that detours are not about missing out, but about finding a new way home.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Making a confident move from middle-grade into YA, Dowell (Falling In) introduces readers to high school freshman Janie Gorman, a perky cool kid turned outcast. She encouraged her parents to move to a farm in North Carolina five years ago, but she now resents the change because her smelly farm chores, funky fashion sense, and her neo-hippie mother's blog keep her from fitting in ("hen I suggested we'd all be happier on a farm raising goats and baking bread, well, I'd meant it, but I didn't expect to be taken seriously"). Her friendship with her pushy best friend Sarah is feeling rocky, and as Janie slowly makes inroads with Verbena, a Sharpie-tattooed fellow outsider, and a musician named Monster, who unlocks her previously unknown musical talent, she begins to realize that coolness comes in many forms, and that being a wallflower isn't her style after all. "I'm the cute chick with the bass," she thinks. "Now that's a reputation I can live with." Janie's narration is sarcastic, contemplative, and sweet, which keeps this offbeat portrait of a tender age light yet believable. Ages 12 up.
