The Normal Kid (Exceptional Reading & Language Arts Titles for Intermediate Grades) - Hardcover

Holmes, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 076138085X ISBN 13: 9780761380856

Publisher: Carolrhoda Books ®, 2012

Synopsis

Sylvan has been angry ever since his parents split up. And now that an embarrassing photo has appeared in the paper, he's stuck with a lame nickname too. Charity is back in the United States after several years in Africa. And she's learning that home can be a strange place when you've been away for a while. Neither of them knows what's up with Brian. He spends whole afternoons alone on his trampoline. From the first day of school, Sylvan knows he doesn't want to hang out with weirdoes like Charity or Brian. He'd rather just be a normal kid. But when the principal gets ready to fire their favorite teacher, Sylvan, Charity, and Brian have to find a way to work together.

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Holmes grew up in Tennessee and after finishing college worked for a year as a teacher in Kenya. She published two books of poetry for adults before turning to writing for children. The Normal Kid is her third middle-grades novel; the first two are Pretty Is and Tracktown Summer. She lives in Ithaca, New York, with her husband, two sons, and three cats.

Reviews

Gr 4-6-On the first day of fifth grade, two new kids walk into Sylvan's class and he thinks that they are both weird. Charity, having just returned from several years in Kenya, earns the nickname Preacher Girl for her religious upbringing and odd questions. Brian, known as the Trampoline Kid, behaves strangely, often making loud noises and constantly fidgeting. Sylvan, who beat up a fellow classmate last term, wants nothing more than to be considered normal. His mother, a social activist, doesn't make it easy for him, making him join her causes and picket lines. Then he's forced to socialize with Charity when their mothers become friends, and his teacher, Mr. In, pairs him with Brian for a social-studies class project. Intrigued by Charity's vibrant and complex past and youthful enough to want to join Brian on his trampoline, Sylvan empathizes and matures alongside these two different but good classmates. When the children think that their beloved teacher's position is in jeopardy, they bring their classmates together in an effort to save it. Sylvan and Charity take turns narrating, and readers will understand and relate to the social pressure they struggle to navigate and their desire to fit in.-Nicole Politi, The Ocean County Library, Lavallette, NJα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Fifth-grader Sylvan is a self-described normal kid, while his classmate Charity has just arrived at school after five years of living in Kenya, where her parents were missionaries. Also new at school is a boy who exhibits Asperger’s symptoms, which inhibit his interpersonal interactions. Told in the voices of Sylvan and Charity, this novel offers a well-balanced look at two kids who are realizing how events affect individuals—and how they themselves are affected deeply by events they want to ignore. Without ever feeling overstretched, the story packs in a lot about what it’s like to have an activist mom or an embittered former-preacher dad; how an excellent teacher can still lose students; and the dramatic impact that’s possible when a bunch of 10-year-olds put the group’s interests ahead of their own personal concerns. Fans of school stories by Gary Schmidt or Jerry Spinelli will find this engaging as well as thought provoking. Grades 5-7. --Francisca Goldsmith

Edition details

• Publisher: Carolrhoda Books ®
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 076138085X
• ISBN 13: 9780761380856
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 248