Read Longing for Normal free in the Little Reads app.
Darcy Pattison's Longing for Normal is a tender, bread-scented story for 10 year olds about a boy who just wants everyone to stop being sorry for him.
Eliot's dad, Griff, was the school nurse. He died over the summer, and now Eliot is starting sixth grade in the building where everybody knew him. Grown-ups at the back-to-school party keep hugging him (he's getting very good at wriggling free).
Griff left an idea behind. The Bread Project starts with one jar of sourdough starter that's been in the Winston family for over 150 years. Each week the jars double, until by Thanksgiving there's one for every child in the school to bake with.
Eliot wants it stopped. His dad's idea on every corner feels far too private. But the PTA, the principal and Marj, his almost-adoptive mum, all love it.
Then there's Alli. She's new, she's small for sixth grade and she's in foster care with a teacher Eliot has never once seen smile. She's only there because she overheard the family she'd lived with since first grade say she was meant to stay until they had a baby of their own.
The chapters swap between Eliot and Alli, so you get to be inside both their heads. Alli spells out big words to herself when things get hard. Eliot repeats every bet word for word so his best mate Toby can't argue his way out of it.
It's a sad book at heart, and it doesn't hurry past the sadness. Eliot turns Griff's photo face down because looking at it hurts. Marj cries at night where he can hear. If your reader has lost someone, or lives in a family that's still finding its feet, some of this might feel very close to home. Read those first chapters together if you're not sure.
There's plenty of warmth too. Who could resist a scrawny new girl dunking the principal in a water tank with one lucky throw? He comes up roaring with laughter.
It's set in a Nashville school, so there are dollars, grade numbers and Thanksgiving to get used to.
If Alli is the one your reader can't stop thinking about, The Great Gilly Hopkins is in the library too. Gilly is eleven and heading to her third foster home in three years, and she's decided to make life as hard as possible for everyone she meets.
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