A 2013 Beehive Book Awards Nominee (Young Adult Fiction)
Written by Frances O’Roark Dowell
When Janie was nine, she thought it would be wonderful to live on a farm, actually the result of a field trip. Now she is fourteen, lives on a farm, and hates it. All she wants to do is be normal like all the other kids in school. So how does she get back to normal? She’s willing to try anything, including being in a jam band with someone name Monster who is willing to teach her how to play bass. Then feeding the goats before school leaves her with some less than wonderful smells, especially when she accidentally steps in some goat poop. How far away can normal be? Her mother doesn’t help any when she announces she is holding a hootenanny for everyone. The book is quite a romp as Angie ends up being called “Skunk Girl,” being arrested and finally finding her own “normal.”
Review by Fay Mason, Churchill Jr. High Media Center
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 5-9
Ten Miles Past Normal
Written by Frances O’Roark Dowell
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
211 pages
Release Date: May 22, 2012 (paperback reprint); March 22, 2011 (original)
ISBN: 9781416995852 (hardcover); 9781416995869 (paperback)
