62. Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor

I really have mixed feelings about this book. This is basically a year in the life of a 12 year old girl who definitely has lots of twists and turns in her life. She lives alone with her mother, who is definitely neglectful, and is separated from her stepfather, who she thinks of as her father, and her 2 half-sisters. They visit periodically but not enough to maintain any normality. She pretty much takes care of herself. Fortunately, some nice people who run the gas station across the street from her trailer take her in and watch out for her. The book is really well written. It is lyrical and engaging. The characters are full and memorable. The story made me think and laugh and cry, the sign of a thoughtful book. My problem with the book is that it is marketed as a children's book and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. I definitely think it is not for ages 9 and under. The first time I read this book was with Kate in a mother-daughter book club. At the time she was just barely 9 years old and I felt like I really needed to sit Kate down and talk about a few things in the book (specifically when the girl got her first period). And I think the mother's neglect probably bothers me as a mother more than it did my daughter. It made me really look at myself and ask if I do some of the things this mother does (not the criminal ones but more minor things). The story has a happy ending but I just don't know. I guess I enjoyed it as an adult and would recommend it to my friends, but I'm not sure I want my kids reading it until they are older. I'm not really into censorship in general, so I don't think I would forbid it, but I would and did talk to them about it. We're using it for our book club selection this month so I guess I'll see how others feel about it.