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There are five towns in the U.S. named " Normal" and seventeen-year-old Gemma Leonardo plans on visiting every one of them.
Right after she escapes Children' s Hospital in Harrisburg, where she' s being treated for anorexia. Enter Lucas Polizzi, a high school wrestler with bulimia and, more importantly to Gemma, a getaway car. Sick of being told they' re sick, Gemma and Lucas team up for a themed road trip to " the Normals" on one condition— they can' t mention food, ever. But as each passing mile puts their lives at greater risk, they soon realize it is their growing love and friendship, not a place on a map, that will put them on the path to recovery.
"Doktorski (How My Summer Went Up in Flames) balances humorous banter with teenage hijinks and heartfelt conversations to deliver a propulsive road-trip novel that showcases white-cued characters refusing to be defined by their hardships forging new paths forward. Resources conclude." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Faris' writing is smooth, but she stays at the surface level...These floodwaters don't run very deep." —Kirkus Reviews
This information about Finding Normal was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jen Doktorski is the winner of the Acheven Book Prize for Finding Normal. She is the author of four other young adult novels including Famous Last Words (Holt), a Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the Year and The Summer After You & Me (Sourcebooks), a YALSA Teens' Top Ten nominee.
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