Deliver Us from Normal by Kate Klise

Things are not normal enough in Normal, Illinois, at least not for Charles Harrisong. Charles is 11 years old, just starting junior high, and he worries constantly about how abnormal his large family is. They are all embarrassing (not only because they are poor), but he seems to be the only one who minds. He copes by making lists; he hopes to someday be able to remove them from the top of his "Most Embarrassing Things in Life" list. He is also still trying to live down his overly emotional reaction when he read The Yearling at school the year before. His older sister Clara decides to run for 7th grade class president, and her campaign is interrupted by an incident so nasty that her parents decide to leave Normal in the middle of the night to start a new life on a boat they bought sight unseen in Alabama. Of course, the boat turns out to be a wreck, but since they gave up everything to buy it they are stuck with it. This book is funny and sad, my favorite combination. Review by Stacy Church