Seldom do I step out of my comfort zone and select a random book (which I know absolutely nothing about, apart from reading the summary at the back) to buy. Something even more odd for me to do is actually take it off the shelves of my bookcase and read it. But, combine Middle Georgia's Friends of the Library Book Fair (where every book averages around 50¢) and a girl with the gems of her book stash in another state, and you get this highly unusual behavior.
However, I am actually glad I did this, because I was reminded that dystopian fiction was not the only genre (no, I am not coming down with something). This book that I picked off of my shelf is what is called (according to my brother's lit teacher) "Realistic Fiction". You can find a few good stories, but there isn't much to work with while staying within the boundaries of reality. There are many books in my collection that fit into this category: Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson, Schooled by Gordon Korman, Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen, and this new read, Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell.
Ten Miles Past Normal is a story of a farm girl, Janie, who knows she's anything but normal. Her best friend since the summer before first grade, Sarah, is the only friend she has starting out high school. Little does she know, she will encounter everything from civil rights heroes and jam bands to hootenannies and a boy named Monster. All things that will make her realize that normal is simply overrated.
I was able to relate to this book more than I thought I would. I have started to make it a point to snap pictures of passages in books that make me laugh out loud or just make me stop and think. There is a particular passage in this book that made me think of my friend and our conversations about guys. You can see it at the bottom of this post. Ten Miles Past Normal is definitely being added to the recommended batch of realistic fiction.
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