tenmilespastnormal

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Ten Miles Past Normal

Frances O'Roark Dowell

Dowell, Frances. Ten Miles Past Normal. Simon and Schuster, Inc. New York. 2011.

Ten Miles Past Normal is a great book about a girl named Bailey who discovers her real talent, but can’t find a way to get out of her parents farm to pursue her dreams. Ten Miles Past Normal was nominated 2012 Capitol Choices Noteworthy Books for Children. Frances O’Roark Dowell was the winner of the 2001 Edgar Awards.

Ten Miles Past Normal starts out when a mysterious package arrives at Bailey’s front door. Labeled on it was her name and address. She took it in and opened it, when she looked inside there was a big guitar case with an old looking guitar in it. There was also a Hallmark card that said “Happy Birthday” on it. Her birthday wasn’t until the next day but she suspected that it arrived early. She looked for any sign of who it was from but she couldn’t find anything.

It had been a few months since Bailey got the guitar for her 15th birthday but she hadn’t touched it since. One day, she picked it up and started playing she had no idea how to play a guitar but it came effortlessly to her soon enough she practiced playing it everyday, and once in awhile she took the bus to the city and played it there to earn some money.

Even though playing guitar was her new hobby and talent, her parents highly disapproved of it. All they wanted her to do was work and work on their farm. Everyday, she had to milk the cows and clean all the animal barns. She had talked to her parents about moving into the city and possibly getting discovered to become a musical sensation, but they said that she could do that after her education. They preferred her staying on their family farm that had been passed down from generation to generation.

A few weeks later, she received a letter in the mail from her Aunt Sally of whom she’d never heard. The letter said that her aunt lived only ten miles from the family farm and would like to meet her. Bailey showed her parents the letter and no matter how much they wanted her to stay and take over the farm, they finally agreed to let her live with her aunt. In the city she would get proper school education and the chance to show the world her talent.

Frances Dowell did a great job writing this book, every word of it pulls you even more into the story. Ten Miles Past Normal was named ALA’s YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults List. This is Dowell’s best book compared to her other ones, such as; The Kind of Friends We Used to Be.

Contributed by H. Gebremariam

4 out of 5 stars

November 9, 2012