[Helen Posts: 224 Status: Offline WWW]

I usually keep a file of all the books that I have read, but for some reason I did not place this book in the list. I don't know the title, but the front cover has a trailer house on it. (Yeah, Helen, that's big help.)
The story is written in first person. The MC is a young girl who has been uprooted again by her mentally unstable mother, and they have moved into a shabby, dilapidated mobile home somewhere in New York.
The girl is very good at taking care of herself by necessity. She makes friends with the town locals who are unique and kind.  Her mother frequently leaves her alone, and the girl fears being taking away. She thinks of herself as stupid but she isn't. She yearns for the life she had with her stepfather who was a stable fixture in her life until her mother's instability forced him away. 
Ring any bells?

[Helen Posts: 224 Status: Offline WWW]

I answered myself....I went through the local public library's checkout records. God bless them!  It's called Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor. I am so relieved.

[Dianna Winget Posts: 335 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Glad you solved your own mystery. I hate it when a title escapes me like that. 

[Helen Posts: 224 Status: Offline WWW]

It is bothersome since it had morphed into a 'brain book-worm' that would not let go of me. I needed the title for a class. (Helen wipes sweat from her brow.)

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Online]

Dang, this is the first Name That Title question that I've actually known the answer to - but you answered it yourself. 

Glad your mystery is solved.

Laurel

[KatyD Posts: 844 Status: Offline www.katyduffield.com WWW]

I actually had the answer to your question. :-) I loved that book.

[mrh Posts: 4,414 Status: Offline www.marciahoehne.com WWW]

I also don't necessarily do so well on Name That Title, but I knew what you meant right away.

Which means Waiting for Normal has left quite the impression on many of us.

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Online]

Yes, I read Waiting for Normal and A Crooked Kind of Perfect back to back. It was a good week.

[Bobi Martin Posts: 224 Status: Offline Writers open the world to readers. WWW]

Kudos, Helen, for figuring out a way to get your own answer! But I'm glad you posted the question too! I hadn't heard of "Waiting for Normal" so it is now on my TBR list!

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Online]

I remember when Waiting for Normal came out. Several reviewers hated the cover. They said it was nondescript and that it wouldn't make an impression on anyone.

I think they may have been wrong. 

[Leandra Posts: 59 Status: Offline I love kids' books! WWW]

Now, I'm curious- I'm gonna go hunt this book up on Goodreads!

[mmenzin]

And what a great title--'Waiting for Normal'! 

[TH Posts: 220 Status: Offline]

It must be a Simon & Schuster imprint because I have it on my desk at work to analyze...and it is taking back seat to summer reading lists but now I'll have to spirit it away and home so I can read it. Sounds very much like something I'm working on....hopefully not TOO much like.

Glad you found your title!

[Helen Posts: 224 Status: Offline WWW]

When I researched Waiting for Normal on Amazon, it is being sold with two different covers. I prefer the mobile home cover.

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Online]

I'm on my way over to Amazon to check out the other cover.

[Liz Straw Posts: 981 Status: Offline That was a yummy book!]

This book must have made a huge impression on many of us, as soon as you said trailer and started with the rest of the description, I was going - oo, oo, oo.  Like a kid in a classroom.

I prefer the trailer cover to the one where she is on the swing also.

Glad you could answer your own question!

One of those times when you walk into the next room and can't figure out why your are there!   

[Pons Posts: 2,494 Status: Online]

I prefer the original blue cover, too.