Howl at the moments of power and sing about the good things in your life!

Have you seen anything lately that made you proud to be a girl or is there anything that you’ve seen that has made life better for girls? Maybe it’s a commercial that broke the stereotypes of what it means to be a woman. Maybe it’s a female construction worker. New Moon would love to hear these stories! Write to us and tell us what you saw to girl@newmoon.org.

Howl at the moments of power and sing about the good things in your life!

Writers' Guild Strike

Have you heard about the Writers' Guild strike? Maddi, 14, has something to say about this hot topic in the news. She explains the situation so well that I thought I would just pass it along in her words:

As most girls probably know, the Writers' Guild has gone on strike for better pay. The Guild is a labor union for the people who write the scripts for almost every TV show on the air. These writers are paid very little. There are a lot of misconceptions about unions and strikes. Certain corporate leaders will tell you that unions are Communist and anti-American, or that workers who join them or go on strike (going on strike means refusing to work until your demands are met) are lazy and greedy. As the daughter of two union supporters, I can tell you this is not true. Unions are sometimes rooted in socialism, but they are not communist. Unions are just groups of workers who band together to keep bosses from treating any member unfairly. And workers usually go on strike because they aren't paid enough or are made to work in unsafe conditions. With all this in mind, I make this plea to all New Moon readers: Try to either cut back on the time you spend watching TV, or better yet stop watching TV completely while the strike is going on. Kids and teens watch a lot of TV in general, and if we were to all cut back the TV corporations would lose a lot of money, and would negotiate more quickly with the Guild. You can still watch shows online and movies are fine, too. But as fellow writers, I ask you to show your solidarity and TURN IT OFF!

Thanks for sharing, Maddi!

Readers, what do you think? Have you been following the strike? Do you have something to say?

Your trusty guide, Bissy (Elizabeth!)

Hugging ban enforced

By now, most of you have probably heard of the 12 and 13-year-old girls who got detention for hugging their friends. The hugs apparently broke a rule against "public displays of affection" that the school had.

Here at New Moon, we've been talking about this piece of news a lot. Julia Barenboim, New Moon's Assistant Online Editor, says, "We already live in such a cold, material-based society, and now we are discouraging positive relationships in children even more. And we wonder why teens [can be] so harsh and emotionally unresponsive? Adults frequently blame this on technology, but it sure seems the picture is a lot more 3-D than that. I also thought it was interesting that they made a huge point to say they weren't 'full frontal' hugs - um, there's really nothing wrong with that either . . . can't school officials tell the difference between something sexually inappropriate and two friends connecting?"

I wondered the same thing. While I understand the school's need -- and responsibility -- to watch out for sexual harrassment, banning hugs seems like a lazy way of ignoring the real problem, which is consent or lack of it. It's pretty easy to tell by looking whether a hug is welcome or not -- when you see by someone's body language that she's clearly not welcoming the hug, that's the time to step in.

These schools say they're trying to prevent sexual harrassment or distracting romantic scenes in the school hallways. But both girls who got detention insist that they didn't do anything wrong. Although I understand where the school's policy is coming from, I have to say I agree with the girls on this one.

But I'm interested in hearing what you have to say. Have you heard about the punished huggers? Does your school have "no hugging" rules? Do you hug your friends? Do you think the rules are fair, or over the top? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!

Generation Nature

For me, the call came from within. It said (in the voice of my neck, which is quite insistent and reasonable), "I need some time off here." I was standing in the hallway of my college apartment. I knew the call meant what it said. My mother's kindness and eye for the truth echoed it. She repeatedly insisted, "Are you sure you don't need time off from school?" I had had a neck injury in ninth grade, you see, that was still hurting, in fact worsening, even as I pared down my life, everything revolving around being in as little pain as possible, which was still a lot. So I plunged into college leave, my absolute commitment becoming my health and well-being. It was very hard to step away from the main track--very, very hard. What followed in my life, though, was a miracle of self-discovery and insight into the world. And that is how I would like to introduce the recent media exchange between Thomas Friedman and Courtney Martin.

On October 10, The New York Times published an Op-Ed by Thomas L. Friedman in which he describes his impression of today's generation of twenty-somethings, commonly called "Generation Y," of which I am a part. "Generation Q" he calls us, for quiet: "quietly pursuing their idealism, at home and abroad. But Generation Q may be too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country's own good." He seeks a generation to light a fire under the country with action the way the youth of his day did.

Courtney E. Martin, a member of the addressed generation, had something to say to this. In her October 22 article "Generation Overwhelmed" in The American Prospect online, she describes our generation of twenty-somethings as lost for which cause and what method by with which to change the world when such a magnitude of options surround us. "We are not apathetic. What we are, and perhaps this is what Friedman was picking up on, is totally and completely overwhelmed," she asserts. She explains that with increasing causes to defend and the diminishing effectiveness of potential remedies for each cause, we sit wondering what to do.

My answer for the overwhelm? Nature. It became and is still my answer for each dilemma, for inspiration, for joy. I think Martin is right on the money when she assesses our generation's feeling of being out of control. Nature is what my generation needs, what every generation needs, as it teaches how we are part of a balanced whole, and we have the right to control our own lives. Changing the world means, first and foremost, changing ourselves. I wanted to reform American education, and I wanted to do it right away, fast, at nineteen. Then this pain in my neck, literally, told me to slow on down. I had to reform my American education first. It is the eternal lesson: you have to help yourself before you can help others.

I know "nature" is not an adjective, so my term "Generation Nature" is a squeeze, but I think that, especially for females, nature is the answer to empowerment.

I will continue my story to further explain. "This year is going to be about letting go," I told myself, "about realizing that I have to banish dread from my life, and that I have to quiet down inside with all that fear and just embrace the safety of being a powerful woman here who is in charge of her own life." Suddenly, when I took that bold step away from the mainstream expectations and listened to my heart and body and said that I needed time off, something I had envisioned as impossible, all the impossibilities melted away. My mother and I went away while we were unable to live in our house being renovated, found a magical place in nature, and the whole time did not know that it was the plan. Everything just kept falling into place, whereas before that I had felt like I was lifting great weights to make things work. There were sad parts, like not being able to see my dear younger cousins when I wanted them to know how much I still cared even though I was far way. I knew that if I did not start taking care of myself then, though, I would not be able to be there for them at all in the future. And taking care of my neck, giving it healing time, was a full-time job, though well worth it for the lessons it wrote in my heart. More than my neck needed healing. My sense of direction needed healing, as I felt the pressure to keep up that Martin's article describes.

Nature is often a place pointed to as fearful, wild, unknown. Or as boring. But to girls and women especially, I feel, it is vital, our life source.

I took myself to nature school, walking on sunlit (and sometimes cloudy) trails, sitting in a brook, gazing at the trees outside my window, and once having a bird land on my head when I was in a state of reverie. I took joy like a pill every time I stepped out my door and breathed the air. I studied birds and habitats, taught myself to identify their calls, and once stumbled upon a lake full of geese so large in number, I gasped at the enormity of their collective honks. I am committed to more women experiencing what my mother and I experienced. She transformed as well, both of us paring down more to our essences, and she recovered from chronic illness when she was close to losing the battle. Nature, so often, is portrayed as something to fear. If we are going to save this planet, though, we must push that fear away and say, "Beautiful Mother Earth! What do you have to teach me about how to go out into that world and bring peace?" And then we have to sit awhile and listen.

These are responses I have found. She shows us having limits and reaching for the sky at once with the oak tree's pause in growth in winter yet ultimate achievement of grand stature. The fruit on the tree teaches that abundance and nourishment are meant to be birthrights. The moon teaches patience with its slow cycle and persistence with its glow through the clouds. The eagle teaches soaring and landing. The duck teaches humor with its quack or whistle and solidity with its sheltering of its young. And the black-throated blue warbler? It teaches taking a vacation with flair--the males and females winter separately in the Caribbean! In her book Wild Health: How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What We Can Learn from Them, Cindy Engel says, "One way animals reduce their anxiety levels is through grooming, hugging, and stroking themselves." We are allowed, blessed, meant to give ourselves comfort through these simple yet profound ways.

Nature, taking time for joy in it, restored my soul. I think my generation, especially the female twenty-somethings, is in danger of being lost in pursuit of something they cannot see without sweet nature's guidance. Passion, passion, passion. Balance, balance, balance. Joy, joy, joy. Before I had let myself off the hook for awhile and just said, "Ok, heal, have fun, have a blast, in fact," I never in a million years could have approached change in the world with the same appreciation for what it can be that I can now. Having a blast for me was not getting high, going dance parties or anything of the like. It was sitting on my bed passionately rereading a sewing pattern until I understood the directions enough to make the desired item of clothing. It was absorbing a book on birds to get the answers to my questions. It was silent observation of two swans taking flight from a lake. It was intense, inspired passion about the good that exists in the world. That time off was essential for me, like Shadia Wood of Power Shift described in my interview with her.

Reflection is a necessity for vision of change. Joy, as Courtney Martin said in her New Moon blog interview this summer about her book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, is where the heart is in change for girls. I think this applies to everyone.

First we find joy. Then we find a solution. When we all turn to nature together for the lessons, joy, and inspiration that it can ignite within, we can then unite toward a common goal and heal this planet's ills. See the good, focus on it, and it will expand as more people learn about it and want it to multiply. Share with others how beautiful this place is, and together, we can bring back all that it can be.

Well, I could write a book on this, as you can see. Maybe I will. For now, let me add just a few more words:

I still have to listen to those voices in my body, that one voice of my true self, that gives me cues about my limits, but now I treasure those voices instead of fearing them. They teach me. Like that call from within.

I was quiet during my time away. Not the quiet that Friedman describes, though. The kind of quiet that fills a theater right before the curtain lifts.

Well, readers, I think you are going to have something to say back to this post, and I cannot wait to hear what it is. What is it like for your generation? Do you think the descriptions of Generation Y describe what you go and your peers go through, or is it different? What do you have to say? I want to know. Girls, you are precious, precious visionaries and gifts to the world. Let me know, and I will listen, no matter how different your thinking may be from mine. Just like the birds have so many different tunes but form a symphony together, our voices can join together and find a solution!

Wishing you a breath of fresh air, Bissy (Elizabeth!)

Are You a Girl Filmmaker?

Does New Moon's latest "The Big Screen--Get Plugged In" issue have you itching to make your mark on the cinematic scene? You're in luck! Sony is holding a contest for kids to make their own Public Service Announcements about cyberbullying to spread the message about making the Internet a safe place for everyone. This might be just what you were looking for, girl filmmakers! Lights, camera, action!

Here's the call for entries from Sony:

Cyberbullying is a growing problem among children and teenagers on the Internet. The anonymity and ease of communication the Internet provides can create a vehicle for bullying, harassment and defamation, making the Internet a hostile and dangerous place. Cyberbullying is a problem that you, as a filmmaker, can help address and solve.

Help end cyberbullying by creating a Public Service Announcement on the issue. Sony Creative Software, the National Crime Prevention Council and the Ad Council are seeking entries from independent producers and academic institutions (K - 12). The top submissions may be eligible for national broadcast, and their producer or sponsoring academic institution will receive a complete multimedia editing suite for their facility or school valued at over $18,000. Prize sponsors include Sony Creative Software, Sony Electronics, and Sony VAIO.

Judges to include: Barry Sonnenfeld, director/producer (Men in Black, Addams Family, and others); Steve Oedekerk, producer/writer (Bruce Almighty, Barnyard, and others); Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D., noted authority on social networking and cyberbullying; and members of the Ad Council's Campaign Review Committee.

The call for entries period opened September 11, 2007, and closes January 11, 2008. All entries must be received by January 11, 2008 to be eligible.

Click here for more information, prizes, rules and submission guidelines
<http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/promo.asp?keycode=64063>.

And...cut. Good luck!

You'll be hearing from me, Bissy (Elizabeth!)

New Moon® Wins Two Minnesota Publishing Awards!

New Moon was honored at the Minnesota Magazine and Publications Association Excellence Awards ceremony held November 1, 2007 in Minneapolis, MN! Emma, from the Girls Editorial Board, was at the event to represent New Moon.

Our January/February 2007 “Letter to Congress” issue won a Silver Award for “Best Single Topic Issue,” and the “Go Girl” department won a Bronze Award for “Best Regular Column.”

In the “Letter to Congress” issue, girls from around the nation spoke up about the political issues that affect their lives, addressing everything from animal rights to the war in Iraq.

You can still speak up about political issues that matter to you by visiting the "Letter to Congress" webpage! You can look up your Congress people online, get letter-writing tips, and download special postcards. Then, send your congress people a letter to tell them what's on your mind! The webpage also features interviews with 14 women currently serving in Congress, bonus articles not published in the magazine, results from New Moon’s online political survey of over 1,000 girls and much more!

Also, check out our past "Letter to Congress" posts! There's lots of pictures of our trip to Washington, D.C. and much more!

"Go, Girl!" features a girl activist or adventurer who's on the go for a cause, or just for the fun of it! The article is girl written and features adventures like volunteering in Vietnam, living in China and attending a boarding school, and being the only girl on a football team. If you have an adventure that you want to write about, check out the writers' guidelines and send your story in!

Thank you to readers, staff, the GEB, CAB and girls everywhere for making New Moon such a success!

Turn That Frown Upside Down

Have you ever really wanted to like a song, but there was just a line or two that rubbed you the wrong way? So you sat there frustrated? Or maybe you love the tune of one song out there, but you just don't agree with the lyrics?

This used to happen to me. It used to be that I would listen to some song that really got me going, happy, up, soothed my soul. Then when the lyric part that bugged me or just did not quite sit right with me came along, I would sit in silent protest, growing frustrated and more frustrated each time until I just decided I would give up listening to the song altogether. Here's how I got over my frustration.

I remembered listening to Rogers and Hammerstein when I was eleven, absolutely loving to sing along to "I've Got Rhythm." My friend and I would dance along as we sang it out on the deck, and one day my mom was our audience. As we sang the line, "I've got my man, who could ask for anything more?" my mom's face clouded over. She said, "Do you think there's another way to phrase that? So it's not like a man's completing your life?" And it dawned on me! "Friends--I've got my friends, who could ask for anything more?" I said. And it became our anthem. You could even make it, "I've got myself, who could ask for anything more?" or "I've got my dog, who could ask for anything more!" The options are endless!

So when I was going through my recent song frustration, I flashed on that change in mindset that the change in lyrics had allowed. I was allowed to shift and let myself like a song! Happiness could replace frustration, and all I had to do was shift my thinking and get to be creative in the process. One that I tried and really loved was for "The Water Is Wide." My mom and I had decided to learn some sing-aloud songs together, and this one was on a favorite folk album. "The Water Is Wide" goes, "When love grows old, still it carries on, then sometimes fades, like the morning dew." Well, I just was not keen on this, so I shifted to what I did want out of the feeling of that line. I experimented, and one I liked was, "...still it carries on, and grows stronger with each passing day." Come to think of it, I think I just created that one. I had always found the syllables a challenge there--proof that sometimes you just have to keep working at it until you find the right one for you!

So, enough of my changes, I want to know about your creative solutions for frustration in the musical realm! With so many songs out there, and so much brimming energy from your brilliant minds, I know you have some truly innovative ways to turn around the messages we hear on a daily basis (if you listen to music on a daily basis or just hear it in public). Maybe you go to the grocery store and seem to always hear the same song with a woman pining about a relationship she has lost. Can you turn around the lyrics in your head to make it a song about a woman discovering how strong she is on her own? What about a male singing about his lost female love? Does hearing that song just tick you off? Next time you hear it, what if you experimented, gave a chuckle, and turned that song around into an impassioned ballad about his process of discovery of a the innate power, independence, and capability of all girls and women? How he is thankful that his girlfriend established her boundaries by breaking up because it truly showed him what his relationship patterns had been, and he learned a thing or two about control?

What are your lyrics for change? I want to know, from a single word reversal that makes all the difference to a whole song rewritten to your specifications. Send one, send all (or leave one as a comment), and I will share selections on the blog. Maybe it's not even for a lyric of a song, but a poem or a common nursery rhyme. What's your vision?

When I started to shift our focus from frustration to creativity and excitement about what I wanted to hear, it made a world of difference! Your creativity can change the world, and I mean that. All it takes is a change of tune...or lyrics!

Oodles of creative passion, Bissy (Elizabeth!)

NaNoWriMo has arrived!

November 1st kicked off National Novel Writing Month and with it the beginnings of many, many novels. That's right NaNoWriMo, as it is called for short, is the opportunity to pen 50,000 words in one month. With great gusto, writers everywhere are embarking on the challenge for as many words out as they can, leaving behind the inner editor and saying, "I can do it, I don't care what voice is trying to hold me back!" The goal is to just get writing, no matter what, and then thinking about any possible changes later. The Young Writers Program is just for kids with the goal of finishing a novel, so girls can join in, too!

I know, I know, it sounds out of reach. 50,000 words? New Moon said it on the blog last year and I will say it again: it can be done! It is a wonderful chance to just totally let go of all inhibitions and write! In fact, I am doing it this year, though unofficially, because I started on October 31st. This is a little late notice, but you can still join in, or just learn from the website. It is a fun one to browse, with lots of inspiration and support. Their message is all about having fun and just letting yourself go (and write write write).

So come ahead and join me and the other writers if you would like. If you begin tomorrow, you can still make it with 2000 words per day. And guess what? There are NaNoWriMo participants who have actually had their novels published (with some polishing, I think, though...).

Sound fun? Then by all means, join in.

Happy writing (or whatever activity brings you great pleasure), Bissy (Elizabeth!)

Power Shift, Part Two

Power Shift, the four-day national youth summit for climate change in Washington, D.C., began yesterday. (Read more about the event itself in the earlier post, "Power Shift, Part One.") Shadia Wood, whom New Moon recently interviewed, is one of the event planners and spokespeople. Her list of accomplishments at age twenty is hefty, but perhaps most admirable has been the combination of passion, time for reflection, and commitment to joy in her life that got her there. That combination has surely made a difference in the world, too, and she has gotten noticed for it.

Beginning at seven, she was involved in an eight-year lobby campaign to halt the increase of toxic waste sites in her community that would further the resulting illness and deaths that were already present from nearby sites. For this campaign, the Hitachi Foundation awarded her the Yoshiyama Award, and the Earth Island Institute gave her the Brower Youth Award. At fifteen, she attended the Youth Summit on Sustainable Development, helping with the Official Global Youth Energy Policy Statement, and the Second National People of Color summit, where she was involved in the Environmental Justice Youth Platform's creation. She became the youngest of the Campus Climate Challenge Coordinator during her time off between high school and college (always a worthy pursuit), and has just shifted her focus to the implementation of Power Shift itself. Of her experience being biracial, she has said that she is familiar with halves and feeling in-between. Activism, she has described, has been "the whole in my life." Next spring will bring her to the American University of Beirut to study Arabic and photography. In the interim between Power Shift's end and college's beginning, she will take time with her family to rest after two years of work to make Power Shift a reality, and to determine what she wants out of her education and her "big move to the Middle East." Of activism, she says, she knows it will always be a part of her life, "but we'll see what form that takes."

Read on for the completion of our interview.

New Moon: You began very early on your path of activism--I read that your first press conference was at age two. What was it that motivated you to become involved in activism so early?

Shadia Wood: The story behind the first press conference is kind of where it all began. Obviously I really wasn’t cognizant for that press conference. My community, which is a very small, rural community in upstate New York, was sited for a landfill and an incinerator. We already have Superfund sites surrounding my community. There’s one that’s a mile away from my house. So we already had cancer clusters, so a lot of children and old people were dying because of the pollution. Clearly I don’t remember this at the time, but the community rallied and was able to not allow [the proposed landfill and incinerator] to happen.

My mom was a big proponent of that. She was a community leader at the time; she rose to that position even though she had six kids. Since I was the youngest and wasn’t in school, as all of my other siblings [were,] she took me with her to wherever [she was going.] So that’s where that came from. She put a paper bag, cut some armholes and headholes, and [it] said, “Don’t dump on me.” That kind of creativity that I grew up around--we were really poor, but we made things work. I grew up around that framework of thinking; you use the resources you have.

When I was seven, the Superfund program in my state, the money for the toxic waste sites, was going bankrupt. It hadn’t gone bankrupt yet, but there was this huge push in the activist community, to educate each other and especially the young people. I attended this kids’ conference that explained in very simple terms what PCBs were and why Onondaga Lake was the first place to ever be declared a Superfund site, which is where my grandparents live. So I was digesting a lot of this information as a seven-year-old and making the connections to why people in the community I lived in were dying or why so-and-so had to miss school all the time for check-ups, and it just really made me angry. That’s where I got involved. We did an action, and it was a lot of people from seven to about fifteen. It was right around Halloween, so we dressed up as mutant toxic monsters, and we picked a chemical to associate with that we had learned about, and went down to Onondaga Lake and did a photo op. I remember being at the table at the reception dinner afterwards, and I was standing on the chair, and so angry Those were the emotions I was going through that sparked me into funneling that energy into that organization Kids Against Pollution that was big in my community at the time. That’s the story of initial involvement of why I started so young.

Did you have any female role models? It sounds like your mom was one. Did you have any outside influences that encouraged you in your activism?

My mom is a powerful woman, and she raised six kids on no budget whatsoever. I have an older sister, Ilina, who is eight years older than I am, and was also a large influence on my life and is why I am the way I am. When she was in high school, she started getting into Ani DiFranco. At the time I was [about] six, when Ani DiFranco first came out. So Ilina got the album, and we would listen to it on the car rides, and it would [mainly] be my sister and my mom and I when we were going places. That’s what I remember, is, as a little girl, listening to this powerful woman speaking through the [car] speaker and really empowering [the listener]. She was definitely a huge influence on my life. I knew a lot of her lyrics and didn’t really know what they meant, but I kind of felt it.

Another big influence on my life has been—I really like history—the activist Alice Paul, who was a suffragist. She’s kind of written out of history. When I started getting more involved in researching activism and organizing different movements and figuring out what worked and what didn’t, I came across Alice Paul and was like, “Wow! Here’s a powerful young woman who created this movement and did direct action, and nonviolent direct action at that in a time that it was not the climate for women to be doing that.” I was very inspired by her and looked to her for leadership.

What has been like for you to be the youngest involved in many things, or one of the younger ones? What advice do you have for girls who [encounter] age bias or bias [against girls]?

I was fortunate to have a really good support system of women in my life, and I realize that not all young women have that. Especially around the ages of eleven to thirteen and fourteen, you’re figuring all of these really important things out, and it’s just this really intense process. It’s really hard to understand what your emotions are and who you are. I guess a lot of that for me was taking time to reflect on the situations I was put in. What has helped me the most was figuring out why things happened and processing them, whether it was a situation that I was in that wasn’t positive or someone was treating me like I was thirteen when I actually had a stake at the table. I [had] a voice and [had] just as good and just as valid opinions as anybody else when I was being treated like I was five or like I was thirteen. It was very important for me to reflect on that and then figure out what the best way to move from that was. It’s staying strong and what you believe in and having a really clear concept of what that is. It’s figuring out where you best fit in in a movement.

What message do you most want to communicate to girls about Power Shift? …about activism in general, too?

Young women and girls need to really be at the forefront of this. We see all the time, women are the grassroots activists, but they’re rarely in these bigger positions of power. Women are on the ground making it work, but they’re discredited or it’s just seen differently. I think it’s so important for our young women and young girls to really be taking part in whatever they can on issues like this and find what speaks to them. Some people, the 1Sky and some people it’s the polar bears are dying and some people it’s the power plant in their backyard. What is it that speaks to you? Find that, and run with it, and push people’s way of thinking. Really be OK to be out there.

I think that’s what Power Shift is for me, it’s this convergence where young people, and especially young women, young women of color, young people of color, can come together in larger numbers and stand in solidarity with one another and really figure out what does speak to them, and push for those things.

Thanks again, Shadia, and good luck with Power Shift!

Here's a link to a story featuring Shadia:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061401876.html

By the way, you can read dispatches from the summit on their website and on It's Getting Hot in Here: Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement.

Wishing you a weekend of joy, Bissy (Elizabeth!)

Weekend Reads: Rules

This Friday's weekend reading comes from Marissa, 11, in New York. The book is Rules by Cynthia Lord. Enjoy your weekend and give yourself some time off, maybe by diving into a soul-satisfying book!

"Normal. Average. Regular. Twelve-year-old Catherine doesn't think least she doesn't think her family's normal. David, Catherine's younger brother, is autistic. David doesn't learn from watching others, so Catherine and her parents have to teach him everything.

Catherine is determined to create the illusion that her brother is like everybody else. So she creates rules to teach him. But he's not always is able to follow them. Every time Catherine encounters a new situation she creates a rule for David. 'Don't take your pants off in public,' or 'Sometimes people laugh when they like you. But sometimes they laugh to hurt you.'

But it's the summer where Catherine meets two new friends: One Kristi, her new next door neighbor, who could be everything she hoped for, and Jason, who can't talk, where Catherine's perspective is changed. She starts to think about what she has that Jason doesn't, and the way Kristi treats her and her brother. Catherine begins to wonder if there is only one normal or if there is an average after all.

This fantastic novel will make you think about reaction, perspective, and normalcy. I finished it in a day, the writing is great and the plot is intriguing."