The Other Normals

Vizzini, Ned. The Other Normals. 2012. 387p. ISBN 9780062079909. Available as an eBook on Overdrive.

Fifteen-year-old Peregrine Eckert is a late bloomer. He’s socially incompetent, and would rather spend all of his time in the world of Creatures & Caverns. A paper and dice roleplaying game with strange creatures, strong magical powers, and weapons that can cleave a man in half, C&C is the only hobby Perry has. His older brother is a drunk and a drug addict. His parents are divorced and dating their divorce attorneys. And he has no friends. Except when he meets Sam, a fellow C&C fan. They begin meeting at Perry’s school, playing during lunch in a back staircase.

Concerned at Perry’s absences and social ineptitude, his parents, through their lawyers, sign up Perry for a summer camp experience away from Brooklyn and from C&C. Perry is crushed. At fifteen, he shouldn’t be going to camp. Once there, however, he realizes he’s the only white boy there. The other kids are openly hostile to him. Except Sam, who also happens to be attending this camp.

After a fight with one of the resident bullies, Perry goes to the infirmary and meets Anna, the first girl who even deigns to talk to him. But the conversation does not go well. Then Perry notices something strange outside. A human with the head of a fox and a bushy tail that matches seems to be lurking outside, a creature similar to one of the denizens of C&C. Perry manages to catch up to the creatures, and he meets Mortin Enaw, a special consultant on C&C who reveals that he comes from the World of the Other Normals, a place very similar to Earth and the inspiration for C&C.

Traveling to the World of the Other Normals, Perry meets Ada Ember, a very pretty girl with blue hair and undefined animal features, and he immediately falls hopelessly in love. Unfortunately, not everything is perfect in the World of the Other Normals. The Princess has been kidnapped by the forces of evil, and the only thing that can save her is kissing her correspondent on Earth, Anna.

All the hours of geek and nerd training are coming to fruition, and Perry can be the great warrior and hero he’s always known he could be. But only if he can conquer his fear of girls.

In the vein of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and Grasshopper Jungle, readers will cheer for Perry on his odyssey of self-discovery and late-blooming!