Booktalks Quick and Simple

	Dee, Barbara. HALFWAY NORMAL New York : Aladdin, 2017 IL 3-6, RL 3.5 ISBN: 978-1481478519 (3 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews	Booktalk #1 Norah Levy has just completed two years of treatment for leukemia and is ready to go back to the “real world” of middle school. She knows it'll be tricky—but like the Greek mythological characters she read about while she was sick, Norah’s up for any challenge. But seventh grade turns out to be trickier than she thought. Norah’s classmates don’t know what to make of her. Her best friend, Harper, tries to be there for her, but she doesn’t get it, really—and is hanging out with a new group of girls. Norah’s other good friend, Silas, is avoiding her. What’s that about, anyway? When Norah is placed with the eighth graders for math and science, she meets Griffin, a cute boy who encourages her love of Greek mythology and art. And Norah decides not to tell him her secret—that she was “that girl" who had cancer. When something happens to make secret-keeping impossible, Norah must figure out a way to share her cancer story. But how do you explain something to others that you can’t explain to yourself? Can Nora take her cue from her favorite Greek myth? And then, once she finds the words, can she move forward with a whole new ‘normal’? (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019) Booktalk #2 You might think that surviving childhood cancer was the hardest thing Norah ever faced. You would be wrong! Sure, the chemo was difficult, but nothing compared to how hard it is to go back to being “normal.” And part of normal is going back to school, middle school! Will Norah be able to pick back up where she left off? Or will she always be “the girl who had cancer?” Read Halfway Normalby Barbara Dee, and find out! (Prepared by: Carolyn Gause, Hammond School, cgause@hammondschool.org for South Carolina Book Award) Booktalk #3 After being out of school for 2 1/2 years battling leukemia, 7th grader Norah Levy is ready to join the real world once again. But being known as "The Girl Who", she finds it hard to break out of the mold that she has been placed within. When she becomes friends with an 8th Grader Griffin, Nora must look within herself to share her story and no longer be defined by her illness. (Garden State Children's Book Awards nominee, 2020)
	SUBJECTS: Family problems -- Fiction. Friendship -- Fiction. Leukemia -- Fiction. Middle schools -- Fiction. Schools Fiction.

Dee, Barbara.
HALFWAY NORMAL
New York : Aladdin, 2017
IL 3-6, RL 3.5
ISBN: 978-1481478519

(3 booktalks)

Click on the book to read Amazon reviews

Booktalk #1

Norah Levy has just completed two years of treatment for leukemia and is ready to go back to the “real world” of middle school. She knows it'll be tricky—but like the Greek mythological characters she read about while she was sick, Norah’s up for any challenge. But seventh grade turns out to be trickier than she thought. Norah’s classmates don’t know what to make of her. Her best friend, Harper, tries to be there for her, but she doesn’t get it, really—and is hanging out with a new group of girls. Norah’s other good friend, Silas, is avoiding her. What’s that about, anyway? When Norah is placed with the eighth graders for math and science, she meets Griffin, a cute boy who encourages her love of Greek mythology and art. And Norah decides not to tell him her secret—that she was “that girl" who had cancer. When something happens to make secret-keeping impossible, Norah must figure out a way to share her cancer story. But how do you explain something to others that you can’t explain to yourself? Can Nora take her cue from her favorite Greek myth? And then, once she finds the words, can she move forward with a whole new ‘normal’? (Vermont DCF Award nominee, 2018-2019)

Booktalk #2

You might think that surviving childhood cancer was the hardest thing Norah ever faced. You would be wrong! Sure, the chemo was difficult, but nothing compared to how hard it is to go back to being “normal.” And part of normal is going back to school, middle school! Will Norah be able to pick back up where she left off? Or will she always be “the girl who had cancer?” Read Halfway Normalby Barbara Dee, and find out! (Prepared by: Carolyn Gause, Hammond School, cgause@hammondschool.org for South Carolina Book Award)

Booktalk #3

After being out of school for 2 1/2 years battling leukemia, 7th grader Norah Levy is ready to join the real world once again. But being known as "The Girl Who", she finds it hard to break out of the mold that she has been placed within. When she becomes friends with an 8th Grader Griffin, Nora must look within herself to share her story and no longer be defined by her illness. (Garden State Children's Book Awards nominee, 2020)

SUBJECTS:     Family problems -- Fiction.
                        Friendship -- Fiction.
                        Leukemia -- Fiction.
                        Middle schools -- Fiction.
                        Schools Fiction.