This another one of the books that my dad brought home from a yard sale just the other day. When I first started reading it I was a little hesitant because the story line sounded so cliché: straight-A student is forced to hang around punk rocker burn out, they learn from eachother that it's important not to judge people without knowing them, and in the end it's the straight-A student who needs the real help.

As it turned out, that's essentially what the story is, but Peters does a good job of keeping the story interesting and not making things boring. Her two protagonists, Jazz and Antonia, are both multidimensional human beings, and their interaction with each other is easy to believe.

Still, Define "Normal" isn't a book that I will be rereading any time soon. The plot twist, while not something I was able to EASILY see coming, still ended up seeming more than a little contrived. Also, though she's the main character and the voice of the novel, Antonia's character didn't come off as being nearly as interesting as that of Jazz.

A good book for young teens, roughly 8th grade to 10th.