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Finding Normal
After a horrible storm floods her neighborhood, twelve-year-old Temple and her family are forced to move to a new town. They are some of the lucky ones, able to secure temporary housing relatively quickly. But Temple doesn’t feel so lucky starting over at a brand-new school halfway through the year and feeling a weird spotlight on her family’s situation from her new classmates. At home, things aren’t any better as her family struggles to adjust while figuring out how they can afford to rebuild.
When Temple sees a flyer for a local fundraiser, she decides she can do the same thing for her family. It would get her one big step closer to her old school, friends, and life. After enlisting the help of some new friends, Temple kicks her plan into action, quickly realizing it needs to be much bigger to help not only her family, but the dozens of others affected by the flood.
But adding the pressures of the fundraiser to the strain of grappling with all the recent changes may be more than Temple can handle. As she searches for a return to normal, can she figure out what’s truly important?
When Temple sees a flyer for a local fundraiser, she decides she can do the same thing for her family. It would get her one big step closer to her old school, friends, and life. After enlisting the help of some new friends, Temple kicks her plan into action, quickly realizing it needs to be much bigger to help not only her family, but the dozens of others affected by the flood.
But adding the pressures of the fundraiser to the strain of grappling with all the recent changes may be more than Temple can handle. As she searches for a return to normal, can she figure out what’s truly important?
288 pages, Hardcover
Published February 20, 2024
8 people are currently reading
135 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Faris
149 books100 followersStephanie Faris is the author of the middle grade books 30 Days of No Gossip and 25 Roses, as well as the Piper Morgan chapter book series. When she isn’t writing books for children, she writes technology, finance, and business content for a variety of websites. She currently lives in her hometown, just north of Nashville. Visit her online at StephanieFaris.com.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
April 23, 2024
Great middle-grade realistic fiction!
Temple is forced to do lot of growing-up and soul-searching when their Ohio neighborhood is flooded. She learns some valuable lessons about true friendship, responsibility, and the importance of seeking help when it’s needed.
Temple is forced to do lot of growing-up and soul-searching when their Ohio neighborhood is flooded. She learns some valuable lessons about true friendship, responsibility, and the importance of seeking help when it’s needed.
February 14, 2025
For GRLs
October 23, 2023
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Things are going along normally in Temple's world; she is worried about being excluded from an important birthday party being held by a popular girl, and she's tired of having to babysit her much younger sister, Kennedy. After her mother wakes her up and tells her to get dressed at 2:00 a.m., however, there are problems to deal with. A local dam has caused a large area of town to flood, and Temple's home is one of the ones affected. The house is still standing, but to avoid mold, everything will have to be ripped out up to the waterline. The family has evacuated first to the public middle school, then to a hotel, and then get an offer to live with neighbors, the Fletchers, who are able to live in the upstairs of their two story home while it is being fixed. Temple isnt thrilled, since their son, Jesse, is her age, and has always struck her as kind of obnoxious. Worried about money, Temple's parents pull her out of her private school, and she has to attend public school with Jesse. He's nice about it, but she runs into two mean girls who give her a hard time. Still reeling from comments her own friends have made, and their treatment of her when they learned her house was flooded, Temple doubts that she will be able to make any friends at her new school. A friend of Jesse's from coding camp, Asha, is nice to her. When concerns arise that Temple's family might lose their home, and Temple sees that this may happen to others as well, she has a plan to stage a fundraiser for flood survivors. She contacts the local news, and even manages to score a popular rock group, The Satellite Boys, to perform at it. Jesse and Asha help with the website, and they get some donations. This is an enormous undertaking, and Temple's parents decide that it's too much, since her homework is suffering. As the date appears, things aren't going well; Temple hasn't booked the venue, there are a lot of logistics that haven't been worked out, and she hasn't made a plan for how the donations will be allotted. Will Temple be able to put her life back together the way that the builders can restore her home?
Strengths: There are so many horrible things going on in the world, and when I was twelve, my concern would have been "What if this happens to ME?" I probably would have had a go bag packed and waiting by the front door. Even if young readers don't consume much news, they have heard of the floods, fires, and wars raging around the world. Temple seems a bit self-centered to the adult perspective, but Faris captures the tween angst perfectly. Yes, the whoel house is ruined, but can't I still go to the birthday party? Switching schools was realistic, and I imagine that a lot of families double up to save on hotel bills. There are moments of normality that occur even in the most devastating circumstances, and Faris writes from experience; she mentions in an afterword that her own home was badly damaged in a flood several years ago. This is an excellent balance between school and friend drama and the trauma of living through a flooding situation. This author's other titles, Popularity Code and Best Night Ever (2017), 25 Roses (2015), and 30 Days of No Gossip (2014) are very popular in my library, so I'm definitely purchasing.
Weaknesses: It seemed unlikely to me that Temple could have gotten a popular boy band to perforn and yet not have booked a venue (wouldn't their manager have had questions?), but young readers will take this in stride.
What I really think: Aside from Feldman's 2023 The Puttermans Are in the House (flood) and Bishop's 2017 14 Hollow Road (tornado), as well as Tashjian's My Life as a Meme (#8)(fire) there aren't a lot of books that address the aftermath of a natural disaster. In the same way that children like to read books about children who are abused or in horrible circumstances because it makes their own lives feel better, I think that my students will find Temple's story interesting, and make the fact that they aren't doing well in social studies seem less horrible!
Things are going along normally in Temple's world; she is worried about being excluded from an important birthday party being held by a popular girl, and she's tired of having to babysit her much younger sister, Kennedy. After her mother wakes her up and tells her to get dressed at 2:00 a.m., however, there are problems to deal with. A local dam has caused a large area of town to flood, and Temple's home is one of the ones affected. The house is still standing, but to avoid mold, everything will have to be ripped out up to the waterline. The family has evacuated first to the public middle school, then to a hotel, and then get an offer to live with neighbors, the Fletchers, who are able to live in the upstairs of their two story home while it is being fixed. Temple isnt thrilled, since their son, Jesse, is her age, and has always struck her as kind of obnoxious. Worried about money, Temple's parents pull her out of her private school, and she has to attend public school with Jesse. He's nice about it, but she runs into two mean girls who give her a hard time. Still reeling from comments her own friends have made, and their treatment of her when they learned her house was flooded, Temple doubts that she will be able to make any friends at her new school. A friend of Jesse's from coding camp, Asha, is nice to her. When concerns arise that Temple's family might lose their home, and Temple sees that this may happen to others as well, she has a plan to stage a fundraiser for flood survivors. She contacts the local news, and even manages to score a popular rock group, The Satellite Boys, to perform at it. Jesse and Asha help with the website, and they get some donations. This is an enormous undertaking, and Temple's parents decide that it's too much, since her homework is suffering. As the date appears, things aren't going well; Temple hasn't booked the venue, there are a lot of logistics that haven't been worked out, and she hasn't made a plan for how the donations will be allotted. Will Temple be able to put her life back together the way that the builders can restore her home?
Strengths: There are so many horrible things going on in the world, and when I was twelve, my concern would have been "What if this happens to ME?" I probably would have had a go bag packed and waiting by the front door. Even if young readers don't consume much news, they have heard of the floods, fires, and wars raging around the world. Temple seems a bit self-centered to the adult perspective, but Faris captures the tween angst perfectly. Yes, the whoel house is ruined, but can't I still go to the birthday party? Switching schools was realistic, and I imagine that a lot of families double up to save on hotel bills. There are moments of normality that occur even in the most devastating circumstances, and Faris writes from experience; she mentions in an afterword that her own home was badly damaged in a flood several years ago. This is an excellent balance between school and friend drama and the trauma of living through a flooding situation. This author's other titles, Popularity Code and Best Night Ever (2017), 25 Roses (2015), and 30 Days of No Gossip (2014) are very popular in my library, so I'm definitely purchasing.
Weaknesses: It seemed unlikely to me that Temple could have gotten a popular boy band to perforn and yet not have booked a venue (wouldn't their manager have had questions?), but young readers will take this in stride.
What I really think: Aside from Feldman's 2023 The Puttermans Are in the House (flood) and Bishop's 2017 14 Hollow Road (tornado), as well as Tashjian's My Life as a Meme (#8)(fire) there aren't a lot of books that address the aftermath of a natural disaster. In the same way that children like to read books about children who are abused or in horrible circumstances because it makes their own lives feel better, I think that my students will find Temple's story interesting, and make the fact that they aren't doing well in social studies seem less horrible!
November 15, 2024
Temple's life, along with her family's, is upended when a severe storm causes flooding in their home. Others are affected, too. Temple and her family lost all of their furniture and appliances, their home needs to be gutted the the flood line and rebuilt, but their neighbors, whose house is two stories, offer to let them live there while they make repairs. Without flood insurance, Temple's parents can no longer afford private school tuition, so Temple changes to the local middle school. When Temple sees the impact of the flooding on local families, she wants to help. She plans a fundraiser, but it quickly becomes apparent that she can't do it all alone, so she enlists the help of two of her new friends. Temple learns about friendship and what truly matters.
For a book about flood survivors learning to deal with change and finding new connections as well as planning a huge fundraising event for flood survivors, I found the book strangely lacking in connections and strong emotions. I kept expecting details when none were given and a lot of the important decisions and emotion seemed to have happened 'off stage,' so to speak.
For a book about flood survivors learning to deal with change and finding new connections as well as planning a huge fundraising event for flood survivors, I found the book strangely lacking in connections and strong emotions. I kept expecting details when none were given and a lot of the important decisions and emotion seemed to have happened 'off stage,' so to speak.
June 24, 2025
This book had potential but fell flat. In this narrative, the main character and her family have to evacuate their house in the middle of the night due to flooding caused by overflow at the nearby dam. This flooding causes significant damage to many of the homes in that area including that of the main character and a neighbor/quasi friend. Somehow this leads to fallout among her friend group at her private school which includes a popular, mean girl which, along with the financial troubles brought on by the flood and lack of flood insurance propels the main character to leave the private school for public school. That friendship fall out never receives adequate resolution. The main character also spends most of the novel attempting to arrange a fundraiser to help flood victims after seeing worrying mortgage notices for both her house and her neighbor friend. While I find the main character's desire to do this believable, I find the logistics, or rather the absence of realistic logistics - for pulling something like this off quite concerning. I will spare any review readers from a list of grievances. I, unfortunately, do not recommend this book.
April 13, 2024
Tempest Baxter (12) is woken in the middle of the night to evacuate her home because the torrential rains have overflowed the dam, neighborhoods are flooding, and the fear the dam might break is real. Without flood insurance, her family moves in with a neighbor who had extra space in their two-story home as they all rebuild. Tempest is forced to leave her private school to save money and decides she wants to plan a big fund raiser to help families struggling to rebuild and facing foreclosure on their homes. Emotions run light, even with Tempest dealing with her entire life getting upended - new school, losing her old friends because they shut her out before she transferred, making new friends, etc. The fund raiser comes together far too easily, especially for a 12-year old girl getting 4 big music names to come perform in her small town for free. There was so much depth the book could have had, but nothing really got explored and built on for the story have an emotional arc. Though Tempest learned to depend on others and ask for help, there were other lessons she needed to learn.
May 20, 2024
No, I’m not 12 years old, so this book may be an absolute hit with middle-school kids(which the book was written for). So, with that being said, take my record for what’s it worth. It was actually an interesting story line about a family who live where a dam breaks and floods the houses in their neighborhood. The main character, Temple, has to adjust to her new normal, changing schools, living with her neighbors and taking care of her toddler sister while her parents try to make repairs to her home.
All of that sounds great- it’s the in between that I didn’t love. Just a little too much for me. This 12 year old organizes an entire fundraiser with a major rock band coming to perform? Also, the characters didn’t really seem believable- a flood destroys their home and the parents don’t really want to talk about it to Temple- they just let saying everything is ok and to keep doing her schoolwork. I didn’t really connect to how the characters might really be in real life.
I love juvenile fiction and this has some good points and lacked in other parts.
All of that sounds great- it’s the in between that I didn’t love. Just a little too much for me. This 12 year old organizes an entire fundraiser with a major rock band coming to perform? Also, the characters didn’t really seem believable- a flood destroys their home and the parents don’t really want to talk about it to Temple- they just let saying everything is ok and to keep doing her schoolwork. I didn’t really connect to how the characters might really be in real life.
I love juvenile fiction and this has some good points and lacked in other parts.
February 2, 2025
Faris perfectly captures the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with having your world turned upside down, and Temple is the heart of it all. She’s such a well-crafted character—flawed, stubborn, and occasionally frustrating, but that’s exactly what makes her feel real. Watching her grow and learn what truly matters was incredibly satisfying.
I was especially impressed by how Temple stood up for her friends—not just once, but twice! Those moments were powerful and could be really empowering for readers who might see themselves in her. While the story revolves around Temple’s desire to get back to "normal," it beautifully illustrates that after something life-changing, you can’t just go back to how things were. Instead, it’s about adapting, growing, and finding a new normal.
What I loved most is that by the end, Temple doesn’t just find her footing—she finds even better friendships than before. It’s a heartfelt, relatable story about resilience, community, and the courage to embrace change.
I was especially impressed by how Temple stood up for her friends—not just once, but twice! Those moments were powerful and could be really empowering for readers who might see themselves in her. While the story revolves around Temple’s desire to get back to "normal," it beautifully illustrates that after something life-changing, you can’t just go back to how things were. Instead, it’s about adapting, growing, and finding a new normal.
What I loved most is that by the end, Temple doesn’t just find her footing—she finds even better friendships than before. It’s a heartfelt, relatable story about resilience, community, and the courage to embrace change.
March 1, 2024
Changing schools at any age is a BIG adjustment. Temple must make new friends, navigate new relationships, and adjust to a new way of life. At the same time, Temple and her family, along with their neighbors, must juggle bills, work with contractors to rebuild their homes, and so much more.
Together, Temple, Jesse, and their school friends plan a huge fundraiser to help neighbors rebuild their lives and “Find Normal”.
Read about their team work, their skills with computers, and how the whole community pulls together to “Find Normal.”
Stephanie Faris’ “Finding Normal” is a heartwarming tale of community, of family, and friendship. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll devour this wonderful tale.
Thanks to the BookLoft of German Village (Columbus, OH) http://www.bookloft.com for an ARC to read and review.
Together, Temple, Jesse, and their school friends plan a huge fundraiser to help neighbors rebuild their lives and “Find Normal”.
Read about their team work, their skills with computers, and how the whole community pulls together to “Find Normal.”
Stephanie Faris’ “Finding Normal” is a heartwarming tale of community, of family, and friendship. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll devour this wonderful tale.
Thanks to the BookLoft of German Village (Columbus, OH) http://www.bookloft.com for an ARC to read and review.
January 31, 2025
A sweet middle school read-aloud when areas are experiencing a disaster (flood, tornado, hurricane, fire) for students to understand better what families are going through and how to help.
Themes: resilience, family, true friendship, middle school mean girls, belonging, community, & hope.
Author, Stephanie Faris is a Nashville, TN flood survivor, "I hope Temple's story helps you realize what really matters in life. No matter what happens, our family and friends will help get us through."
Themes: resilience, family, true friendship, middle school mean girls, belonging, community, & hope.
Author, Stephanie Faris is a Nashville, TN flood survivor, "I hope Temple's story helps you realize what really matters in life. No matter what happens, our family and friends will help get us through."
April 9, 2024
When the nearby dam breaks, Temple’s neighborhood is flooded and she and her family have to evacuate in the middle of the night. Temple is worried about losing her friends but it takes this tragedy to realize what’s most important. As she realizes just how devastating the flood is – some of her neighbors are at risk of foreclosure – she becomes determined to create an event to raise money for her neighbors.
April 5, 2024
This is a very heartwarming story of a girl and her family going through some really tough things. I found myself rooting for Temple, her family, her friends, and especially her neighbors. I can't imagine the feeling of having to leave my home in the middle of the night because flood waters were closing in. Stephanie Faris was able to make those feelings very real. I really enjoyed this book.
February 23, 2024
I can’t stand this kid! So effing obnoxious. I don’t think this girl will change for any good. If so too, I will not buy it. The parents are acting too weak when the mom is fictionally trying to be strict but fails at it and the dad doesn’t really care.
December 20, 2025
Living in South Carolina we have experienced unprecedented flooding… this book did an amazing job bringing humanity to this tragedy and exploring the healing while explaining the recovery. Beautiful book.
December 18, 2023
When her family is displaced by a devastating flood, 12-year-old Temple plans a fundraiser to help her community.
February 25, 2024
A good light read but nothing amazing.
April 15, 2024
Natural disaster paired with middle school drama and friendships. Cute read and easy to put in a kids hands who want a solid realistic fiction.
June 13, 2024
Great book that shows there is hope after a disaster has touched someones life and family. A story about surviving a flood.
August 29, 2025
Good and yes
Book about what’s important in life
Book about what’s important in life
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews