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Reviewed by:
  • Are You "Normal"?
  • Elizabeth Bush
Shulman, Mark . Are You "Normal"? National Geographic, 2011. 176p. illus. with photographs Paper ed. ISBN 978-1-4263-0837-6 $12.95 Ad Gr. 4-6.

Kids routinely brush aside frustrated parental outbursts ("Are you crazy?"; "Whad-dareya—nuts?"); Shulman knows the salient gauge of sanity is comparison with peer attitudes and behaviors. Ten chapters organized around topics such as Home, Friends, Sports, Tech, and Food present a litany of questions with multiple-choice answers, followed by revelation of how survey respondents weighed in. For instance, "Who in your family gets to hears your problems first?" It turns out that "half of all kids want their mom in a jam," while "only 1 out of 6 kids turns to dad in a dilemma." "Do you pick your scabs?" garners a 43% response of Yes and 57% No. One would hope that a National Geographic approach would surpass similar tween magazine quizzes in reputability, and indeed Shulman prefaces the main event with general comments on how to read the statistics and addresses the darker side of implying some behavior is abnormal with the not completely reassuring disclaimer that "any way you score is totally your own and totally fine." The insert "About Polls," however, offers no details about how the surveys were conducted, and only claims that respondents "are within a few years of your age." Hmm. A possible spread of ages 7 or so to 15 or so? For the same questions? Hopefully no readers will assess their personal "normal" based on such flimsy evidence but will simply enjoy this title in the spirit of entertainment that is so obviously intended.

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