A few months ago, I was at home reading a review copy of “Oddly Normal” by my colleague John Schwartz. The book begins with the suicide attempt of John’s then 13-year-old son, Joe, who had recently told his classmates he was gay. It goes on to explain how Joe’s parents struggled with a school system that didn’t always understand their son, and how Joe eventually found the path to self acceptance.
But my plan to read the book was interrupted when my 8th-grade daughter, intrigued by the title, pulled it out of my hands and read the first few pages. She was captivated and decided to read all of it for her next school book report.
Later she wrote about how moved she was by Joe’s story and how she wished she could “give him a hug and tell him that it would all turn out O.K.” The book, she wrote, “is full of life lessons that are extremely important for every young person to understand…. Being an individual is amazing, and no one should hide their true personality. Eventually, Joe learned to be the person he wanted to be, and he realized that everyone is a little odd and different.”
While “Oddly Normal” has been discussed as a great book for parents, I think teenagers will relate to Joe’s struggles and learn a lot from his honesty. You can meet Joe in a new video, in which he talks about himself, his father’s book and life as a gay teen. To learn more about the book, read the recent New York Times Sunday book review “Something to Tell You.”
Well: Learning That Odd Is Normal
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Well: Learning That Odd Is Normal
