Gretchen Schreiber’s ELLIE HAYCOCK IS TOTALLY NORMAL is a big-hearted debut novel about a girl who is always trying to keep her life in the hospital separate from her life at home. During an extended hospital stay, her two lives start to collide when she grows closer to a new group of friends, including Ryan, a first-timer who is still optimistic about the doctors Ellie stopped trusting years ago. Ellie’s life has never been normal, but maybe between these fast friendships and falling in love, she can find her own version of normal.
ELLIE HAYCOCK IS TOTALLY NORMAL is available to download on Edelweiss and NetGalley
Dear Librarians,
Libraries have always been that liminal space between my everyday life and my hospital one. The stories I picked in one became a medicine all their own in the other. Fantasy books as thick as my fist became normal requests during prolonged visits. Books that I would be forever grateful for after I couldn’t take another round of day-time talk shows.
During one week at the hospital my mother and I could go through as many as ten or twelve books. Stocking up on reading material was all part of the “getting ready” process in going to the hospital. Perhaps my mother is a genius in that she turned what could be a scary trip into a fun adventure. You see, I grew up in a small Kansas town, not exactly equipped to deal with rare disabilities and so I went to a hospital in Minnesota. We drove there every summer—it’s eight hours. One way.
During one trip we could go through anywhere from ten to twelve books. To arm ourselves properly for this adventure we headed straight to the library. At least three books in our haul would be audiobooks. Listening to books was the way I accessed so much fiction above my age group as these books needed to entertain both my mom and I. My mother didn’t—and still doesn’t—believe in censoring what kids read. Thanks to her, and a library card, I had free reign to check out whatever caught my fancy.
Rather than choose a wide variety of books, we often focused on a specific author or genre, going deep rather than wide. Together we worked through fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, classics, exploring them in phases in audio and print.
No matter the genre, I was always interested in the way authors approached the big questions in their books. How they broke the theme apart and built a story around it. When I started writing ELLIE HAYCOCK IS TOTALLY NORMAL, my guiding principle was that I wanted a book that sixteen-year-old Gretchen would look at and say there I am. Because as I started to tell friends about my childhood, they were amazed and entertained by my wild antics in the hospital.
And how could my friends know any better—even with my reading habits, I rarely found characters who looked like me, had experiences like me, or even had a life expectancy as long as I did. Disabled people die a lot in fiction.
Ellie has no idea how to tell her friends at home about her life in the hospital. Her mother’s blog has a lot to do with the reason why—she doesn’t want people to see her life as a tragedy as so many online do. But also, Ellie is intrinsically aware that the stories her friends read, watch, and ingest all make her a victim, something to be pitied, someone who is going to die—and how is she supposed to trust them with this part of her life?
I wanted to capture the things I know from my time in the hospital—the messiness of medicine, the complicated way disability can affect a family, and the joy of finding other disabled friends. Not having to explain yourself to others for once—is honestly one of the most refreshing things I’ve ever experienced. And it’s these new people in Ellie’s life that can help her find the courage to bring both sides of her life together.
Perhaps it is full circle then, that a library that once supplied me with stories for my hospital stay will now house my book about the hospital on its shelf. The work of librarians is perhaps never recognized as it should, but you create spaces where all are welcome. For all you do—thank you.
Happy Reading,
Gretchen Schreiber
ELLIE HAYCOCK IS TOTALLY NORMAL by Gretchen Schreiber; 9781250892164; 3/5/2024
The owner of this website has made a commitment to accessibility and inclusion, please report any problems that you encounter using the contact form on this website. This site uses the WP ADA Compliance Check plugin to enhance accessibility.
