Losing Normal


Young Adult - Action
264 Pages
Reviewed on 11/21/2018
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

Francis Moss has written and story‐edited hundreds of scripts for many of the top animated shows of the 90s and 2000s. Beginning his television work in live‐action with Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, he soon starting writing cartoons, staff writing and freelancing on She‐Ra, Princess of Power, Iron Man, Ducktales, and a four‐year stint on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also coauthored three middle‐grade non‐fi ction books: Internet For Kids, Make Your Own Web Page, and How To Find (Almost) Anything On The Internet. Internet For Kids was a big success, with three revised editions and twelve foreign language versions. He’s the sole author of The Rosenberg Espionage Case. Francis grew up in Los Angeles and currently resides in Joshua Tree, California with his wife. They have a son, a daughter and
one grandson.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Kim Anisi for Readers' Favorite

People’s obsession with what’s on TV takes on a new level in Losing Normal by Francis Moss. Huge TV screens are installed everywhere in public spaces and everyone is getting one of the new TVs that promises the best and most personalized shows people could wish for. Schools also get screens in every room to help with education and even make the presence of a teacher unnecessary. The majority of the population does not notice that there is something very wrong with the broadcasts from these screens. Alex, however, does. He is autistic and for some reason his brain is able to see something bad coming from the screens. He is also able to influence the broadcast and shut it down – which turns him and people like him into enemy number one of the artificial intelligence behind the broadcasts.

I picked up Losing Normal by Francis Moss because seeing an autistic boy as the hero of a novel in which a supercomputer tries to take over control of the human mind seemed like a very interesting concept. Books that have protagonists with special needs are usually of a completely different type and more focused on “real life”, so it was very nice to see something different, something that shows how autistic kids can indeed be heroes in truly exciting stories. The world needs more books like this, especially when they are well written and engaging like Losing Normal. I know a few autistic people from my work with a charity, so it was nice to see them represented in a positive and realistic light. I had a lot of fun reading this novel and found the pacing of the plot well done.