July is disability pride month, so it’s the perfect time to talk about a 2024 debut with a main character dealing with disabilites. I am so excited to introduce you all to Gretchen Schreiber.

Ellie Haycock is Totally Normal [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM] is about a teenage girl who doesn’t let the pieces of her life touch. Her school life stays at school and her hospital life stays at the hospital. Except the part where Ellie’s mother documents everything about her rare medical condition on the internet. That part, she can’t avoid, as much as she wishes she could.

However, this hospital stay is different. Ellie is in a good place in life. She has a boyfriend at home, but she doesn’t want to tell him about her VACTERL treatments. Things are also different at the hospital since she has friends, including a first-timer who is optomistic that things will all get better and the doctors will figure it all out. Ryan becomes her ‘medical coach’, helping her learn how to stand up for herself with the doctors and with her mom.

The author, Gretchen, has the same condition as Ellie and put some of her own expereinces and details into the book, but she’s quick to say that the mom in this book is entirely fiction and not remotely based on her own mother. Gretchen’s reality gives so much depth and weight to the medical side of this story. The romance side of things is cute and sweet. It’s nothing too crazy since it is YA, so it feels on par with what you’d expect in that department.

Overall, this was a cute story and I’m eager to read whatever Gretchen puts out next.

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