The New Norm

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Author(s)

Matthew J. Gilbert

Publisher

Simon Spotlight

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

May 05, 2026

ISBN

979-8347103409

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A chronically online middle schooler tries to bring his social media fame into his real life in this new middle grade series about surviving cringe both on the internet and IRL!

Everyone’s got a lot to say on the Meadowview Middle School social media forum. From roasts of Mrs. Klinger’s morning announcements to rage-bait cafeteria pizza reviews, the tea is hot!

And in the middle of it all is Alexander “Norm” Norman, who has just gone unintentionally viral across the internet and become a middle-school celebrity. Pretty sweet, right? Well, not so much. Can Norm balance his real friends and his new fame—and make it through the first week of school without getting totally roasted in the chat?

Editor review

1 review

The perils of viral popularity!

June 03, 2026

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Alex "Norm" Norman is having an unusually good first day of middle school. Over the summer, he had his wisdom teeth out, and his father (normally a boring therapist) posted a video of Norm dancing and shouting "whoop whoop" when he was coming out of anesthesia. This went viral, and everyone at his school is following him on social media, so he gets a lot of attention, even from popular kids. He doesn't want to stop being friends with his long time besties, Mia and Jordan, so tries to bring them along with him when he sits at the cool kids' table, even if they end up being a little embarassing. There's a lot to navigate in middle school, such as the strict rules about having phones out that Mrs. Stickman, the most ancient teacher in the building, enforces. After his initial surge in popularity, Norm has some missteps that prove he really isn't that cool, and he ends up facing not only declining popularity but also the loss of his best friends. Can he find a way to stay friends with Mia and Jordan while navigating the choppy waters of viral social media, or will he have to settle for being an ordinary citizen?

Good Points

Many of my students are obsessed with social media and think they can grow up to be YouTubers or influencers without fully understanding how much work goes in to maintaining an online presence. Norm's experience is fairly true to life; odd videos sometimes go viral, and other students at his school would find his sudden fame appealing. I loved that Norm's dad even mentions at the beginning of the book that sometimes friends grow apart in middle school; this is absolutely true, so it's not surprisingly that there is some tension with Mia and Jordan.

While we never see Norm's mother, there's no indication that she has died. Combined with the general upbeat feel to this book, this sets The New Norm and its sequel, Pranks and Prejudice, apart from a lot of middle grade literatue today. I'd love to see more books with humorous takes on the realistic problems that students face.

Hand this to fans of Hart and Rodkey's Marcus Makes a Movie or Weissman's So Over Sharing when they've spend too much time scrolling through social media on their phones and need a brain break!