Charlie Greer is your average twelve-year-old girl... which makes her the standout in a family full of supernatural people and government agents. With her parents constantly running around the world, trying to keep it safe from threats (mundane and supernatural), Charlie is charged with keeping her three younger foster siblings out of trouble. She believes she's given the ultimate test when she's put in charge of the house (with chaperones) for a week while her parents go on vacation. She's completely confident that she can handle it. And then the new, creepily smiling neighbors move in...
Extra Normal is a YA novel by Kate Alice Marshall, published in 2023.
Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite Peter having stabbed Charlie in the back and attempting to convince the Weavers to keep her captive, Charlie acknowledges that he's as much a victim of the Weavers as anyone, as Mrs. Weaver insists on keeping him around as a "pet". Charlie offers him a chance to leave them, but he's too terrified of them to attempt escape.
- Badass Normal: Charlie, her father, and the Agents Baxter and Pembleton. The end reveals that this is, ironically, Charlie's superpower: she's so normal that evil magic dissolves when it tries to feed on her, which is what happens to Mr. Weaver when he tries to kill her.
- Big Sister Instinct: Charlie doesn't have any of her siblings' or mother's powers, but she will stop at nothing to keep her siblings safe, be it from monsters, cultists, or each other.
- Cute Ghost Girl: Opal.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Mateo once accidentally ran out of the house after he'd transformed into a werewolf (which, due to his youth, is a large, playful puppy). Charlie, who was attempting to get the werewolf back inside without drawing too much attention, said that Mateo was her dog named Freckles. "Freckles" became the official nickname for Mateo's wolf form. Charlie doesn't think Mateo's ever forgiven her.
- Evil Doll: Miss Sinister. She's more cursed/annoying than evil, though, and Charlie's mother absolutely adores her. The family treats her as more of a rambunctious pet than anything.
- Family of Choice: Charlie is the only biological child of the Greers. Mateo is a werewolf, Opal is a ghost, and Gideon is a living science experiment. The Greers adopted each child they found simply because they needed a home, with the kids agreeing to stay and considering themselves a family (with Charlie getting mad at Peter when he pointed out her siblings didn't look like her). The same goes for Agents Baxter and Pembleton, who are considered part of the family despite not being related in any way.
- Faux Affably Evil: The Weavers appear to be unusually friendly, normal people. But they're brainwashing the neighborhood via green spiders so they can feed off of their energy. And Mrs. Weaver kidnapped Peter after killing his family because she wanted a pet.
- Happily Married: The Greers, along with Baxter and Pembleton.
- Honorary Uncle: A lot of the Division's members are familiar with the Greer family to the point that they're this trope to the Greer kids in all but name. The Operative regularly sends the kids gifts (which usually end up confiscated because he doesn't know that you're not supposed to give children weapons), and the head of the Division is Charlie's godmother. The standouts are Agents Baxter and Pembleton, who are often left in charge of the kids when the Greers go on missions and take the kids' safety very seriously (although Baxter always uses these "missions" as an excuse to bake an absurd amount of cookies, to his husband's irritation).
- The Men in Black: The Division of Extra Normal Investigations is a benevolent version of this. They investigate any supposed paranormal/supernatural activity, but they try to find ways to appease both humans and supernatural creatures. They only try to imprison/kill an entity if they prove to be evil (like the Weavers).
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Mateo, like most werewolves, transforms during the full moon. Here, however, he can transform into a dog with human intelligence at any time, with the moon being the only time where it happens involuntarily. It's also stated that he can't turn people yet because he's not fully grown.
- Pet Gets the Keys: Actually it's cursed ragdoll gets the phone... and the missing TV remote.
- Raised in a Lab: Gideon spent the first four years of his life in a laboratory, where he was given his telekinetic/telepathic powers through experimentation. When the Greers found out about this, the Division shut the lab down and adopted Gideon as their son.
- Unholy Matrimony: Mr. and Mrs. Weaver. They seem happy together... then again they seem happy about everything.
