Louisianas Way Home, a novel

Louisiana’s Way Home, a middle-grade historical  novel by Kate DiCamillo, took ahold of my heart somehow. I read it a couple of days ago, and it’s still hanging around in my mind. I think it’s the amazing combination of the quirky characters, the awful predicament Louisiana finds herself in, and the resolution that rings true.

The spunky main character, Louisiana Elefante, is being driven farther and farther away from her Florida home—where her best friends are, and her cat. Her ornery granny is driving, and she won’t turn around because she’s got a date with destiny. So when they stay overnight in a little Georgia town, Louisiana is trying to figure out how to use a telephone (it’s 1977) to find the number to call her best friends to come and get her. She fails.

She meets some unusual people in Georgia, some trying to help her including a boy with a crow that follows him everywhere, others less than helpful. Things get a lot worse for her, and finally (spoiler alert) they get better. We readers are assured that this orphan has found people who cherish her. She has indeed found a home.

 All these things work together to create a very memorable story.

Published by Candlewick Press in 2018.

Highly recommended, five stars. * * * * *

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@Barrie Summy