Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo
Expected Release: October 2nd 2018
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Source: NetGalley
Louisiana’s Way Home Synopsis:
Louisiana Elefante isn’t worried when her granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to leave home. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return.
Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to find a way home. Soon Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town. She starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana’s and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.)
Review:
A BIG Thank You to NetGalley and Candlewick Press for providing me a copy of “Louisiana’s Way Home” by Kate DiCamillo in exchange for my review. This was a sweet and endearing book mainly because of the ‘wily and resilient’ Louisiana.
I love Kate DiCamillo’s whimsical style of writing. She has a beautiful way of highlighting important issues like loss, sorrow and acceptance in a prominent manner for younger audience without making it too serious. In some ways, her books inspire adult readers to contemplate their own issues and how to make the right decisions. In this novel, we see Louisiana come to terms of who she is and who she wants to become. Even though Louisiana faces many obstacles, she is optimistic and focuses on the right solution. She provides a beautiful blend of humor, friendship and adventure in this tale. My favorite hilarious moments were when they go to the dentist, or when she comments on Bernice’s curlers. On a side note, I also learned some new terms like ‘sundering’ and ‘infinitesimally’ from this novel.
The only part that I didn’t enjoy much was how the Granny left Louisiana. The story becomes uncomfortable when Louisiana is alone in the motel. It was discomforting to see these scenes written in a nonchalant manner. It continues this way when she gets lost in the woods in the middle of the night. Moreover, I didn’t like the reason as to why Granny left her behind in the first place. It seemed like a very ridiculous reason to leave behind someone you have loved for many years. Anyway, apart from this scene, I absolutely adored this book!
This story is written from the first person narrative of Louisiana and makes the book feel very personal. All the characters mentioned are adorable and it very hard to dislike any of them (even Bernice and Miss Lulu). They are all distinctive, colorful and memorable in their own manner. The author even makes a creepy creature like a crow seem cute to have for a pet. My favorite character was Burke as I feel anyone would love to have a friend like him around.
Now that we have books on Louisiana and Raymie, can we expect the following book to be about Beverly? I will be definitely reading “Raymie Nightingale” after reading this beautiful novel to see if it is equally good. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Louisiana’s Way Home” and rate it 4 out of 5 stars.
