By Kate Dicamillo
227 pages
Amazon rating: 4.8/5, grades 5-6
Good Reads: 4.3/5
Common Sense Media: 5/5, Ages 10+
4Rbooks: 3/6, Grades 5-8
Synopsis:
Louisiana (12) and her grandmother live in Florida close to her friend Raymie and Beverly. One morning her grandmother wakes her at 3 AM and tells her it’s time to leave and escape the family curse. The journey takes them to Richford, Georgia. Louisiana misses her friends, her animals, and her life in Florida and schemes for a way to go back home.
In Richford, Louisiana meets Burke, a boy her age with a pet crow on his shoulder. With the help of Burke’s family, the local pastor, and her own inner resolve, Louisiana struggles, but learns how to become the person she was meant to be, despite the unpleasant circumstances of her life.
The story is told in first person with lots of inner dialogue as Louisiana works her way through a variety of problems.
Parental Guidance: Medium-High
Louisiana and her grandmother are scam artists and grifters.
Burke is a vending machine thief and skips school.
There are three different instances of parental abandonment.
Louisiana follows Burke, a boy she just met, into the forest to his empty
home.
Louisiana’s inner dialogue is not always respectful to the adults around her.
Recommendation: Low-medium
This is a companion book to Raymie Nightingale based on the character of Louisiana Elefante. I have enjoyed Kate DiCamillo’s books in the past. I’ve used Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux as novels for my book and movie club at school. I have recommended The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and I thought Raymie Nightingale was pretty good. Sadly, I wasn’t overly impressed with Louisiana’s Way Home.
Until the conclusion, it’s a dark and depressing story. The inner dialogue reminds me of the movie Inside Out, but without all of action and little of the joy. As such, it felt slow and was an easy story to set aside. There weren’t many “can’t wait to see what happens next” moments, especially because so many of the events are disturbing. My overall reaction was “meh.”
Girls 11-13 might relate to the inner dialogues of Louisiana and could enjoy the story for the strength that eventually comes through her. This might work better as a read aloud or read together where the depressing situations could be discussed and evaluated. Sensitive children might be bothered by the abandonment scenes.
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