One Came Home, by Amy Timberlake, is a Newbery Honor book that I found really charming, mainly due to its wonderful voice. It’s written in first-person, and the author infuses so much personality into the voice that I could not help being drawn in completely. Here’s an example of this personality from one of my favorite passages:
“I awoke, however, to a spider diving, arms wide, for my chin. The spider stopped short and hung—its knot of eyes staring. I blinked and it pivoted, pulling itself back up into the twigs of the lean-to. If that wasn’t unpleasant enough, I turned over and rolled face-first into the spider’s previous knitting. As I frantically wiped at my cheek, something popped several times in succession under my elbow, followed by a disagreeable wetness. I jerked upright into a seated position, and put my head into more spiderweb. When I was finally able to check my sleeve, I saw two caterpillars (or what was two caterpillars) soaking into the plaid.”
Georgie is the narrator of this story, and she is going on a quest through the wilderness to find her sister, Agatha, whom everyone believes is dead. Georgie, however, does not believe Agatha is dead. She embarks on a dangerous and humor-filled journey—with most of the humor coming from her own observations.
One Came Home was a compelling tale full of twists and turns, but what made it really stand out was the way it could make your heart race in one moment and make you laugh out loud in the next. It was country, historical, and fun. Georgie’s voice and character were demonstrated in everything—her descriptions of people, her descriptions of places, her accounts of what happened.
Here’s Georgie’s account of coming into contact with a cougar on her journey:
“My mind, on the other hand, jumped over the moon and ran off with the spoon. It listed what it saw by every possible name. It thought the list forward: catamount, cougar, American Lion, painter, red tiger. It thought it backward: Red tiger, painter, American lion, cougar, catamount. My mind pinched the list in the middle, folded it over, and thought it again: Painter, cougar, catamount, red tiger, American lion.
“It distressed me to discover that running vocabulary lists was my minds’ behavior during direst need.”
One of my favorite features of this book was that it was narrated by a strong, smart girl during a time in our history when women were not always seen as strong and smart. It was brilliant, weaving history with strong will and dedication. Georgie took on the world like a 13-year-old Annie Oakley.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this book recommendation. Be sure to visit my recommendation page if you’re interested in seeing some of my best book recommendations. If you’re looking for some new books to read, stop by my starter library, where you can get a handful of my books for free.
*The book mentioned above has an affiliate link attached to it, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on it and purchase. But rest assured: I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them.
