Customer Reviews

Stopping To Home

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's 1806 in the small village of Wiscasset, Maine, and eleven-year-old Abbie Chambers and her four-year-old brother, Seth, are on their own. Their mother has just died, and they haven't heard from their father, a sailor, in years. Abbie takes a position helping the young wife of Captain Chase, an ailing sea captain, on the condition that her brother be given a home there as well, so that he will not have to be sent to an orphanage. When the sea captain dies, the Widow Chase is left alone with no income and a baby on the way. Abbie and Seth are dependent on Widow Chase, but in a way, she is dependent on them, too. This was a heartwarming historical novel about a girl's struggle after her mother's death to keep her brother with her against all odds. I highly reccomend this book.

This book was a great book and I really enjoyed reading it. I could really relate to the characters and the author really described the character! It was so well descripted that I felt like I had known these characters all my life! This book is a must to read and its a great book!

Lea Wait has written a sensitive and historically accurate story of life in early Wiscasset, Maine. Two children are suddenly orphans in the wake of a smallpox epidemic. Their father has been off at sea for far too long. Will a newly-widowed woman take them in if 11-year-old Abbie works for her, even if Abbie has a 5-year-old, mischievous brother? Will the children be able to stay there after the widow's baby is born? And what about their father, who was never too good a father or husband in the first place? Wait probes the issues of home and family with splendid results, and keeps the tension rising at the same time. Her writing is intelligent, and her sense of place is sure, with careful research obvious. (Of course, it helps that she lives across a bay from Wiscasset, in a historical family house) Wait has several other books in the offing, both Young Adult and Adult Mystery. We should all look carefully for her subsequent books. This is a writer to remember.

As a New Englander, now living in New Mexico, I must say that Ms. Wait's book brought back so many memories. She has captured the sounds, smells, and day-to-day activity of life in a small New England maritime community in such a way as to draw the reader into the story. The time is the early 19th century, but even with the passage of almost ten decades, there is so much that remains the same today in New England.
Ms. Wait's characters, especially young Abbie, who is trying to find a home for herself and her five-year-old brother; and the recently widowed, pregnant Lydia Chase, are portrayed with great sensitivity and ring true. As Abbie and Lydia Chase try to deal with the uncertain future, they find that they have great inner resources.
Set against a historical background of a smallpox epidemic, runaway slaves, and the "impressing" of sailors, Ms. Wait has written a jewel of a book.

On the surface, Stopping to Home seems simple. Two children who have lost their family find a new one. But they do so within the confines of an 1806 Maine seacoast community, and ten months in which they, and the reader, experience life in early 19th century Maine. The heroine, Abbie, is strong and resourceful, and her brother Seth is a delight. Highly recommended.

Abbie & Seth Chambers are memorable characters who I really enjoyed reading about. They live in a world far from today's, but cope with problems (like figuring out their own futures,) that kids today also struggle with. I've recommended Stopping to Home to lots of my friends!

The story of Abbie and Seth, and how they find a new home after their mother dies, is bound to become a classic. Wait creates the setting so deftly that the salt breeze is sure to drift in your window . . . no matter where you are when you pick up the book. The characters are engaging, and the plot has just the right amount of suspense.
This is a great read for kids or for adults! I enjoyed it, and so did my 7th grade students.
Elizabeth Park

I love this book . It is awsome . In the begining it is just a little bit slow but stick with it it is very very worth it !!!!
I would recomed this book for ages 11 and up . It is the best book ever . If you are considering buying it , Please do .

I'm a lot older than 12, but I loved this book, and shared it with several friends who grew up in Maine, as well as with my grandchildren. The story is moving and credible and has more complexity than meets the eye ... but the beauty is in the background details about early nineteenth century Maine. Layering pine boughs around houses in fall to protect against snows ... high church pews that keep out drafts ... cooking fiddleheads and dandelions in the spring .... I loved this book, and so did my three grandchildren. Although they were amazed at what children of 4 and 11 were expected to do in those days! It inspired some interesting talks about the past. Definitely recommend this book.

Nothing really bad happened to the kids in this book. Widow Chase was almost too nice to them, and she let them live in her house. And the girl's little brother hardly got into any trouble, and was hardly ever a problem. Better for younger readers.