Customer Reviews

When the Road Ends

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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WOW! Hi, (...) I am 13 years old. At our school we have to get reading points and I really dont like to read. I went to the library and checked out When the Road Ends because a few of my friends had suggested it. I went home and read the first chapter. I was hooked immediatly! The book is sooo good! It is my all time favorite! The next day we had a school delay and I finished the whole book in 1½ hours. Now I like to read and I always get books by Jean Thesman. She is a GREAT writer!

This is a great story about a 12 year old girl , Mary Jack , and how she copes with trying to live in a cabin by the river with 14 year old rebellious Adam , "Jane" a young girl who doesn't talk , and "Aunt Cecile" a middle aged lady recovering from a head injury in a car accident which left her husband dead. This is a very good story accept I would like it more if Adam and Mary Jack fall in love and end up getting married when they are older and they take "Jane" as their daughter.

This is an incredibly moving story of the power of love. Four misfits find a way to become a family despite overwhelming odds against them. Mary Jack takes on the responsiblities no child should have to face. She is forced to trust Adam, even when she logically knows she shouldn't. And finally Mary Jack lets someone take care of her. Have kleenex nearby for this one.

A lifelong veteran of the foster care system, 12-year-old Mary Jack Jordan is determined to stay in the home she's currently in...no matter what it takes. Her "family" includes two other emotionally damaged foster children: 14-year-old Adam Correy, abandoned by his alcoholic mother; and 7-year-old Jane Smith, so dubbed because the horrors of her past life have rendered her unable to speak and tell anyone her true identity. Added to the mix is Aunt Cecile, their foster father's sister, who suffered brain damage in a recent car crash that killed her husband.

Fed up with all of them, foster mother Jill sends the group to a family cabin in rural Washington for the summer. Almost as soon as they arrive, their hired caregiver Gerry takes off, and the group is terrified that once their foster parents find out, they'll be taken away and put into yet another home.

Luckily, their foster father, Episcopal minister Father Matt, is known for refusing to see what he doesn't want to see. During his brief weekly visits to the cabin, his children and sister are able to make it seem as if Gerry has just stepped away for a few minutes, and they're doing just fine.

In truth, the group *is* learning to manage quite well. Despite numerous setbacks due to their various physical and emotional problems, each person is eventually able to help the others by tackling the things that scare them.

All in all, this is a wonderful story of a group of individuals facing incredible odds. Younger children might not fully understand the concept of foster care, nor the problems that often come along with children who've been placed within it. Likewise, the idea of a little girl like Jane -- abandoned on the side of the freeway with burn marks on her neck and chain whip scars on her back -- might also be frightening. Thesman, however, presents these children's stories without elaborating too much on what actually happened to them. Even Mary Jack, who seems to be the most held-together child of the three, doesn't go into any details about her origins, simply a laundry list of homes she's lived in since birth. This could provide ample room for discussion among parents/teachers and children, in a non-threatening form where children can learn as much as they're individually ready to hear. Even if not touched upon from a foster home perspective, children will enjoy this tale about a summer's adventure.

This is a great book. It is very surprising . In the end every thing was all right. I have never in my life read a book like this. I liked ths book more than any other book. It is a wonderful book. It may be a little sad but every thing turns out fine.

When The Road Ends is a great book about foster kids forced to move into the woods with their disfunctional Aunt Cecile. I think the stories moral is to show that kids can work together to solve very big problems. Problems they come across are, the kids and Aunt Cecile run out of food and need to ration their supplies. Another is that Adam and Gerry want to run away because they can't stand Aunt Cecile. At the start of their adventure the kids don't think they will be able to survive the problems they face, but as the story goes along they start to believe in themselves. I think the author Jean Thesman wants to send a message to the readers that kids or anybody can do anything they set their mind to.

When the Road Ends is about twelve-year-old Mary Jack, who is a foster child. Then her foster parents send her to live in a cabin with their other two foster children (one of them doesn't talk) and Father Matt's sick sister. This book was excellent!

If you like books that are not too long, then When the Road Ends is the book for you. The bad part about this book is it drags in a couple of spots. At the end though they really keep you hooked on the book by a whole bunch of problems happening. I have only read this book once and I already want to read it again. When the Road Ends really made me realize all the pain and suffering that foster children go through, moving from foster home to foster home. This is a great book and I would recommend When the Road Ends to anyone!