All the Way Home (Hardcover)

by Patricia Reilly Giff (Author) "Outside, the milk truck rattled along Midwood Street, the horse clopping, the bottles vibrating in their cases..." (more)
Key Phrases: green lace curtains, Windy Hill, Billy Nightingale, Geraldine Ginty (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Though worlds apart, city girl Mariel and Brick, a farmer's son from upstate New York, have a lot in common. They're both strong-willed, fiercely independent, and fervent Brooklyn Dodgers fans. Their divergent paths merge when Brick's family's orchard is destroyed by fire, and his parents send him to stay with Mariel and her adoptive mother in 1941 Brooklyn. Though excited by the chance to see his beloved baseball team play in person, Brick can think of little else but getting back to Windy Hill and saving what's left of the apple trees. Unexpected help comes in the form of Mariel, whose big heart cannot always overcome the weakness of her polio-stricken legs. Determined to help Brick and discover the identity of her birth mother, Mariel finds a way to get them both to Windy Hill--where Brick's trees and the hospital where Mariel was born await--one shaky step at a time. Author of the much lauded Lily's Crossing, Patricia Reilly Giff has written another lovely work of historical fiction that perfectly evokes a long-past time and place. Here, we can't help but smell Brick's apples and hear the cheers of hopeful Dodgers fans in Ebbets Field. A wonderful story of friendship and personal triumph for the preteen set. (Ages 9 to 12) --Jennifer Hubert

From Publishers Weekly
Newbery Honor novelist Giff (Lily's Crossing) brings together two appealing young characters in this story of friendship, family and finding where one belongs. When fire destroys the apple crop on his family's upstate New York farm in 1941, Brick's parents must find work elsewhere and send their son to live temporarily in Brooklyn with Loretta, an old friend. Loretta, a nurse, years before adopted a young polio victim, Mariel, whom she had cared for in a hospital located near Brick's family's farm. Though she loves Loretta, the girl is determined to find her birth mother, of whom she has faint memories. Mariel is drawn to the likable Brick, yet initially her embarrassment at her polio-scarred legs (which, in her mind, "curved like the pretzels in Jordan's candy store") prevents her from talking to him. But when he shares his resolve to return home to help a beloved elderly neighbor harvest his apple crop, Mariel encourages him to make the journey. Impulsively, she decides to accompany him and to visit the hospital where she was taken when stricken with polio, hoping to find clues to her mother's identity. The pieces of the plot snap together a bit too easily and snugly as Giff solves each youngster's dilemma. More credible is the emotion that runs high and affectingly throughout the narrative, as well as the many period details. Ages 8-12.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 169 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; F edition (October 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385322097
• ISBN-13: 978-0385322096
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #330,830 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Okay....., August 5, 2002

By A Customer

This book was alright, but it was kind of boring....I expected alot more after reading Lily's Crossing, which I really liked alot. It was one of those books that you count how many pages you have left till it's over.....

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All the Way Home , November 18, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: All the Way Home (Paperback)

The book called All the Way Home by Patricia Reilly Giff is a very good book. It's about a boy named Brick. He and his family used to live in a small house on an apple orchard but when a fire destroys it his parents have to find work. And Brick has to go live with his parent's friend Loretta. Loretta lives in Brooklyn with her adopted daughter Muriel.
Muriel once had polio at a hospital in Windy Hill were Brick used to live. Loretta was a nurse at the hospital that Muriel went to and she adopted her because her mother never came back for her. So this story is about Muriel trying to find her mother and Brick trying to get back to Windy Hill to save the apple harvest.
I liked this book and I would recommend this book because it is very exciting. This book gets right to the point and you never want to put it down. I liked how it had two stories weaved together and how Brick and Muriel both had some kind of similarities with in each other. I thought the book All the Way Home was a very good book for all ages.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Can't Miss This Book, December 29, 2001

By	cindy cook (Phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

A young girl searches for truth of her beginings in life and discovers how precious she is. Even with polio a young nurse still wants to adopt her and raise her as her own. Her adoptive mother believes she can do anything, even with polio, so she wants her to go out there and make a difference. Truly not a story to be overlooked or past by. It you never read another book.... read this one.