
The Wrong Way Home
(newbery Honor Award Winner)
Random House Children's Books · Print & ebook · April 1, 2025
Twelve-year-old Fern believes she's living a noble life--but what if everything she's been told is a lie?
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- Who it’s for
- A close, thoughtful read about trust, belonging, and the nerve to choose your own rules.
- Themes
- Self-trust, Questioning beliefs, Personal independence
- Genres
- Growing Up
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Twelve-year-old Fern believes she's living a noble life--but what if everything she's been told is a lie? This is a huge-hearted story about a girl learning to question everything—and to trust in herself. A NEWBERY HONOR BOOK • A CALIBA GOLDEN POPPY AWARD FINALIST • A KIRKUS REVIEWS AND BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR Fern’s lived at the Ranch, an off-the-grid, sustainable community in upstate New York, since she was six.
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The work is hard, but Fern admires the Ranch's leader, Dr. Ben. So when Fern’s mother sneaks them away in the middle of the night and says Dr. Ben is dangerous, Fern doesn't believe it. She wants desperately to go back, but her mom just keeps driving. Suddenly thrust into the treacherous, toxic, outside world, Fern can think only of how to get home. She has a plan, but it will take time. As that time goes by, though, Fern realizes there are things she will miss from this place—the library, a friend from school, the ocean—and there are things she learned at the Ranch that are just...not true. Now Fern will have to decide. How much is she willing to give up to return to the Ranch? Should she trust Dr. Ben’s vision for her life? Or listen to the growing feeling that she can live by her own rules?
Learning to Question
A close, thoughtful read about trust, belonging, and the nerve to choose your own rules.
Come here for
- A girl rethinking the people and beliefs she once trusted
- The pull between a place called home and a wider world
Expect
- An emotionally grounded story of changing loyalties
- A gradual shift from certainty toward self-trust
Where it sits
| Growing Up | 72% |
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Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Abuse & Healing
- Big Feelings
- Homelessness & Poverty
- Authors
- Kate O'Shaughnessy
- Publisher
- Random House Children's Books
- Published
- April 1, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Self-trust · Questioning beliefs · Personal independence
- Reading lane
- Abuse & Healing