Finding Home

Karen Kingsbury and Tyler Russell's Finding Home is a warm family story for 8 year olds about a girl who really, REALLY doesn't want to move.

What happens

The Baxters are driving from Ann Arbor to their new house in Bloomington, Indiana. Everyone in the car is cheering except Ashley. Her best friend Lydia is back in Michigan, and so is the only place she's ever called home.

The new house is tall and white with a long porch. Ashley takes one look and tells it, "You're pretty. But you're not home." (She's a girl who says exactly what she thinks.)

Then things go wrong in small ways. The removals truck breaks down, so the family sleeps on the floor. An owl hoots all night, and Ashley is convinced there are wolves outside. She refuses to unpack her boxes, just in case everybody changes their mind!

But little by little Bloomington sneaks up on her. When her little brother Luke knocks a whole can of paint across the porch, it's Ashley who says don't mop it, spread it. The entire family ends up covered in white. There's a secret rock in the woods for handprints. There's a girl three doors down who thinks kickball in the rain is still kickball.

Some chapters are told from her sister Kari's side instead. Kari finds the good in everything, while Ashley is the dramatic one who draws her feelings in a sketchbook. Plenty of readers will spot themselves in one sister (and probably their own sibling in the other).

It's gentle stuff, and the biggest worries are a new school and whether anyone there will like you. Faith is part of everyday life for the Baxters, too. Ashley talks to God at night when she can't sleep, and Mum and Dad pray and quote the Bible, so you'll know whether that suits your family.

For a child facing a move of their own, this could be a lovely one to share. It's honest that change is hard without ever making it scary.

What to read next

To meet the Baxters before they left Michigan, go back to Best Family Ever. It's set in snowy Ann Arbor, where the children are quite sure their family is never moving anywhere.