The Wild Way Home

Sophie Kirtley's The Wild Way Home is a big-hearted forest adventure for 9 year olds about a twelfth birthday that goes badly wrong.

What happens

Charlie Merriam has wished for a brother or sister for as long as Charlie can remember. The forest behind the house is home, full of chase games with best friends Beaky and Lamont and a treasure box of finds (a badger skull, an owl pellet, a flint arrowhead).

Then, the night before Charlie turns twelve, baby Dara is born. Dad celebrates with a lemon French Fancy and a candle at three in the morning, which is just lovely.

But at the hospital something isn't right. Dara is tiny and grey, with a tube in his nose, and the doctors don't like the sound of his heart. Mum and Dad only have eyes for him. Then, behind a closed door, Mum makes a terrible sound.

And Charlie runs. Out of the hospital, up the hill and into Mandel Forest.

Down at the river, Charlie finds a child floating face down with a bleeding head. When Charlie goes for help, the forest has somehow changed. It's the Stone Age.

It's told by Charlie, in the here and now, so you're right inside all those jumbled feelings. There's excitement, jealousy, guilt and fear, sometimes all in one go. Charlie is honest about thinking the new baby isn't beautiful at all, and hating that thought.

This one might hit close to home for some families. A newborn whose heart isn't working properly, a hospital, parents falling apart and a lot of fear that the baby could die are all here. If your family has been through something like that, you might like to read it first.

For a child getting used to a new baby in the house, though, Charlie's mix of love and resentment could be a real comfort. Who hasn't felt a bit invisible when everyone's cooing over someone else?

What to read next

If they'd like another twelfth birthday that turns everything upside down, try Time Travelling with a Hamster. On his, Al gets a hamster and a letter from his dad, who died four years before. The time machine turns out to be a laptop in a tin tub!