The Long Way Around
by Anne Nesbet
Intermediate, Middle School    Candlewick    256 pp.
9/24    9781536234725    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781536240016    $18.99

This survival novel is set in the awe-inspiring Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. Owen, Vivian, and Amy (two tweens and an eight-year-old) plan a late-summer overnight trip alone in the wilderness. Sisters Vivian and Amy are exploring their home state of California, and their cousin Owen is visiting from the East Coast. Their grownups camp nearby—they believe the kids’ experience on their own will do each of them some good. When an earthquake triggers a rockfall and their path back to the adults is blocked, the resourceful and determined children must take an uncharted path to safety. The cousins use their impressive skills and knowledge (they are excellent at food ­rationing, first aid, and more) as they encounter wildlife, volatile weather, and treacherous heights. Moments of excitement are interwoven with heartwarming scenes of bonding and introspection, as the trio gives one another “trail names” and has deep conversations about embracing the real world, fears around new beginnings, moving forward from trauma, and the power of love and nature to heal: “[Owen] felt this amazing mix of things, all at once: happy and sad and alive.” The plot—told in the third person and never too harrowing—is fast-paced and rich in setting. Sights, sounds, and smells are vividly delineated, creating a picturesque backdrop to center the cousins’ journey and its transformative effects.

From the ">September/October 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.