The Wild Way Home

Author:

Sophie Kirtley

Illustrator:

N/A

Published by:

Bloomsbury Children's Books

First Published:

1 Jul 2020

Ideal for readers aged

9-12y

My Review

A brilliantly written time-travel story, ‘The Wild Way Home’ explores loss and grief in the gentlest of ways. Charlie’s baby brother is unexpectedly born with a heart condition. Struggling to come to terms with the news, Charlie runs away into the woods behind his house and time-slips into the stone age, where he meets a boy also struggling to deal with the loss of his family. The two forge out an improbable friendship, overcoming language and cultural barriers to discover they are not so different after all. Charlie discovers what it means to be a big brother and how to face life’s challenges with the help of his friends and family rather than running away from his problems. I know it sounds like a wild and improbable mix for a story, but it really works!

Heads Up!

Charlie's baby brother is born with a heart condition which requires surgery and Charlie struggles with the shock of this after his birth.

Publisher Review

When Charlie's longed-for brother is born with a serious heart condition, Charlie's world is turned upside down. Upset and afraid, Charlie flees the hospital and makes for the ancient forest on the edge of town. There Charlie finds a boy floating face-down in the stream, injured, but alive. But when Charlie sets off back to the hospital to fetch help, it seems the forest has changed. It's become a place as strange and wild as the boy dressed in deerskins. For Charlie has unwittingly fled into the Stone Age, with no way to help the boy or return to the present day. Or is there? What follows is a wild, big-hearted adventure as Charlie and the Stone Age boy set out together to find what they have lost - their courage, their hope, their family and their way home.