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Up a Road Slowly

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 · rating details · 2,615 ratings · 245 reviews

The Newbery Award-winning novel

From the author of Across Five Aprils and No Promises in the Wind comes her most beloved story of a girl's coming of age.

After her mother's death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, where she experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.

Hardcover, 192 pages

Published April 1st 1993 by Silver Burdett Press (first published January 1st 1966)

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Jan 20, 2012 Katie Tatton rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Without a doubt, beyond compare, my favorite book ever. Up a Road Slowly is the book sent to me by my closest aunt the fall after my father died. It came with a note telling me how much she treasured the book and hoped that it would find a place in my heart too. Whether it was because the book came from such an influence in my life or because I was still emotionally raw when I read it, (or maybe because it's a Newberry Award winning novel,) Up a Road Slowly struck a chord within me that has neve...more

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Mar 30, 2009 Coral Rose rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood, 2009, favorites, own

I first read this book in high school, when I found it while shelving books at the public library (I have that job to thank for so many favorite reads!) and I'm sure I read it 5 times between then and graduating from college. I just reread this book for the first time since college this past week, and was not disappointed.

This book is sweet, sincere and touching. Julie's innocent, earnest journey from confused seven-year-old to confident seventeen-year-old. In short, manageable chunks we observe...more I first read this book in high school, when I found it while shelving books at the public library (I have that job to thank for so many favorite reads!) and I'm sure I read it 5 times between then and graduating from college. I just reread this book for the first time since college this past week, and was not disappointed.

This book is sweet, sincere and touching. Julie's innocent, earnest journey from confused seven-year-old to confident seventeen-year-old. In short, manageable chunks we observe her struggles with her very similar and strong-willed guardian, her struggles to feel loved, her first boyfriend and subsequent understanding of the difference between love and enabling. What I like about it the most, though, is the reliance on family, functional or dysfunctional.

Julie's family supports Aunt Cordelia through her first meeting in years with the boy who broke her heart. Cordelia gently asks about Julie's father's feelings when considering where Julie should stay through high school. The joy when Julie recovers from the scar of first love lost. Julie's consideration of her niece's feelings.

Maybe because my family is so important and vital to me, I understand how you can love the very things about your family that drive you crazy, and how precious it is to have a family when the road we walk is sad or confusing. They don't always do the right thing, but sometimes the littlest gesture is the one we remember for years.

I cried this read-through, in that very early chapter where Julie is crying inconsolably in the closet and Cordelia crawls in and holds her and cries with her. When I came home for Thanksgiving right after Cori died, I got into my parents water bed and went to sleep. When I woke up, my sisters were there, one on each side, and we just talked quietly, remembering when Cori visited and just being together. I love this book because it reminds me of moments like that, when being a family is what's holding you together, imperfections and all.

Wow. Um. I don't know if this is a coherent review at all, but I feel like I should mention one more thing. One of the main negatives mentioned in other reviews about this book is Aunt Cordelia's statement that a woman becomes a woman when she loves a man. Perhaps, being a bit on the old-fashioned side, I don't find fault with this because I agree with her, but I think this statement is more than just an strong support of marriage. This statement is made in a context of not just love, but of self-sacrificing love. Not love that annihilates an entity, but a gracious love like that of Cordelia for Jonathan, a love that encompasses his frail, dying wife and supports him long after her hope of being his wife herself has died. I don't think Cordelia is suggesting that a single woman is incomplete, so much as that a person who has never truly loved someone more than themselves is incomplete. And you know, loving someone else unconditionally is a challenge that everyone should try to live up to, single or married, young or old.

And that is what I have to say about that. Katie, I hope this isn't too verbose for you. Talk about being a chatterbox. (less)

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Jun 27, 2008 Shelley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, youth, re-read, my-childhood

I love this book. I have loved it since I first read it back in third grade, and continued to love it this week. What I don't quite understand is WHY I love it. A lot of reviews here liken it to Anne of Green Gables, but outside of the very basic plot (girl goes to live with stern older woman), it's not at all similar, in plot or style. It's incredibly old-fashioned, in thoughts and terms and story. The language and how it flows is very 1960s, and reminds me a bit of Madeleine L'Engle's precocio...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Heidi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mg, ya

Because the disks were mislabeled, I began listening to the fourth and final CD first, but doing this didn’t hinder the reading much. In fact, perhaps this set the tone perfectly as both the narrator’s sing-song voice and the text reminded me strongly of Anne Shirley. As it turned out, the tone was not the only thing in common with L. M. Montgomery’s character. Julie Trelling, like Anne, has a strong interest in her English classes, including poetry, theater, and creative writing. She also recei...more

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Feb 24, 2012 Aspen Hunt rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really liked this book, because the plot was original. When I first began reading it, the conflict was set for me right at the beginning, when it states she will have leave do to the death of her mother and the moving in with her aunt. The setting in this book is undifinable, because it only describes the aunts house. It seems very modern to that time. There was plenty of worth while themes in this book they are well described and easy to understand. The characters are not beliveable, they wo...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Savannah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Up a road slowly
By Irene Hunt
Savannah Williams

Confused would be the word for Julie. Her life was confusing and sad. The loose of her mother left her empty and saddened. She did not understand why she would have to leave her warm home and live with her aunt and uncle. Julie her sister and brother went to live with their aunt Cordeilia. Their aunt was kind and loving. Their uncle was a wise and caring man who had an alcohol problem. Julie found herself the only child now living in her aunt’s home...more
Up a road slowly
By Irene Hunt
Savannah Williams

Confused would be the word for Julie. Her life was confusing and sad. The loose of her mother left her empty and saddened. She did not understand why she would have to leave her warm home and live with her aunt and uncle. Julie her sister and brother went to live with their aunt Cordeilia. Their aunt was kind and loving. Their uncle was a wise and caring man who had an alcohol problem. Julie found herself the only child now living in her aunt’s home. Christopher her brother was better off at a boarding school. Her older sister went and fell in love and had a child. In this book Julie found her self through trials, much like what Jane Eyre went through. The theme of this book is that nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams just as long as you set your mind to it!

Up a road slowly is related to Jane Eyre it has many differences and similarities. The similarities are that Jane and Julie booth lost their loved one and the ones that are important in their life. Both girls struggle with hardship. They both go threw trials and life learning experiences. Julie and Jane both had to move to their aunt’s house and live with their aunts. The girls also fell in love with men that they never new they would ever dream of falling in love with. Jane and Julie have had many same hardships in their life. This book up a road slowly was great I really loved it I would recommend this to teenage girls also women.

The girls have many similarities but they have a lot of differences. Julie moved to her loving aunt who was her schoolteacher who loved and took care of her niece Julie. Now on the other hand Jane had a mean nasty aunt who did not care for her at all. The time period was very different by 100 years. They both had very different personalities. Julie was very strong willed and had a big opinion. Jane was sensitive and did not always have a big say in things. The two books have big similarities and differences. Up a road slowly was a great book because it does not goo to slow and it was a great topic for a teenage girl. I think nothing would really make this book better I really liked it a lot. I think the author wrote this book because it wanted young adult girls because it won’t them to see how life can turn out no matter what happens to them. The audience needs to know that this book shows how you can reach for whatever you set your mind to and nothing can hold you back ever from getting to your dreams.
(less)

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Oct 02, 2011 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-medal

I really enjoyed this book. This was the second to last Newbery that I had to read to complete the list and didn't know what to expect. I feel an incredible connection with this book, as if I know the main character. The author describes character and personality so vibrantly. I'll let the book speak for itself with an embarrassingly long number of favorite quotations!

describing Uncle Haskell:
"He was a handsome man, this uncle who was both an alcoholic and a pathological liar. His face at fifty-...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Margaret added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008, newbery_medal

Well .... unfortunately I wasn't overly impressed with this book. For one thing, it bothered me that I couldn't quite ascertain the era in which the story takes place. The characters seemed to hold values of a bygone era (the importance for a woman to keep her house clean, the idea that it's a man's world [I think Uncle Haskell said that] & the notion that the aspiration of all young girls is to get married and become a good wife) and seemed old-fashioned even within the context of the story...more

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Jul 08, 2010 Jocelyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

(Spoilers ahead!) This Newbery Medal book came out in 1967 -- but I never read it until now. When seven-year-old Julie loses her mother, she also loses her home and her sense of security. She goes to live with her mother's sister at the family homestead. Aunt Cordelia has never married, but her brother (a narcissistic, essentially harmless alcoholic) lives in a separate house on the property. Aunt Cordelia teaches in a one-room schoolhouse, where as a young woman she coached her beau into higher...more

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Feb 19, 2010 Miz Lizzie rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childrensbooks, families, high-school, history, memoir, newbery-medal, romance, usa, writing, young-adult

The book is written in the style of a memoir, which gives it feel (at least to me) of really being a book about childhood and growing up for adults.

I was very frustrated by the lack of placement in time or place in the text, which was not assisted at all by the cover of the paperback copy that I read which features a pretty modern looking (if on the sentimental, traditional side) teenager. For a book published in the middle of the 1960s, it seemed to me to extraordinarily nostalgic of a simpler,...more The book is written in the style of a memoir, which gives it feel (at least to me) of really being a book about childhood and growing up for adults.

I was very frustrated by the lack of placement in time or place in the text, which was not assisted at all by the cover of the paperback copy that I read which features a pretty modern looking (if on the sentimental, traditional side) teenager. For a book published in the middle of the 1960s, it seemed to me to extraordinarily nostalgic of a simpler, more innocent time. I think the latest the setting could realistically have been was the 1950s.

I did not think it was well constructed at all. There were several points at which the author talks about things apparently have been going on for years but not a single mention of them is made until suddenly it becomes part of the "plot" (such as it was). For instance, it is not until Julie is a teenager and debating over going back to live with her father (who apparently, being a man, was constitutionally unable to raise children younger than teenagers on his own after his wife's death) that we suddenly hear about all these visits Julie has had with her father over the years. Then, near the end, Julie confides as if it should be obvious to the reader by now that she has always secretly wanted to be a writer when the only writing Julie has ever been shown to have any interest in are her high school English essays (and that is only brought up, it seems because her boyfriend has been getting her to write his essays as well).

I literally cringed when the message of the book was blatantly revealed as being "a woman is not complete until she is in love." And then indeed Julie suddenly manages to become that ideal perfect never-losing her-temper-always-doing-things-for-others-perfectly-understanding-of-others' feelings woman when she and Danny finally become a couple.

Yes, I absolutely loathed this book. I read it as a teenager in the 1970s but it didn't (thankfully) make much of an impact.

Having said that, however, I do recognize that there was a period in my life (ages 10-12) when I would have absolutely relished the "good girl" message, the sentimentality, and the soft understated romance. And, in the very conservative and religious community in which I work, I know that many parents and their tweens and possibly teens would be very appreciative of the traditional message in this Young Adult novel. (And, I do feel it was probably honored in 1967 at least in part as a Young Adult novel that deliberately stuffed the realities of life back in Pandora's box and showed instead a sweet, innocent, and, oh, so sentimental view of a girl's coming of age before the 1960s.)(less)

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May 10, 2011 Eden rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-to-buy

Julie was only seven years old when her Mother passed away. She and her brother, Chris, where sent off to live with their Aunt Cordelia. Julie goes from childhood to teenhood and learns much along the way.

This book was actually quite wonderful. I found it at my local library and thought it looked interesting. I'm very glad I picked this up and actually wish I had read it when I was a teenager. It was sort of like reading a diary of someone's life. Julie went through so many emotions. There were...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Kristi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery

I started this book off determined that it was going to be boring and I would just blah my way through it only because it is a Newbery. (Have to read all Newbery books, you know, one of those life quest things.) I usually dislike books that are just random stories from some person's life, most likely some young girl from a tragic background who always ends up being a great writer.

However, I loved this book. I don't know why because it was everything I thought it was going to be. But I loved it....more

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Aug 10, 2012 Kristen Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My favorite part of this book came when Julie got over her first boyfriend. Hunt's description of the way Julie felt and how she recognized what and why she was feeling it is just how I would want to teach my own daughters.
I related very well with all the relationships, not because I experienced anything like them, but because Hunt put into words perfectly all the emotional growth that occurs during those sometimes awful teen years. She mades growing up seem reasonable, normal, and transcendent...more

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Apr 24, 2009 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Few authors write with deeper perception and feeling than Irene Hunt, and this book—her Newbery Medal winner, for 1967—is a superb example of her skills.
With obvious compassion, the author gently takes us through the young life of Julie, from a small girl to an emerging college student, ready to move out on her own and take on the challenges that the world sees fit to present.
Any reader of any age or gender should be able to closely identify with parts of Julie's story: The mistakes she makes...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-award-winner

I picked this one up last night thinking that I would get a good start on it. But ended up finishing it instead!

It reminded me a bit of Anne of Green Gables, in that it's about a young girl (Julie) growing up with her spinister aunt (named Cordelia of all names) after her Mother dies. And it follows her life from 7 years old to high school graduation.

Julie is not quite as dramatic and imaginative as Anne but she does have a similiar temper and stubborness that gets her in trouble from time to...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Julie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This may not be a great American novel, but the characters are so beautiful and the story- stories within the story- gave me a lot to think about when I was younger. I think I was about 16 the first time I read it and have read it a few times since. I especially remember the poor little girl that all the girls dislike, I think her name was Agnes, and Sara Teasdale's poem "I shall not care". That came as a shock to me in my teenage brain. I related with Julie so much, how she wondered who loved h...more

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Feb 25, 2011 DaNae rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: z11-11-11, 5th-grade-reading-list, newbery-medal, realistic-fiction

Up a Road Slowly is a love story. Not a boy meets girl kind of story, but a girl meets maiden aunt kind of story. Julie is seven when her mother dies and she and her older brother are whisked of to live in the country with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster school teacher with a ram rod posture and a ram rod distinction between correct and not. Julie and Cordelia are instantly at odds. They rub against each other for the next ten years where they find that they have rubbed off on each other to the better...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Allison (The Allure of Books) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction-ya, 2012

At the beginning of Up a Road Slowly, Julie’s mother dies. It is decided that she will go live with her Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher that lives out in the boonies. This section reminded me a lot of something L.M. Montgomery would write (think Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon). Julie had to get used to living in a different place and starting at a different school – you know the drill. Also, speaking of Anne Shirley, Julie totally punched a guy when he tried to kiss her! YOU...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Myssi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood-books

I came across this book while looking for a different one and in a wave of nostalgia abandoned my search to reread this. I believe I was 10 or 11 when I first picked this book up. It quickly became a favorite, although even then it was a quick read. It is nothing more or less than the story of a girl from 7 to 17. The more memorable moments in her life, with enough time passing between that she is very easy to identify with, rather than seeming to have an unbelievable existence that so many book...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: newberry, female-author

Up a Road Slowly is the 1967 Newberry winner, although it seems like an odd choice. I really liked the book, but it wasn’t at all like most Newberry winners. First of all, there really wasn’t much action or adventure or much of a forward moving plot to speak of. It is mostly a girl’s overly insightful reflections upon her childhood and teenage years and the people that influenced her life for better or for worse. This doesn’t seem like a book I would have liked as a kid. I’m not sure what the ta...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Lauren Smith rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-awards, favorites

Up a Road Slowly is not an epic adventure. It is not a heartbreaking love saga. When I asked my mother why she loved this book and to remind me of the plot she simply replied: “Oh, it’s about a girl who goes to live with her aunt.” O….kay? But I came to find that it was so much more than that. It was a story about a girl not unlike myself who can be stubborn, makes mistakes, learns lessons, and finds love. As the story carries us from early childhood to the closing of high school we can relate a...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Sindhuja Selvam rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

as a coming-of-age book, Hunt does justice in portraying the temperamental Julie's emotions right from the time her mother is wrenched out of her life at a very tender age till the time she blossoms into a young woman able to identify what 'true love' really is. Julie's ability to feel deeply & achingly about all things beautiful somehow reminded me of young Anne Shirley! the book is a good read if you're into stories that plod along at a comfortable pace, describing the regular happenings i...more

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Jun 02, 2010 Darla rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Genre:children's fiction) I checked out 2 unfamiliar Newberry award winners last time I was at the library and both were "coming of age" stories. This was by far the best one, in spite of the multiple awards the other one won. This is a sweet story of a young girl, who after losing her mother, is sent to live with her spinster aunt at the age of 6 or 7. There are so many underlying themes in this book, such as the strength of family (even if it is a little dysfunctional at times), kindness, und...more

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Feb 26, 2012 Linda Lipko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-winner, newbery-award-author

While this 1967 Newbery Medal winner is not a page turner, nor does it have the gripping, heart wrenching events that occurred in some other Newbery award winners, such as Out of the Dust. Missing May or The Higher Power of Lucky, it is a book I would recommend.

The story is a simple one of a strong willed, stubborn, feisty seven year old who, when her mother died, moved in the country with an older, school teacher Aunt.

The beauty of the book is in the elegant writing of the author as she superbl...more

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Jan 31, 2010 Sharon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood

I'll definitely need to revisit this one, as when I read it in 1980, I described it as "the best book I ever have, or ever will, read."

I guess my teenaged instincts were right. This was a very touching account of a girl's childhood. Her mother dies when she is seven, and she and her brother aresent to live with her aunt, although her 17-year-old sister stays with the father. It has a very amorphous sense of time - the family lives in the country and the girl attends a one-room schoolhouse. Later...more

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Apr 30, 2013 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I remember my sixth grade teacher reading this book to us aloud during class, which was my favorite time of the day, so when I ran across it in a local thrift store I just had to get it. This is the story of young Julie, who loses her mother at the age of six and is sent to the country to live with her spinster schoolmarm aunt. As Julie grows up, she faces the normal hardships of any young woman growing up - not fitting into the popular crowd; the first boyfriend who turns out to be a big jerk;...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Priscilla rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, newberry-award-winners

I really enjoyed this coming of age book. It is a Newberry award winner and I understand why. Julie is young when her mother dies and she moves in with her mother's sister, Aunt Cordelia. Cordelia never married and teaches at the country school, which Julie attends. The plot is pretty predictable: Julie and Cordelia are very different, but they learn to love each other; the expected people marry/fall in love; the expected people die; etc. Yet it is a successful story because of how clever it is...more

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Dec 19, 2012 CJ rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book as a pre-teen and thought it was the most dreamy story ever. For some reason, it lodged in my brain this summer and I had to track down a copy to re-read. From this side of teendom, it's very different. I knew Uncle Haskell was a drunk when I was a kid, but didn't have a lot of sympathy for him. As an adult, both the lost dreams of Uncle Haskell and Aunt Cordelia were heart-breaking. Julie went from being a tragic heroine to a spoiled brat. It was a very quick read, but still en...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Irenic rated it 5 of 5 stars

This may be the first novel I read as a child of about nine. It was a gift from my sister who left to get married, so I related to the heroine of the story, and her narrative has never left me.

I don't remember all the details, but it's a set in the early 20th century, or even the turn of the century. The story follows a girl's growing up from childhood to young womanhood. I remember reading it over again at various times while growing up. Now that I know it's still in print, I think I'll gift it...more

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Jul 24, 2009 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Julie’s life changes completely when her mother dies and she is sent to live with her cold, school marmish Aunt Cornelia. At first, Julie hates her new life, but, as time passes, she grows to love and respect her aunt and to love her life in the country. Many years pass as Julie grows from a young child into an adult, as her sister marries, leaving Julie despondent for a time, as she develops friendships and romances.

A very good coming of age novel, but I will always love Irene Hunt's Across Fiv...more

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“It happens the world over - we love ourselves more than we do the one we say we love. We all want to be Number One, we've got to be Number One or nothing! We can't see that we could make ourselves loved and needed in the Number Two, or Three, or Four spot. No sir, we've got to be Number One, and if we can't make it, we'll rip and tear at the loved one till we've ruined every smidgin of love that was ever there.” — 14 people liked it

“...I wondered why so much had been written about love's pain and so little about the glorious relief of being delivered from love's pain.” — 4 people liked it

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