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Up a Road Slowly

Irene Hunt

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 6,392 ratings · 591 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.

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Paperback, 197 pages

Published January 4th 2005 by Berkley (first published 1966)

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May 07, 2010 Katie Tatton rated it it was amazing · 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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Feb 25, 2009 Coral Rose rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: childhood, favorites, 2009

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 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. ...more

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Feb 19, 2010 Miz Lizzie rated it did not like it

Shelves: childrensbooks, high-school, writing, memoir, newbery-medal, usa, romance, families, history, 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, 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.) ...more

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Sep 06, 2020 Manybooks rated it did not like it

Shelves: families, women-and-girls, book-reviews, childrens-literature, unappealing-characters, no-sense-of-time-and-place

So I am of course well aware that Irene Hunt’s 1966 novel Up A Road Slowly won the 1967 Newbery Award. But from a personal reading pleasure point of departure, I have indeed and nevertheless found main protagonist Julie’s coming of age journey and story totally and utterly disappointing in almost every way and have indeed also found so many (at least to and for me) problematic issues with Irene Hunt’s presented text that in my opinion (and the novel’s Newbery Award notwithstanding), Up a Road Sl So I am of course well aware that Irene Hunt’s 1966 novel Up A Road Slowly won the 1967 Newbery Award. But from a personal reading pleasure point of departure, I have indeed and nevertheless found main protagonist Julie’s coming of age journey and story totally and utterly disappointing in almost every way and have indeed also found so many (at least to and for me) problematic issues with Irene Hunt’s presented text that in my opinion (and the novel’s Newbery Award notwithstanding), Up a Road Slowly definitely does rather leave everything to be desired.

Now first and foremost, I do very much consider the rather obvious lack of a sense of specific time in Up a Road Slowly both annoying and majorly frustrating. I mean from the publication date, Up a Road Slowly was written in the 1960s. But there is nothing in Irene Hunt’s narrative that specifically points out that this is actually the case, that Up a Road Slowly is set in the 60s, and conversely, there is also really nothing that somehow places Up a Road Slowly into an earlier era either, leaving a story that feels rather temporally floating and removed at best and for that matter not even all that realistic regarding a sense of geographic place. And really, and for me personally, a coming-of-age story truly does need to have a sufficiently realistic time and place background and setting in order to feel authentic, but from where I am standing, Up a Road Slowly does not ever really demonstrate or achieve this.

Furthermore and even more troubling, with main protagonist Julie, I have truly within the pages of Up a Road Slowly found her a mostly rather infuriating and unappealing character, and how she has been conceptualised by Irene Hunt as rather strange and often not all that realistic (with Julie’s thoughts and musings at the age of seven feeling much too mature and nuanced for that particular age but with her emotions and attitudes as she, as Julie, enters her teens often seeming woefully immature and not all that age appropriate). And yes, even though much of Up a Road Slowly is obviously meant to represent a display of Julie’s innermost thoughts, dreams and points of view, of Julie being in her own head so to speak, I still do tend to find Julie rather majorly annoying for all that, not all that likeable and also therefore do consider partaking of her innermost musing rather tedious and uninteresting.

But indeed, what has finally decided me on only rating Up a Road Slowly with but one star (and not the three stars I was originally toying with) is actually and definitely twofold in nature. For one, while I obviously (and as already mentioned and sufficiently explained above) do not tend to find Julie and how she presents herself in Irene Hunt’s narrative as all that appealing and relatable, if the secondary characters, if the supporting characters encountered in Up a Road Slowly had also not been so stereotypical and generally lacking in textual depth, I probably could have handled and stomached Julie being so very much personally unappealing as a main protagonist much better and more lastingly (but really, an unappealing to and for me main character, combined with cardboard flat and totally on the surface secondaries, this was and remains just a wee bit too much reading aggravation). And for two, I also and equally cannot and will not (and even with Up the Road Slowly having been penned over fifty years ago) accept that horrible message of Julie’s Aunt Cornelia that a woman is supposedly only a true woman once she is in love and has found herself a man (a future husband). Because sorry, but such an attitude is (in my opinion) both totally insensitive and also basically relegates all women who are unmarried or who have in fact chosen to remain single onto the proverbial manure heap of life, and there is simply NO WAY, I am ever going to even remotely be accepting of that kind of an attitude (and I in fact do believe that Irene Hunt in Up a Road Slowly considers Aunt Cornelia to be speaking the truth here and for Cornelia's viewpoint of women needing to fall in love and to get married in order to be truly considered fulfilled as bona fide women as something to unfortunately be actively copied, as to be emulated). ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Margaret added it

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. I ...more

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Jun 03, 2017 Carol Bakker rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cried, kidlit, 2017, family, newberry, grief

After I posted a story of a telephone interchange I had as a girl shortly after my mom's sudden death, a friend remarked that my story reminded her of this book.

Last night I needed some escapist literature. I always say, Better an excellent children's book than some shoddy pulp fiction. I was in the perfect melancholy mood to appreciate Irene Hunt's novel in a minor key. I read it in one sitting and my responses have been brewing ever since.

Will it be a five star book for you? I don't know. The ...more

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Feb 06, 2011 DaNae rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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

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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Jul 21, 2014 Karen rated it liked it

This book was first published in 1966, and it shows. Like, you can definitely tell from the get go that not only does the story take place a while ago, but it’s definitely written in that young-adult style of the past. Do you know what I mean? To me, the stories and characters in most YAs from 20+ years ago feel more removed—like, the emotions feel more sugarcoated and distant or something. Anyway, while there’s nothing wrong with that style, it did take me a while to get into the book because o ...more

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Jul 08, 2010 Jocelyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

(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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Jun 23, 2008 Shelley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read, my-childhood, youth, literature, 1989, 2008

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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Jul 19, 2012 Kristin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, audiobook, rereads

I bought the audiobook, and I’m so happy I did. I love this book so much. I have read the book so many times that as I listened to the narrator I’d think, “I would have said that differently.” The narrator was fine. I’m so glad I have another way to enjoy my favorite book.

I just finished this beautiful book again. And this time, I felt such a strong longing to know these characters personally. I love this book so much.

This is such a beautiful coming of age stories. I've lost count of how many ...more

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Oct 15, 2019 Candychaser21 rated it really liked it

This is kind of like"little women" meets "little house on the prairie." The kind of story where you journey through several years of someone's life , and the people around them. It's interesting to watch Julie grow up in this Newberry medal winning book. B+ ...more

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Mar 01, 2017 Møstʌfy̍ rated it did not like it

Shelves: dnf

DNF
I found it boring and figured the whole book is gonna be about ordinary events in an ordinary girl's life. So, no thank you. ...more

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Aug 30, 2018 Amy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: recommended-to-me, angst, audio, sweet

Very much a coming of age story, sweet but angsty. It is a nice combination of not too intense but still full of underlying drama.

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Apr 25, 2020 Sophie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This was such a cute sweet book! It was a very easy read but I was very impressed the way the characters were developed over such a short book. They all had very realistic personalities which made them very easy to relate too. I would definitely recommend this book!

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Aug 13, 2011 Thomas Bell rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery-winners

Slowly is right, though suddenly at times. The book is about a girl who, at 7 years old, is transferred to her aunt's house because her dad is single and thus (in the author's opinion) unable to care for her properly. The girl grows up and discovers who she is and what different kinds of relationships mean to her. The sentences flow smoothly and are well written - give the author an A for completing a marvelous writing assignment. However, the story moves very slowly but jumps from one setting t Slowly is right, though suddenly at times. The book is about a girl who, at 7 years old, is transferred to her aunt's house because her dad is single and thus (in the author's opinion) unable to care for her properly. The girl grows up and discovers who she is and what different kinds of relationships mean to her. The sentences flow smoothly and are well written - give the author an A for completing a marvelous writing assignment. However, the story moves very slowly but jumps from one setting to another almost invisibly, so it sometimes takes a while to catch up to what the new situation is.

And then she describes some things too much. For example, she could have said that "even the windshield wipers, with their fruitless swishing back and forth, echoed the feeling in the car that rainy day." However, she spends almost an entire page on those stupid wipers and the symbolism behind them the 12-year-old was thinking about. Then she brings them up again when she didn't feel so somber anymore. Urgh.

I was also a little frustrated with the 'better' way her step-mom taught. She wanted the kids to think for themselves, but the example the author gave of that was a writing assignment for the kids to write what Thoreau would think of Federal funding of Public Education, right after reading his book 'Civil Disobedience.' In this is the hidden assumption that this Federal funding is bad, and this belief is being pushed on the kids. This is something I very much dislike about the way some teachers teach, and the author praised this sneak in this book as a way to help kids to think for themselves. Yuck.

Also, while trying to show why people should treat mentally disabled kids better, the author then goes on to proclaim, after the kid (whom the author calls 'retarded') dies, that it was better for them so that they don't have to live such an awful life and better for future society as well since we won't have her mixed up in the gene pool. Yes, and all while trying to say how we should treat those people better.

And lastly, the book implies that it is every girl's biggest dream to grow up and get married, and since the guy was so nice as to marry her everything she does from thence onward should be in servitude of her husband, who really doesn't need to do any more. I mean, he married her, right? What more can be expected? She owes him for that. ...more

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Aug 26, 2016 Bethany rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-in-2016

Read for 5420 class

I am so thankful that jFics have come a long way since Up a Road Slowly was published in 1966 because this book was just awful.

Firstly, the emotions Julie experiences are much too mature and nuanced for a seven-year-old, which doesn't lend verisimilitude to the narration, even though it is told from adult Julie's perspective. This adult point-of-view also lends a didactic tone to the overall story, which adds to the impatience and frustration I felt as I read Up a Road Slowly Read for 5420 class

I am so thankful that jFics have come a long way since Up a Road Slowly was published in 1966 because this book was just awful.

Firstly, the emotions Julie experiences are much too mature and nuanced for a seven-year-old, which doesn't lend verisimilitude to the narration, even though it is told from adult Julie's perspective. This adult point-of-view also lends a didactic tone to the overall story, which adds to the impatience and frustration I felt as I read Up a Road Slowly.

Additionally, the emotions are told to the reader, not shown, which makes for drab content and uninvested readers. However, the theme of the story that induced metaphorical vomiting was that a girl needs a man to be complete- that she can't even be complete in her platonic, non-romantic emotions without experiencing true love. Just. No. No woman should ever have to feel like they are incomplete without having experienced love. A man does not make a woman "complete".

Lastly, there is absolutely no historical context. The entire story is told in a small-town bubble. Now, I know that living in a rural community and/or small village often feels like being disconnected from the world at large, but readers never receive a glimpse of happenings outside of the town to clue them into the year or even decade. There are cars, but Julie and Danny both are familiar with riding horses and trot together regularly. Girls mostly seem to wear dresses, especially in public, but pants aren't completely forbidden or taboo. Uncle Haskell is an alcoholic who buries his empty bottles down by the creek, which hints that it's during Prohibition in the 1920's, but strict and demanding Aunt Cordelia never rails against his drinking, as she most likely would if it were the Prohibition Era. There are no cultural clues, either: no movies, actors, famous people, or books mentioned outside of Jane Austen and Shakespeare, who have been around for centuries. I just want to know when this book takes place so I can better create a picture in mind as I read. Should I imagine Danny's car is an old Model T or is it a new Buick Century?

Between the overly mature emotions of the protagonist and didactic tone, the vomit-inducing true love theme, and the lack of any historical context, I would have never finished Up a Road Slowly if I hadn't had to read it for class. ...more

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Sep 14, 2018 Lisa Elis rated it liked it

Shelves: 3-star-books, 2018-reads, hi-fi

A good book. I used to hear about this author in English textbooks, I think, so I thought to give her a go. Set in the past, so that was interesting. It's about a girl who is sent to live with her aunt after her mom dies + she has to learn tough life lessons + grow up. It's a coming of age story and not terribly exciting, but still good.

What I liked -

. Uncle Haskell. I know that's weird considering his questionable character but still. I really liked him.

. The life difficulties Julie faced. Like ...more

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Jan 01, 2015 Phil Jensen rated it it was ok

This book is so plainly zoned for 12 year old girls that I felt like I was trespassing while I read it, but here goes...

This novel details the awkward, hormonal, frequently unpleasant growth pangs of a girl slowly approaching womanhood. The main character was unappealing in a way that made the book hard to get through. In contrast, Jacob Have I Loved covers the same ground with an even more unappealing character who nevertheless held my interest. In Paterson's novel, I understood where the chara ...more

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Jun 02, 2011 Lauren Smith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: childrens, 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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Jul 16, 2013 Ada rated it it was amazing

It says they went up the road slowly, but it went too fast for me! It's only 107 pages, and I loved experiencing Julie's life with her and all the interweaving of the people around her. To see her come to grips with her situation from losing her mother at age 7 to accepting the goodness of the people around her was a great journey for me. It wasn't maudlin or preachy. I learned right along with her and didn't want her to leave me on my own. I can definitely see why this qualified for a Newbery a ...more

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Oct 17, 2016 elena bomfim rated it really liked it

This book is a love story but also about a young girl that comes to grow up in the story. It takes place in the mid 1900s. She goes through tragic events, such as her mother dying, school problems, dating, and family issues. I definitely recommend this book if someone is looking for a book that would touch them and make them think about what they are doing in their lives. It really touched me and I've acted different with people ever since. ...more

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Jan 06, 2014 Sue rated it really liked it

I have half a mind to steal this book from the library. It seems almost necessary so Julie can take her rightful place on the shelf next to Laura and Anne. One of my favorite things is the unique ability a book has to make the tears burn behind my eyes and my heart ache just so. Irene Hunt's Up a Road Slowly does just that. Utterly lovely. ...more

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Dec 15, 2015 Marita rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club

I had to read this for school but recently read it again. Loved it even more this time. A gentle book about growing up, with many life lessons along the way.

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Jul 10, 2018 Kaia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audience-middle-grade, 2018, challenge-newbery, audience-young-adult

This books is a very interesting mix of early era Newbery winners (glorification of the past and rural "honest" living, clear moral of the story, and complete with a few cringeworthy moments, (view spoiler) ...more

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May 16, 2020 Jackie B. - Death by Tsundoku rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, audiobook, coming-of-age, morals, young-adult, historical-fiction, middle-grade, prize-winning, newbery-award

In many ways, Up a Road Slowly reminds me of a modern Anne of Green Gables. We follow Julie's experiences growing up in an episodic nature in the order Julie experiences them as she grows up. Each story might seem innocent at the start, but all come with a moral lesson no matter how frivolous! In a similar way, Julie sees friends come and go, hates and loves boys, and wants to adventure in the world. She's not quite as dramatic as dear Anne Shirley, but she often comes close.

The biggest differen ...more

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Jun 15, 2018 Malissa Bishop rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rereads

Reading this is like visiting a fond memory from my past. I first read this book when I was 10, again at 14, and now at 30 have read it a third time. I have enjoyed it each and every time and since reading it and as an adult now appreciate it more. For me it was very easy to get lost in the writing and the story. A timeless coming of age story with the love of family and a little romance thrown in.

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Nov 30, 2019 Mariangel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: newbery

I enjoyed this coming-of-age story, whose setting and style reminded me of the Anne of Green Gables novels. After her mother dies, 9-year-old Julie goes to live with her stern single aunt who teaches the 1-room village school. But as time passes, she grows closer to her and learns to appreciate what she is learning from. The novel takes us through Julie's high school years till her graduation, when she is about to start college and a 4-year separation from her childhood boyfriend. ...more

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Sep 02, 2020 Cheryl rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Read for the Newbery Club in Children's Books, here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Ah me. The more I write, the less I like the book.
And yet. I think that I will give it two stars because I did like the literary references, the odd bits of poetry quoted at appropriate times. ...more

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Sep 24, 2015 Benji Martin rated it really liked it

Originally reviewed at Newbery Pie, https://newberypie.wordpress.com/2015...

Two weeks ago, if you would have stopped me in the street and said, “Quick! Name an Irene Hunt novel!” I would have automatically responded with, “Across Five Aprils!” I’m not even sure I knew Up a Road Slowly existed until I saw that it was next on the Newbery list. First I want to say that I was very impressed with the writing in this novel. It’s only 186 pages in paperback, but there is a total, but subtle character t Originally reviewed at Newbery Pie, https://newberypie.wordpress.com/2015...

Two weeks ago, if you would have stopped me in the street and said, “Quick! Name an Irene Hunt novel!” I would have automatically responded with, “Across Five Aprils!” I’m not even sure I knew Up a Road Slowly existed until I saw that it was next on the Newbery list. First I want to say that I was very impressed with the writing in this novel. It’s only 186 pages in paperback, but there is a total, but subtle character transformation in Julia the protagonist. I remember finishing the book and thinking, how did she change that much, that subtly in so few pages? The answer is simply that it’s really good writing.

Julia isn’t a very nice girl when we first meet her, but as someone very wise once told me. Show me a bitter person, and I’ll show you a hurt person. Life has dealt Julia a hard blow. Her mother has died of the same sickness that left her bedridden for a while, and her dad, in the beginning is totally closed off from her. She is sent away to live with her aunt who, gradually throughout the book, with the help of Julia’s own experience, teaches her how to be a kind, loving human being.

One of the fun things about reading through the Newbery winners is going back and looking at the reviews of friends who have read them before. Sometimes I’ve disagreed with what a few of them said, but never as much as with this book. Two of my friends totally smashed the book because of Julia’s childhood meanness, and one of them even called Julia an “evil person.” Anyone who knows me knows that I like my characters flawed. I like to see them change and learn from their mistakes, but that’s not always necessary. What is necessary is having real characters. They can’t all be kind and wonderful all the time. That’s not believable. Who wasn’t mean to someone as a child. Who doesn’t wish they could go back to their immature, bratty self and beat some sense into them? The beginning of the book reads kind of like a confessional to me, and instead of turning me off to the book, I appreciated it.

Later, when Julia’s uncle is critiquing her writing samples, he tells her, “your villains have nothing but venom in their souls, and your sympathetic characters are ready to step right off into Paradise without one spot to tarnish their purity.” I wanted to shout and give Uncle Haskell a high five and an amen. We don’t need characters like that. We need real characters who go through real ordeals. It’s almost like Hunt saw the issues people would have with prepubescent Julia and added this part in there to defend her book.

All in all, I thought it was really good. My only problem was with the whole Danny thing. You could see it coming from a mile away, from the beginning of the book, really. ...more

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About Irene Hunt

Irene Hunt

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Irene Hunt was an American children's writer known best for historical novels. She was a runner-up for the Newbery Medal for her first book, Across Five Aprils, and won the medal for her second, Up a Road Slowly. For her contribution as a children's writer she was U.S. nominee in 1974 for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international recognition available to ...more

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Quotes from Up a Road Slowly

“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.” — 28 likes

“Beautiful hours move so quickly.” — 26 likes

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