From the Bookshelf of Mock Newbery 2026…

Louisiana's Way Home

Kate DiCamillo

Start date: December 1, 2018

Finish date: December 31, 2018

Discussion: Newbery 2019

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Newbery 2019

* 2019 Mock Newbery Watch List
By Denise · 161 posts · 1082 views

last updated Feb 12, 2019 05:40PM

* 2019 ALA Newbery Awards
By Kristen · 60 posts · 240 views

last updated Feb 16, 2019 03:21PM

What Members Thought

Jul 01, 2018 Brenda Kahn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: grandmothers, 2018-reading, first-person, moving-household, resilience, 2018-favorite

I brought this book to read while waiting for take-out dinner at a ridiculously popular and busy seafood restaurant at the beach. It was so busy that their phone was busy each time I called to try to place the order. Resigned to a long wait, I cracked this gem open and got through half of it before my order was ready. I did not mind the wait because Louisiana is beguiling. This is one I will reread with my ears when it releases. I don't wish to say too much about this spare and evocative novel b ...more

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Dec 16, 2018 Amy rated it it was amazing

Okay.

This book struck at a corner of my heart right where I wasn’t expecting a book to strike - much less a children’s book.

This is a story about the journey of the heart, unconditional love, and finding one’s self.

Kate DiCamillo has other Newbery-winning books about lovable dogs and talking animals that are perfectly lovely for children. Leave this kids’ book to the adults.

*

DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale was one of my favorite books of 2016. I predicted that exactly zero of my seventh graders Okay.

This book struck at a corner of my heart right where I wasn’t expecting a book to strike - much less a children’s book.

This is a story about the journey of the heart, unconditional love, and finding one’s self.

Kate DiCamillo has other Newbery-winning books about lovable dogs and talking animals that are perfectly lovely for children. Leave this kids’ book to the adults.

*

DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale was one of my favorite books of 2016. I predicted that exactly zero of my seventh graders would enjoy reading it, and I was pleasantly surprised that a student or two picked it up and made decent headway into the story and its characters.

DiCamillo is such a beloved author that I guess the publishers know anything she writes will sell well, and Raymie was marketed with that expectation. I remember being disgusted with the marketing campaign around it and the teacher’s discussion guide -- as in, you want to reduce a story about profound loss and profound lying to ACTIVITIES and DOO-DADS? Can’t you leave that business for books that are less literary and less profound?

Louisiana’s Way Home is a companion book to Raymie, as in, who could forget Louisiana Elefante, child of the famous and now-dead Flying Elefantes? The connections to Raymie are somewhat tangential, and readers can jump into Louisiana’s story without knowing Raymie’s. (I don’t recommend it, because you’re missing a lot of emotional content, but the story will make sense either way.)

DiCamillo has a marvelous way of situating stories slightly beyond the corner of belief, both in the whimsy of the characters and their dialogue and in terms of the events of the story. Neither Raymie nor Louisiana are meant to be read literally, otherwise you’re going to spend a lot of time concerned that a young girl is behind the wheel of a car and spends time with a character who skips school and climbs buildings. This whimsy stands in contrast to the incredible emotional darkness of Louisiana’s life and the major betrayals she experiences in the story.

The level and the profundity of the betrayal is what makes me feel this book is misshelved as a Juvenile text and is better off read by adult or teen readers who are ready to grapple with Louisiana’s trauma in a deeper and more personal way. Unfortunately I don’t think the book is going to get its way into the right hands, and the cover design doesn’t help (either in speaking to the maturity of the book or to show it is a companion book to Raymie.)

Readers are left with a powerful message: wherever you are, whoever is with you, you are never alone. You are always loved in some way by somebody. And you get to decide who you are and who you want to be. ...more

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Dec 29, 2018 Darla rated it it was amazing

Loved Louisiana right off! I think a good contender for the Newbery!

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Dec 15, 2018 Mary Louise Sanchez rated it it was amazing

Shelves: underrepresented-cultures, award-winning-authors

Twelve-year-old Louisiana Elefante is awakened at 3:00 am and her grandmother drives her across the state line to Richford, Georgia away from her Florida home because, "The day of reckoning has arrived." They end up at the Good Night Sleep Tight Motel after a day where Louisiana drives the car searching for a dentist because her grandmother is in misery with a toothache and they run out of gas.

It's bad enough that grandma uses Louisiana to be the spokesperson to get services for free at the den ...more

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Dec 13, 2018 Ariel rated it really liked it

Shelves: mg

If you read Raymie Nightingale and thought Louisiana stole the show, you'll be thrilled to find that this tiny con woman-in-training with floss hair, the voice of a nightingale, and a scary grandmother has her own book. When Louisiana finds herself stranded far from home in a whole other state, with everything she knew thrown into question, we know somehow she'll survive and thrive. But how? Lives up to DiCamillo's body of work, which is saying quite a bit. ...more

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Jul 12, 2018 Angie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arcs-previews

Kate DiCamillo NEVER disappoints! This one broke my heart over and over, but in true Kate Dicamillo fashion, it has beautiful redemption qualities as well. I loved reading more about Louisiana from Raymie Nightingale, and her unstable grandma. It has been a while since I've read Raymie, so I also feel Louisiana's Way Home could be a stand-alone, for those who have never read Raymie. Of course, I want my students to read both, but Louisiana could be read first if they haven't read Raymie. ...more

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Nov 18, 2018 Becky rated it it was amazing

I love Louisiana and how she grows up in this story- what a voice this young lady has, and she truly realizes who she is! A powerful story that will touch your soul! Thanks Kate DiCamillo for another treasure!

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Oct 02, 2018 Tamara rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-grade, realistic-middle-grade, possible-read-aloud, books-read-in-2018

Louisiana’s Way Home arrived this afternoon, and once I picked it up I couldn’t put it back down. Such a tender heart, beset by the curse of sundering. The longing for home, for belonging, for Archie the cat and Buddy the one-eyed dog, for the goodness in people’s hearts. Kate DiCamillo is a master, and I’m glad to live in the world where she tells the stories.

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Oct 22, 2018 MaryLibrarianOH rated it liked it

Shelves: kids-fiction, z2018-read, z2018-100plus, aa-audiobooks, 2018-pub, z2019-gbfk

Louisiana has always been raised by her grandmother but now her grandmother has taken her on a road trip and then left her behind. She learns truths about her family, where she came from, and those that truly can help her.

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