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A Long Way to Go

Borden Deal

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May 19, 2007 Lisa Vegan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: childrens, orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids, fiction, owned-1300, readbooks-male-author-or-illust, zz-5star, dogs, novel, favorites, reviewed

I adored this book and read it many times when I was 11 & 12 years old. It's about siblings who get separated from their parents and with ingenuity and courage, find their way back home by themselves. Unfortunately, it's out of print now.

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I reread this book in April 2019 before having to give up the book. Giving up books will be as tough as I’d feared, I’m afraid. And I’m embarrassed that two of the books I’m now giving up are in such gross condition, made only slightly less embarrassing in I adored this book and read it many times when I was 11 & 12 years old. It's about siblings who get separated from their parents and with ingenuity and courage, find their way back home by themselves. Unfortunately, it's out of print now.

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I reread this book in April 2019 before having to give up the book. Giving up books will be as tough as I’d feared, I’m afraid. And I’m embarrassed that two of the books I’m now giving up are in such gross condition, made only slightly less embarrassing in that they were originally library books and I got them used, though I was one patron that read them frequently prior to buying them. I have a few books that I had new that are in not condition either so I have to assume I might be of the culprits for these books too. On the other hand, some of my books from childhood are in remarkably great condition.

Oh, wow. I read and reread this so many times at ages 11 & 12. I’d always thought I didn’t really know what vegetarianism was until I was around 17 but there is a great ethical vegetarian (maybe vegan!) character in this book. I hadn’t remembered her at all. Unfortunately, even though the veg*n was presented as a positive character, veg*nism was overall not presented in a positive way, though the author/characters seemed to be conflicted about issues around animals as food, killing animals, etc. and companion animals are presented in a very positive light.

To my surprise I’d forgotten about the dog too. Ditto the other animals.

I got the feeling he wrote it as a way to teach his children some lessons. It’s kind of annoying and it’s sort of sweet, but sort of upsetting too given what he says about his characters.

I have to say: Books should not go out of print if any readers want to read them, and they should be made available online if that’s the only way to read them, I’d read them that way. But between ILL and online sites, if a reader wants to read a particular OOP book, they should be able to do so, for free or for very low cost or for print on demand. ...more

24 likes · Like · see review

Jun 29, 2009 CLM rated it really liked it

Shelves: suspense, childrensbooks, 20th-century

Children abandoned far from home and forced to elude adults who may not have their best interests at heart? Right away this reminded me of Homecoming by Cynthia Voight, which I believe spawned a whole series. I only read the first one, in which Dicey’s mother abandons her four children, and Dicey leads her siblings on foot, first to a relative in Connecticut and finally to their grandmother in Virginia. I thought that book was pretty dark and gloomy but A Long Way to Go is bleaker yet even more Children abandoned far from home and forced to elude adults who may not have their best interests at heart? Right away this reminded me of Homecoming by Cynthia Voight, which I believe spawned a whole series. I only read the first one, in which Dicey’s mother abandons her four children, and Dicey leads her siblings on foot, first to a relative in Connecticut and finally to their grandmother in Virginia. I thought that book was pretty dark and gloomy but A Long Way to Go is bleaker yet even more compelling.

Like the Tillerman children, Ashley (10), Brett (8) and butterfly-like Shane (6) who plans to be a dancer, are abandoned. They are left at a Florida motel where they were staying with their parents. Ashley and Brett are unnerved when they realize their parents haven’t returned from a day out without the children, having left them with a counselor. Shane is mostly annoyed because she had wanted to go swimming before dinner. The children are uncomfortable with the way the hotel staff want to escape from the problem they create and wonder what to do: '”Something must have happened.” They had arrived again at the fateful words.’ Once they overhear the hotel staff talking about juvenile authorities, they decide not to wait around, but instead sneak way from the motel and begin a journey of 600 miles home where they are hopeful their parents will be waiting.

The personalities of the children are what make this book so interesting on many levels. Author Borden Deal makes the children very distinct: Ashley is the oldest, a worrier, bossy, not always able to control her siblings, Brett is brilliant but unnerving to adults because of his many inconvenient questions, and Shane is self-centered and spoiled. Ashley is portrayed as heavy-set and asthmatic, and she also has a weak foot, but as the oldest and the best at interacting with grownups she is the leader of the group. Oddly, Deal named the children in the book after his own real-life children – presumably with their physical descriptions and failings (even more oddly, it appears he had four children – so why leave one out? Perhaps born later with his second wife). And I am quite sure I would never forgive my father for describing my weight in a book, if I had been an overweight child (although days of interminable walking and meager rations work as a miracle diet on Ashley, maybe just as annoying to the real life version).

As they make their way home to Alabama with agonizing slowness, Ashley and Brett learn to consult each other and work as a team, coping with their fear and worries, and even Shane becomes more responsible and loyal. Their progress is slowed down by animals they acquire along the way, somewhat inconveniently, but adding comfort to their lonely trip. Somehow they avoid dangers in their travels – one chapter in particular where they are aided by perverted circus clown is as unnerving as the most gory scene in a serial killer novel – but the real question (which I will not reveal) is what happened to their parents and how parents of such resourceful and appealing children could ever have left them.

Although I used to think I knew every children’s book ever written, I had never encountered this 1965 novel until my friend Lisa told me it was one of her favorites, inspiring me to buy my own copy from Alice Billheimer's magical trove. It was a great read, very hard to put down, and I recommend it. I do wonder if Voight (born 1942 in Boston and a Smith alumna, which I did not know) ever read it and how she would compare it to her own work.

http://perfectretort.blogspot.com/201... ...more

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Jul 03, 2009 Ginny Messina rated it really liked it

Shelves: kidlit

I loved this 1960s tale of three siblings who make a 600-mile trek to find their parents with nothing in the way of resources except for some beach towels, sun hats, and $23. Their willingness to climb into a car with strangers seemed a little unusual even for the 1960s, especially because some of the people who helped them actually seemed a little sinister.

The author named the three characters after his own three children. This was actually a little odd since he wasn't entirely complimentary a ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 30, 2010 Krista the Krazy Kataloguer marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-read-own

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