The Wrong Way Home

O'Shaughnessy, Kate. The Wrong Way Home 

April 2, 2024 by Knopf Books for Young Readers 

E ARC provided by Netgalley

**Some spoilers.**

Fern has lived with her mother on The Ranch, which is run by Dr. Ben, ever since she was young. She's twelve now, and excited about undergoing The Rite that will make her an adult member of the community. She knows there are risks, since fellow community member Rain died undergoing his. Still, Dr. Ben knows that the outside world, where Fern and her mother are not allowed to go, is even more dangerous, with its modern medicine, food, and chemicals as well as evil influences like television and cell phones. Before she can undergo The Rite, her mother wakes her up in the middle of the night, and the two travel by taxi to pick up a car and travel to Driftaway Beach, California. There, her mother tells her that they can't live on The Ranch anymore, and will be staying in a hotel while the mother works as a housekeeper there. Their journey has been made possible by another former member, who also escaped. Fern is distraught; this new world is dangerous, and she even has to go to school. Her mother even wants to call her Frankie, her birth name, that she changed in order to be part of The Ranch. The only thing that makes the idea of school better is that there are computers there, and she hopes she can use one to find the address of her former home and send a letter there. After an initial rough meeting, Fern and her mother get a lot of help from Babs, a friend of Fern's late grandmother, who runs a local tea room and pastry shop. Babs is glad to help out; she's still mourning the drowning death of her wife, Birdie. When Fern finds out that she can't find her former home, she contacts a local private detective, who says he will charge her $300 to help. Babs offers her ten dollars an hour to help clean out the other rooms in the house where the tea shop operates. With the help of Eddie, her school partner on a science project and the daughter of another local merchant couple, continues investigating. The two also put a lot of thought into their project, which Eddie is convinced will debunk the local legend of the Spirit of the Sea. Eddie's parents have moved her all over after the drowning death of her older sister, Skye, and their shop feeds into the local interest in this myth. They have a falling out when Eddie mentions that The Ranch might have, in fact, been a cult, but when her friend is injured looking for the Spirit of the Sea, Fern desperately wants to make up with her. *Highlight for spoiler:*Unfortunately, a letter she has sent to Dr. Ben was received, and he comes to California along with Fern's friend Meadowlark to take her home. Fern, who started to have doubts even before she mailed the letter, has the presence of mind to seek help from a waitress, and she is able to make it home to her mother. Babs has a surprise admission about the Spirit of the Sea, as well as about where Fern and her mother should live. 

Strengths: The middle schooler in me was enthralled by the concept of a modern cult, since this was a HUGE concern in my 1970s childhood after the Jim Jones Peoples Temple disaster (If you don't know it, don't look it up. It was bad. It's where the idiom "Drink the Kool Aid" comes from. Just don't.). The depiction of The Ranch is so well done, and it's fairly brief; we know just enough that it's good the two escape. It was lovely that they had somewhere to go with people who cared about them, but it was also realistic that Fern wanted to go "home", not matter how bad it was. Even her efforts at using a private detective seemed completely plausible, and ended up having a REALLY hair raising consequence! The mother is shown trying to get her GED, being stressed by it, and almost making more bad choices, but doesn't. The father is never mentioned, which is a reality for many of my students. Babs is fantastic, and Eddie is dealing with her own insecurities. There's a wonderful feeling of community, and a great happy ending! 
Weaknesses: Like this author's Lasagna Means I Love You, this is very long. I loved that one, but it's hard to get students to check it out due to the length. This books is 336 pages. I would have cut out all of the Spirit of the Sea portion; while it does play a role in the book, it could easily have been excised. I'm just never a fan of parents grieving so much over a lost child that they don't serve the needs of remaining children. I wanted to know more about The Ranch, and the hair raising part could have been drawn out more, because students will LOVE that! 
What I really think: This is a great title for readers who like stories about found families. I'll buy it for the cult extraction process, and will be able to find enough readers to justify its purchase. A really good book; just on the long side for my students.