MMGM: Carry Me Home, by Janet Fox

I'm posting today with the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle. Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. 

As often happens, I'm not sure how I chose this one. It might have been reviewed earlier by one of my fellow MMGM posters, or I might have just found it while browsing the library. It sat on my Kindle for quite a while before I got down to it.

Title: Carry Me Home

Author: Janet Fox

Publication Info: 2021, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. 220 pages (Kindle Edition).

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb:
Twelve-year-old Lulu and her younger sister, Serena, have a secret. As Daddy always says, “it’s best if we keep it to ourselves,” and so they have. But hiding your past is one thing. Hiding where you live—and that your Daddy has gone missing—is harder.

At first Lulu isn’t worried. Daddy has gone away once before and he came back. But as the days add up, with no sign of Daddy, Lulu struggles to take care of all the responsibilities they used to manage as a family.

Lulu knows that all it takes is one slip-up for their secret to come spilling out, for Lulu and Serena to be separated, and for all the good things that have been happening in school to be lost.

But family is all around us, and Lulu must learn to trust her new friends and community to save those she loves and to finally find her true home.

My Review:
This was a quick read, and captured my attention and imagination rapidly. The desperate situation of Lulu and her sister was vivid, and her need both for a parent and a friend felt real. Her sense of total responsibility for her little sister is painful. That is not a burden a 12-year-old should have to carry.

But somehow none of it felt as powerful as it should have. From my critical perspective as a writer who has been working on a deep(er) POV, I am very aware of distancing words, and believe that this book demonstrates how they can push the reader away. Or maybe that isn't it. Maybe the problem is that it's a short, quick read and doesn't take enough time to develop the story. Her need for a friend is met quickly, and there are few real obstacles in her path, despite the desperation that comes when she messes up big time.

Even the big issue, the missing parent, is resolved perhaps a little too easily? All this makes it a book for the younger end of middle grade readers, in my opinion (even if Lulu is in middle school). I wasn't sorry to have a happy ending. I just didn't quite think I'd earned it. Maybe I'm too old and cynical to believe in quite so many good people.

My Recommendation:
A worthwhile read for kids of any age, as a reminder that we can't know the stories of the people around us, and compassion is always a good idea. I think the message about trusting the adults is a little too strong at the end and might need some discussion to call out the nuances.

FTC Disclosure: I checked Carry Me Home out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  



Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025
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