Twelve-year-old Fern’s lived at the Ranch, an off-the-grid, sustainable community in upstate New York, since she was six. The work is hard, but Fern admires the Ranch's leader, Dr. Ben. So when Fern’s mother sneaks them away in the middle of the night and says Dr. Ben is dangerous, Fern doesn't believe it. She wants desperately to go back, but her mom just keeps driving. Suddenly Fern is thrust into the treacherous, toxic, outside world. At first she thinks only about how to get home. She has a plan, but it will take time. As that time goes by, though, Fern realizes there are things she will miss from this place—the library, a friend from school, the ocean—and there are things she learned at the Ranch that are just...not true. Now Fern will have to decide. How much is she willing to give up to return to the Ranch? Should she trust Dr. Ben’s vision for her life? Or listen to the growing feeling that she can live by her own rules?
Awards
Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection ● Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids: 2024 Edition ● 2024 Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade of the Year ● 2024 New York Public Library Best Book of the Year ● 2024 Booklist Best Book of the Year ● 2024 CALIBA Golden Poppy Award Nominee
Reviews
★ “Gripping. A strong, emotionally intelligent story.” — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ “The suspenseful story is immediately intriguing, skillfully conveying the high-stakes situation and effortlessly drawing the audience in. A tremendous testament to the power in plotting your own course.” —Booklist, starred review
★ “Lovingly crafted with depth and compassion. Nuance suffuses this story of discovery.” — BCCB, starred review
“Driven by a growing self-awareness that she can choose who and what she believes, this is a moving portrait of a girl undergoing drastic change.” —Publishers Weekly
“Kate O’Shaughnessy is an extraordinarily talented author whose gift is an innate understanding of the inner life of twelve-year-olds.” —Gennifer Choldenko, Newbery Honor Winner for Al Capone Does My Shirts
“To leave behind a world that seems totally secure and safe and comfortable, for a world in which you make your own decisions and claim your own life—that is one of our great journeys. In The Wrong Way Home, Fern has to battle her own fear, elaborate illusions, misunderstandings, and the past mistakes of others to get on with that journey—and, dear reader, you will not be able to turn the pages fast enough to see if she makes it. Plan on reading this in one sitting; matters of the human soul don’t bear interruption.” —Gary D. Schmidt, Newbery Honor Winner for The Wednesday Wars
“Young readers will cheer for Fern as she finds the courage to confront the troubling doctrines she has been raised with and reinvent her ideas of home.” —Jacquetta Nammar Feldman, author of Wishing Upon the Same Stars and The Puttermans Are in the House
“A cleverly written and supremely literary story, while also remaining pretty gripping in its telling.” —SLJ’s Fuse 8