Middle Grade Classics: Up a Road Slowly

 

Title: Up a Road Slowly
Author: Irene Hunt
Publication Info: (I read the Kindle edition). Originally published 1966, Follett Publishing Co., 192 pages
Source: Library digital resources

Publisher's Blurb:
From the author of Across Five Aprils and No Promises in the Wind comes her most beloved story of a girl's coming of age.

After her mother's death, Julie goes to live with Aunt Cordelia, a spinster schoolteacher, where she experiences many emotions and changes as she grows from seven to eighteen.

(Newbery Medal, 1967)

My Review:
There are a lot of children's books from the 1960s that still appeal. I don't think this one aged so well. The story has two problems, from a modern perspective: there isn't a lot of plot, and it feels like it does a lot more telling than showing. I had the whole time I was reading a feeling that I was waiting for the story to start.

There's nothing terribly wrong with the book, and the characters engaged me enough to want to learn what becomes of Julie and her aunt (the only characters who are really developed enough to care). I was looking for a book to read that didn't have anything terribly dramatic or upsetting about it, and this filled the bill. But I doubt if a modern teen or preteen would get past the first few pages.

My Recommendation:
Give it a pass.

FTC Disclosure: I borrowed an electronic copy of Up a Road Slowly from my library, and received nothing from the author or the publisher in exchange 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, 2022

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