All the Way Home

by Patricia Reilly Giff

It’s August 1941, and Brick and Mariel both love the Brooklyn Dodgers. Brick listens to their games on the radio in Windy Hill, in upstate New York, where his family has an apple orchard; Mariel, once a polio patient in the hospital in Windy Hill, lives in Brooklyn near the Dodgers’ home, Ebbets Field. She was adopted by Loretta, a nurse at the hospital, and has never known what happened to her own mother. Someday, somehow, she plans to return to Windy Hill and find out. When a fire destroys their orchard, Brick’s parents must leave the farm to find work. They send him to live in Brooklyn with their friend Loretta, even though Brick knows that their elderly neighbors need his help to pick what’s left of the apples. The only good thing about Brooklyn is seeing the Dodgers play–that, and his friendship with Mariel. Maybe, together, they’ll find a way to return to Windy Hill, save the harvest, and learn the truth about Mariel’s past.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Childrens, Fiction, Young Adult, Historical, Baseball

169 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2001

About the author

Patricia Reilly Giff was the author of many beloved books for children, including the Kids of the Polk Street School books, the Friends and Amigos books, and the Polka Dot Private Eye books. Several of her novels for older readers have been chosen as ALA-ALSC Notable Books and ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. They include The Gift of the Pirate Queen; All the Way Home; Water Street; Nory Ryan's Song, a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Honor Book for Fiction; and the Newbery Honor Books Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods. Lily's Crossing was also chosen as a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book.

Reviews

[Sella Malin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing. It really got to me. I like the sense of mystery (about Mariel's mother), when you figure something out just before the main character does (that DING! of a light bulb) and how "touching" it is. I really enjoy all of Patricia Reilly Giff's books. For anyone who likes a good, touching non-fiction book.

[Colleen Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading about a part of our history that could have been my own history; the time of polio. I was vaguely aware that polio existed but I was not personally affected by it, nor was I in close contact with those around me who were. The relationship that developed between the young boy,Brick, and Mariel, the young girl living with polio was refreshingly honest, caring, respectful and mature beyond their years. The grit and determination of both young people who faced challenges was admirable.

[Suzy Lolley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but engaging and well-written

[Miss Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

gr 4-6 168 pgs


1941 Windy Hill, NY and Brooklyn. The story alternates between Brick and Muriel both of whom have suffered tragic events. The apple orchards of Brick's family and of his neighbor Claude were badly damaged by lightning. Muriel contracted polio when she was four years old and has never known her mother. Muriel was adopted by a nurse Loretta and loves her, but longs to know about her past. When Brick is sent to live with Loretta, a friend of Brick's mother, he is determined to return to Windy Hill and help Claude harvest what's left of his apples. Muriel also wants to return to Windy Hill. She hopes to find out more about her past by visiting the polio hospital, where she was treated, in Windy Hill.

The story includes a lot of baseball references since a lot of the characters are baseball fans and also some information about polio. I would recommend this story to someone who enjoyed "So B. It" by Sarah Weeks or "Becoming Naomi Leon" by Pam Munoz Ryan.

[Hal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going through my bookshelf and rereading books that I am preparing to get rid of, mainly books for a younger audience. Some are clearly better then others, and "All the Way Home" is one of the better.
I usually don't like feel-good stories about people over-coming disabilities and hard times, but Giff doesn't beat the reader over the head with it, letting it feel like a story and not a moral.
While it is written for a younger group of kids, older teenagers and even adults may enjoy this short story about two children's journey across New York to find "Home."

[Joslyn Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book all the way home by Patricia Reilly Giff is about Mariel a little girl with polio, Brick a boy who is willing to help wherever needs it, Loretta a nurse that used to work in Windy Hill at the hospital, Claude a old man who is an expert on apple orchards, and Julia a really great cook. At the beginning of the book Mariel and Brick are on opposite halves of New York. They are happy with the way their lives are but one day that all changes when Bricks family’s orchard in Windy Hill New York starts on fire. Brick goes and helps save Claude and Julia's orchard instead of save his own because they are old and can’t do much on their own anymore. That is how he ended up in Brooklyn with Loretta and Mariel. How they met was different than most Bricks mom sent him to live with them until they had enough money to all go back to Windy Hill. When he gets there he makes a run for it but, then he gets caught by a cop named Ambrose who takes him to Loretta's, he promised him to give it a week before trying to run away again. During that week Brick asked Mariel to help him find a way back to Windy Hill to help with Claude’s apples harvest. When they get to Windy Hill Mariel finds out about her mom and the harvest goes good because they bring in some apple pickers. Later in the book Mariel goes back home to Brooklyn and is home with loretta, and Brick stays in Windy Hill with Claude and Julia.

My opinion of the book all the way home is that it was a good book at the end of it but the beginning wasn’t very exciting at all. The reason why the beginning wasn’t exciting was that it just explained their lives and what was happening in their separate stories, and it was hard to follow along with. I think the book wasn’t well written at the beginning because the author didn’t really make it interesting till the end of the book. One reason that I think that is because I nearly quit reading the book in the middle of it. The quality of the characters in the book is very high because she makes them someone that people could relate to very easily and makes them come to life in the book. She makes the book come alive in the pages of all the way home. The plot of the book was well written more close to the end of the book. It didn’t really want me to not make me put the book down though I felt while I was reading this book I had to force myself to read it, I didn’t just read it because I wanted to read it. Overall the plot didn’t really get going until they took Brick to the Dodgers game and Mariel caught a ball that Pete Reiser had hit. “She braced herself against the iron bar, both hands up, and the ball dropped, almost as if Pete Reiser had dropped it there on purpose, and it was hers, a hard stinging bass, her ball, in her hands, and she held on, feeling the pain of it in her wrists and in her arms.” text from all the way home. The reason why I think the plot didn’t start getting good until then is because this is when everything in the book starts to come together and starts to make sense.

A text to self connection for the book all the way home for me is that it reminds me of my grandmas and grandpas old house because they used too have lots of fruit trees including apple trees like in the book. I used to love going there and helping picking apples because he couldn’t do it on his own just like Claude and Julia from all the way home. A text to text connection that I can make is to a book named the war that saved my life the reason why is because in the war that saved my life the main character has clubfoot and people think that she can’t do anything except the person that she lives with just like Mariel in all the way home but then in the end they both prove people that they were wrong about them. One text to world connection in the book is that the orchards that caught on fire is something that can happen now also, that people have to go separate ways from their family for a while until they can go back to each other.

[Carmen Redding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patricia Reilly Giff has the gift every writer covets and few can claim: the ability to draw in the reader and transport them to a different time and place. She fleshes out her characters so skillfully that she makes us feel what they are feeling. We become their allies in reaching whatever goal or resolution brings her stories to a close.

In All The Way Home, the author brings Mariel and Brick together. Friendships have been difficult for both of them, but together they are able to help and encourage one another. Mariel has only faint memories of her mother. Brick is separated from his parents when their apple crop is destroyed.

Both of them are trying to find their way home, but more than a physical location, their quest is to find their identities and where they truly belong. The author tugs at our heartstrings as she unfolds the mystery of Mariel’s mother’s disappearance. By the story’s end both characters know who they are and what they can accomplish in spite of their weaknesses and shortcomings.

I was born in New York City, so it was a pleasure to take this journey with Mariel and Brick and to get a glimpse of the city during the 1930s. A great read for children and adults who want to reminisce.

[Librarian Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brick is a hero. Not a superhero with crazy superpowers, but the kind of real-life hero who might live next door to you. He lived on an apple farm in Windy Hill with his mom and dad. He was walking past his neighbor Claude's apple farm when it was struck by lightning and started to burn. He helped Claude put out the fire, but Claude's hands were badly burned and his own apple orchard burned completely to the ground. Now his family has no way to stay on the farm and stay alive. His parents send him to live with a friend, Loretta, while they go work separate jobs far away, but Brick realizes that Claude will never be able to harvest the apples he helped save alone.
Or maybe you'll identify more with Mariel. She feels like an outsider because her legs are deformed. She lives with Loretta, her almost-mom. She wishes she knew something about her own mom. Then Brick shows up. At first she's sure he'll treat her like all the other kids, but he accepts her and tells her his story. He's from Windy Hill? That's where she came from! If she helps him run away, to go back and help Claude, maybe she'll find her mom!

[Patsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story, with realistic characters, and sweet relationships -- from Patricia Reilly Giff. Brick's family faces financial disaster, so his parents send him from their farm in upstate New York, to live with his mother's friend Loretta, in Brooklyn. Mariel is Loretta's adopted daughter, with ties to Brick's neck of the woods. Becoming good friends, they help each other to grow and make progress.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this short historical fiction type book by Newbery Honor winning author Patricia Reilly Giff. About a little girl and boy in New York in the 1940's, trying to find out where they belong in the world. Baseball fans would like the history about the Dodgers. Sweet and interesting-let's one feel empathy for those who had Polio.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mariel found a friend and her past, then knew her life was complete because of the love given to her by Loretta. Set in a time when life was uncertain but also simple. Sometimes people become family because they care.

[Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple nights ago I randomly remembered this book from my childhood and decided to reread it. I can tell you that the descriptions of food held up amazingly. I want to eat everything in this book! The rest of it was fine but it definitely hit harder when I was younger.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good. I am currently rereading it.

[Samira · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet book but now I wish there was a sequel 10-15 years down the road.

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the disabled rep

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Polio apple home friendship fear courage

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I forgot to review this. I did read and appreciate it, as I recall quite a bit. Sorry I can't say more.

[Grace Cordle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Giff is such a poet with her prose and her characters are always gripping and vivid.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know it is fiction but the story was hard to fathom.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book more every time I read it. SO many beautiful storylines that tie together perfectly at the end -- and filled with so much hope!

[Terrence Spurlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feel good story for kids.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

gr 4-6 168 pgs


1941 Windy Hill, NY and Brooklyn. The story alternates between Brick and Muriel both of whom have suffered tragic events. The apple orchards of Brick's family and of his neighbor Claude were badly damaged by lightning. Muriel contracted polio when she was four years old and has never known her mother. Muriel was adopted by a nurse Loretta and loves her, but longs to know about her past. When Brick is sent to live with Loretta, a friend of Brick's mother, he is determined to return to Windy Hill and help Claude harvest what's left of his apples. Muriel also wants to return to Windy Hill. She hopes to find out more about her past by visiting the polio hospital, where she was treated, in Windy Hill.

The story includes a lot of baseball references since a lot of the characters are baseball fans and also some information about polio. I would recommend this story to someone who enjoyed "So B. It" by Sarah Weeks or "Becoming Naomi Leon" by Pam Munoz Ryan

[Amayah Hutchinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the Way Home is a great book when it comes to historical fiction. The main characters both live in different regions in New York State:the countryside of Windy Hill where people grow apples for a living and New York City. After a lightning storm destroys his families apple trees in Windy Hill, he is sent to live with Loretta, an old friend of his mother. There he meets Mariel, a little girl who has recently been infected with polio. When she gets the idea that her biological mother has to do with a hospital she once stayed in, the two go off by themselves to Windy Hill and do some "investigating".They soon create a close bond, despite their differences and each experience their own hardships.
This book not only tells both of the main characters' stories, but includes all true events that happened during the time. The Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team is repeatedly mentioned from beginning through end. Polio is even described as a conflict in the book that affects Mariel

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mariel, adopted by Loretta when she was a young child with polio, has always wondered about the mother who left her at the hospital in Windy Hill. Brick, his family farm destroyed by fire, feels the guilt for helping save the neighbor's orchard (not knowing his own farm was on fire). Brick's parents send him to Brooklyn to stay with Loretta until they can get back on their feet, but Brick only wants to return to the farm. When they first meet, Brick doesn't see Mariel's legs and Mariel thinks he is "Billy Nightingale" because that's what he told the cop. But when they finally figure out who Brick is, it's baseball (the Brooklyn Dodgers) that finally brings Brick and Mariel into a friendship. It's that friendship that allows them to travel back to Windy Hill - Brick to help Claude and Julia with the apple harvest and Mariel to find out about her past.

[Ruth E. R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read by my 11-year-old niece as part of her school reading program. She has been "into" historical fiction this year. While visiting her grandmother and me, she read her book aloud to me as I crocheted. We didn't have enough time for her to finish before she headed back home, so I picked up a copy from my library and finished on my own.

I enjoy the way Patricia Reilly Giff tenderly creates all of her characters. They come alive without being hyper-dramatic, and they have flaws while remaining likeable.

I recommend this book to those who like historical fiction, stories about friendship, heroic young boys, and girls who overcome obstacles. The references to true events (such as baseball, the polio epidemic, and how people made a living) will provide a picture of life in 1941 New York, both the city and the countryside.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad my student recommended this book to me. Thank you Ciaira! It is a heartwarming story of a young girl who lives in Brooklyn with a young woman who has adopted her, and also about a young boy who lives in the Midwest on a farm. As a child Mariel had polio and the young woman, Loretta, was a nurse who cared for her. This story resonated with me because I had an aunt, my father's sister, who had polio as a child too. I never knew the history behind this illness. The story is very good, with Mariel searching for the truth about her mother, the boy learning life lessons, and how the two of them become friends. The reading level is 4.5 and perfect for young girls.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mariel has polio and Brick just lost his family's orchard in a fire. Now he's going to stay in Brooklyn with his mother's best friend Loretta and her adopted daughter Mariel. Together they go on a journey to find their true home. Brick wants to get back in time for the harvest and Mariel wants to find her real mother. It's a touching tale of two young children discovering where they really belong.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book when I read it for the first time, because it was such an age-appropriate book, the perfect blend of sadness, discovery, etc. On re-visiting it years later, however, I was disappointed because it really is a low-grade level book, written for 3-4th graders. Still, it is an excellent read for the right age range.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by Patricia Reilly Giff. I think I've read them all now---at least the ones she wrote for older youth. I really enjoyed this story of a girl who needed to leave to find herself and a boy who had to leave where he knew he belonged. And I learned why the Brooklyn Dodgers were named the Brooklyn Dodgers. cool.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This warm and touching novel tells the story of Brick and Mariel, two 11-year-old friends who know firsthand about adversity and together embark on a journey that brings them personal peace.

Brick Tiernan is devastated when fire destroys his family's apple orchard in Windy Hill, New York, in the summer of 1941. His parents are forced to take jobs in different cities

Outstandingly tender