The Hike to Home

by Jess Rinker

In this fun middle grade adventure, a young girl and her two new friends brave the wilderness to find a castle, prove a local legend, and discover the true meaning of home.

Lin Moser is not looking forward to this summer. After living on the road all her life, hiking mountains and traveling through the country in an RV with her house-flipping parents, she’s now stuck in Newbridge, New Jersey for their longest stay yet. With Mom away on a year-long naturalist assignment, Lin has resigned herself to having the most boring summer ever. But then she finds out about a local an ancient ruined castle in the woods that no one has been able to find. Hiking to this castle would be like a quest. . . such an amazing quest that Mom might even come home, and they could adventure together the way they used to.

Determined to create her own adventure, Lin sets off on her biggest one yet―braving the wilderness with her two new friends, seeking the castle, and maybe discovering a new idea of home along the way.

With her trademark humor and heart, Jess Rinker delivers a story of adventure and growing up in The Hike to Home .

Genres: Middle Grade, Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Juvenile

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 5, 2022

About the author

Jess Rinker is also known as Jessica Rinker.

Reviews

[⛅ Sunny (sunnysidereviews) ⛅]

I've been looking for fun and vibrant adventures! Cannot wait for this one!

[Christa · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a terrific adventure story! I loved this book. It’s beautifully written and so much fun. Can’t recommend it enough!

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lin Moser is having the worst summer of her life. She’s used to traveling around the world with her famous parents (her dad renovates houses and her mom films him, and in their spare time they go on all kinds of adventures), and now she’s stuck in a tiny town in New Jersey with nothing interesting to do. After she gets her dad to let her quit summer camp, Lin actually makes some friends, Tinsley and Leo, and they introduce her to all the cool stuff about their home - the ice cream shop, and the local legend of the castle in the clouds. Lin gets pretty excited about the castle, which is supposed to be somewhere up in the mountains nearby (though, no one has ever found it), and they decide to find out as much as they can about it – researching the stories at the library, breaking into the Freemason’s lodge, and interviewing folks around town. When Lin’s father isn’t able to take them hiking as planned, the kids decide to go searching for it on their own. Lin is a pretty experienced explorer due to her unusual upbringing, but their expedition still takes some unexpected turns and way more time than they had anticipated. They are going to be in a LOT of trouble if they ever do make it home again. To make things worse (or more exciting?) they’re being pursued by some local bullies and a mysterious woman who seem to be searching for the same thing. Will they find the castle? And if so, who will be first? A fun summer adventure story with a little bit of history and mystery.

[Anna Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, for allowing me to read The Hike to Home early.

The Hike to Home is a wonderful MG book, full of excitement, adventure, and lessons learned. It’s humorous and loving, and a great addition to each MG collection.

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was super cute and adventurous and taught many life lessons which will be important to younger readers. I loved Lin's passion for nature and hiking and enjoyed her friendship to two unlikely people as they worked to solve the mystery of the Castle in the Clouds. Thank you Edelweiss for an ARC.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

When Lin comes to a Newbridge, New Jersey with her father to renovate a house, she thinks the summer will be boring, especially when her father enrolls her in a summer camp full of mean girls. She's used to traveling around with her parents, who have a YouTube presence, Moseying with the Mosers, but her mother has gotten a great opportunity to work on her film making and is spending the summer away from the family. Lin tries to film on her own to be closer to her mother, but is very angry and feels abandoned. Luckily, she meets Tinsley when she is hiding in the bathroom during camp, and the two hit it off. Tinsley's father also works on houses, but has been recently injured in an accident while working for the Sanders corporation, and now needs constant care. Joining the two is Leo, a quiet neighbor boy who is always reading, and whom Lin's father has agreed to watch in the afternoons so that hopefull he and Lin will become friends. Lin tries to be open to adventures in Newbridge, but is unused to talking to kids her own age, and ends up insulting Leo and the town. When she finds out abou tthe local legend of "The Castle in the Clouds", a long ago mansion built somewhere in the woods on a mountain, she gets Leo and Tinsley to try to find it with her. They find a surprising number of clues, but their progress is slowed by local bullies who have been targeting Leo, and who are, of course, related to the head of the Sanders corporation. When the camping trip goes badly wrong, will it even matter if they find the castle?
Strengths: I was absolutely enthralled by the idea of the family traveling around and renovating houses, although I was half expecting there to be a ghost. (The cover is too sunny for that!) The father is properly dad-like, and very open and friendly to Lin's friends and their activities. While she is given a good bit of freedom, there is realistic concern when the three are gone for too long while camping. Tinsley is an interesting character that we are seeing more and more; she wears costumes instead of drab clothing, and has a lot of artistic flair. Theo is shy, but rather helpful and definitely long suffering, with the way Lin treats him! The castle is a very cool idea, and the clues are laid out in a fairly reasonable way; meeting someone on the Appalachian Trail who helps them is intertwined well. For some reason, this reminded me of McCullough's A Field Guide to Getting Lost or Beasley's Tumble & Blue. The house renovation did not take the creepy turn like The Secrets of Goldenrod did.
Weaknesses: There were a lot of coincidences involved in looking for the castle that were a bit of a stretch, and it was hard to believe that the kids would make so much progress when so many others had searched for the castle for years. I know, I know. I would have believed it if dragons had shown up, but realistic fiction has a different set of circumstances for credibility! The Sanders seemed a bit over the top. Are there still places where families "own" a town?
What I really think: While the cover art is a good style for middle school readers, and the adventure had its moments, there was something about this that struck me as more elementary. It might have been Lin's closeness with her mother. This is completely believable, since Lin has been homeschooled and traveled around without seeing many kids, but most middle school students want to put more distance between themselves and their parents, not less. If I have money left in February, I may purchase a copy.

[Adley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, adventurous story with lessons in friendship, family, and bullying

[Adva · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the book because it was an adventurous & funny too. With the breaking into the lodge and with the torches searching for a clue/way to the hidden castle. The unexpected four days of hiking which was only expected to take two days were scary. Something always seemed to show up unexpectedly, like the Sanders. I was scared when they (Lin, Tinsly, Leo) find bones out from behind the fireplace.

[Eileen Winfrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three somewhat quirky kids join together in an attempt to discover the truth behind an old local legend. Along the way they become fast friends. A delightful romp of an adventure story. I wanted more closure! Still, very enjoyable.

[Om · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked how the main character is still famous and did not like her life in the beginning.

[chaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun middle-grade adventure book. I really liked the characters and their friendship. Though some elements were a little unrealistic and cliché, I still enjoyed it. Wish there were a sequel, I wanna see more of their adventures 🥺

[LS Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this one more than I did. If a book is supposed to be realistic fiction, than more things must be plausible- and this one just wasn’t.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun and adventurous tale with well-developed characters. Readers will for Lin and her friends as they search for a hidden castle. Loved the history intertwined.

[Cadee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I liked this book because it was super adventurous and mysterious. It was an amazing book and I'd recommend it. It did make me sad about the family castle and its need to be sold." -Cadee, age 12

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially I thought this would be a Mean Girls rip-off, but it is so much better.

[isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5 i love it!!!! a fun read