One Came Home

Gr 5–8—In Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871, 13-year-old Georgie's mother identifies bits of a body belonging to her oldest daughter, Agatha, but Georgie is not convinced. The blue-green dress on the corpse may have belonged to her sister, but what does that really prove? Georgie joins forces with her sibling's former suitor, Billy McCabe, to retrace her runaway sister's steps and track down the truth. Along the journey, flashbacks reveal the events leading up to Agatha's departure and cause Georgie to evaluate her own role in the disappearance. Tara Sands does an excellent job capturing Georgie's voice with all of its humor, quirks, and tell-it-like-it-is attitude. The secondary characters are also well done as Sands provides each with a recognizable voice. Georgie's quest, along with the narrator's perfect pacing, will quickly draw readers in as they will want to know, along with Georgie, what really happened to Agatha. A concluding author's note provides much appreciated historical context.—Deanna Romriell, Salt Lake City Public Library, UT