When Charlie's longed-for brother is born with a serious heart condition, Charlie's world is turned upside down. Upset and afraid, Charlie flees the hospital and makes for the ancient forest on the edge of town. There Charlie finds a boy floating face-down in the stream, injured, but alive. But when Charlie sets off back to the hospital to fetch help, it seems the forest has changed. It's become a place as strange and wild as the boy dressed in deerskins. For Charlie has unwittingly fled into the Stone Age, with no way to help the boy or return to the present day. Or is there?
When Charlie's baby brother Dara is born with a heart condition, his reaction isn't quite what he expected. He surprises even himself by running off into the forest, too scared to hold his brother for the first time. As Charlie tries to hide from his own problems, another one arises, in the form of a boy floating in the stream before him - alive, but injured. Desperately searching for help, Charlie soon realises that the forest isn't the same as when he entered. The odd boy wearing animal skins in front of him speaks in a strange broken English and carries an unusual spear, and the familiar landmarks of the forest have been erased by their prehistoric past. Charlie is in the Stone Age, and it looks like he's staying.
And so begins an adventure of friendship, as Charlie and his new Stone Age friend search for the boy's own lost family, encountering wolves, lynxes and mysterious figures along the way. Charlie is plunged into a world so unfamiliar yet reassuringly similar in many ways.
The Wild Way Home has many echoes of Skellig, Stig of the Dump and Wolf Brother to its setting and storyline, yet it manages to weave the ideas from each classic read and intertwine them beautifully to create a new heartfelt story. Charlie's relationship with his new ally, Harby, is one which genuinely brought a smile to my face, as they gradually begin to understand one another and decipher each other's complicated lives. As Harby grows stronger, so does Charlie and I felt that the two boys' stories were interlinked throughout, serving as a constant reminder of the reality Charlie is desperate to return to.
Sophie Kirtley adds in some brilliant cliff hanger drops to her chapter endings, constantly enticing you to turn the page and the endearing friendship between the two boys is displayed so realistically thanks to the "Stone Age talk" that they are both echoing to one another in an effort to understand.
This would make a brilliant read from Year 4 upwards and obviously fits in well around a Stone Age topic. However, The Wild Way Home also deals very sensitively with family issues and friendships which makes it the perfect all-round read too.
A heartwarming story of family, friendship and facing the unknown.
A Wild Way Home is published on the 1st July 2020. Thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Children's books for my advanced e-copy.
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