A Million Ways Home

Twelve-year-old Poppy’s comfortable life has taken a bad turn at the start of Winget’s absorbing novel: her beloved Grandma Beth, who has raised her from babyhood (her parents having been killed in an overseas bombing), has had a stroke that landed her in the hospital, and Poppy in a children’s center. When an unexpected confrontation with a killer puts Poppy in grave danger, she is temporarily taken in by a warmhearted detective and his compassionate mother—which complicates her plans to sneak Grandma Beth back to their own apartment. As her grandmother grows progressively worse, dog-lover Poppy finds solace at an animal shelter where she befriends and succeeds in training an aggressive German shepherd. Readers may be as frustrated as the sympathetic adults in Poppy’s life by the decisions her impulsiveness leads her to make, but will sympathize with her feelings of uprootedness, abandonment, and grief. While most will probably predict the story’s resolution early on, Winget (A Smidgen of Sky) weaves in enough suspense, emotion, and subplots to keep interest high. Ages 8–12. Agent: Lara Perkins, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Aug.)