Book Review: Road to Tater Hill by Edith M. Hemingway

Road to Tater Hill
by Edith M. Hemingway
Non-series

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
ISBN-10: 0-385-73677-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-73677-0
Publication Date: September, 2009
List Price: $16.99

Review: Heartbreaking, powerful, moving- these are all words that describe Road to Tater Hill by Edith M. Hemingway. In her first solo novel, Hemingway tells the story of Annie, a young girl whose baby sister (Mary Kate) dies the second day she is alive. Annie’s story is pulled from Edith’s own personal experience.

Annie’s dad is away at war, but before he leaves he gives her a journal. He tells Annie to write about her summer with her baby sister, but when Mary Kate dies she doesn’t know how. Also her mom is spiraling into depression, and she doesn’t want her dad to have to read about that. When Annie finds a rock that feels like a baby, she calls it her rock baby, and puts it somewhere she can remember. When she secretly befriends Ms. Elizia, a woman who most people think is a murderer, an accident is the only thing that can expose their friendship.

I found Road to Tater Hill to be one of the most gripping and moving books I have ever read. When I first started the book I found it to be amazing from the beginning. The hook in the beginning is very thought provoking, it says: “For months I had wished for a baby sister, a boy might’ve lived. Wasn’t wishing like praying? Maybe wishing really did make things worse.” I found it unique how she kept referring back to the hook thought the book, like when she said: “…here I go wishing again”. I also found it interesting how Hemingway put a poem in her book; she used the poem “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. One thing that I liked about this book is not only was it very well written, but it also made you think. It made me think about my baby brother, and how if something ever happened to him how our family would deal with it. Annie is a character that I found to be easy to relate to. She seems real, probably since Hemingway could relate to her also being that she was in Annie’s situation. Hemingway also does a terrific job on making a wise, sensible old lady of Ms. Elizia: she describes how Ms. Elizia has been through the same experience as Annie’s Mother, because when she had a child he died too. Overall, I thought Road to Tater Hill was tremendous, and it went up as one of my favorite books. I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Review written by Kayley (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Road to Tater Hill for this review.

Have you read Road to Tater Hill? How would you rate it?