280 pagesThirteen-year-old Sal is on a road trip from Ohio to Idaho with her wacky grandparents, and they ask her to tell them a story to pass the time. So she begins to share the tale of her friend Phoebe, whom she met when she and her father recently moved from their farm in Kentucky to a suburb in Ohio. Sal tells Gram and Gramps about how Phoebe's mother ran off, mysterious messages began to appear on the doorstop, and family secrets came out. As she tells the story, details about Sal's own life come out: she and her father moved to Ohio after Sal's mother left their farm and headed for Idaho to "discover her true self" and her father found the home haunted by memories of his wife. Now her father is dating a new woman named Margaret, whom Sal doesn't like. We learn that Sal and her grandparents are taking the same route that Sal's mother did, and Sal hopes to bring her mother home even though her father says wishing that is like "trying to catch fish in the air." As their journey continues, the story takes several surprising turns.
This was one of my favorite books in my later elementary school years, but I hadn't read it in years and had forgotten almost all of the details. I loved it just as much when I read it this time. Sal, who narrates in first person, is charming and lovable, as are many of the secondary characters (I LOVE Gram, Gramps, and Ben!). I like the way that story goes back and forth between Sal's and Phoebe's, and the twist at the end. There are some heartbreaking moments, but I like the end. This is definitely remaining on my childhood-favorites list.
