Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
Winner, 1967 Newbery Award
Quick Summary
After her mother's death, Julie goes to live with her Aunt Cordelia in the country and experiences friendships, love, death, hardships, and joys.
Favorite Quote
I had lived with Aunt Cordelia too long to enjoy being called "Julie, baby" or "Honeybun" or "Sugar." They were foolish in the first place and rather revoltingly sticky for someone who was strictly a high protein girl.
About the Author
Children's author Irene Hunt published her first novel (Across Five Aprils, a Newbery honor book) at the age of 57. Known for her historical fiction, she lived primarily in Illinois and died in 2001. Up a Road Slowly was her second book.
My Project
For my project, I thought about how the main character Julie spends time comparing the views through the windows of her two homes, the one with her aunt and her childhood home where her remarried father lives. I began with an old-fashioned floral cotton fabric for the background and layered a wooden picket fence roughly painted in ivory and white. I added some frayed green ribbon for the grass and lace to represent lace curtains. The date is stamped into the fence post.
Final Thoughts
This is a sweet, old-fashioned coming-of-age story where the main character feels like more of an observer than a participant in her own life. I remember reading this book as a child and not liking it at all, so I was curious to read it again.
I found the book still slow to start, but this time around I found some bits of humor (as shown in my chosen quote above) and some intriguing characters (the drunk uncle and crazy neighbor lady). It's a book that concentrates on emotions rather than plot with some heavy-handed morals/lessons. The language, while sometimes beautiful, does have a distinctly out-of-date feel for a book published in the late 1960s: "Ordinarily, Chris and I walked the mile and a half to school with our aunt, shoulders pushed well back, every breath employing the use of our diaphragms, our minds fixed, at Aunt Cordelia's suggestion, on the beauty of Nature and the glory of the firmament."
Your Turn
If you read this book, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments.