This is one of the ALA Best Books for Young Adults, I'm curious to see what you think.

Excited to release this book in the brand new LFL!

When I picked this up, I didn't realize it was a Young Adult. Then I came on here to see what bookcrossing.com was all about and I saw alcopop's comment. But I kept reading. In general I thought the book was okay but it dragged a bit with all their traveling and the monotony of their repetitious needs of finding food and shelter. I also feel it is a bit irresponsible of the writer to have the children get in such potentially dangerous situations trusting strangers, like the college students with no mention of what a risky bad idea that is. SPOILER ALERT: While they do finally come up against an ill-meaning stranger, it is not the only time that caution should have been emphasized. There were other times they ended up okay when they certainly took big safety risks. Also, the idea that a thirteen year old could handle all she did, being the leader of the group and being so resourceful is a bit of a leap as is the amount of cooperation of all her siblings to follow her and endure the hardships so stoically. Other unrealistic details are the fact that their shoes did not wear out nor did they suffer enough physical injuries. Only two injuries for four kids in all that time, travel, and hardship.