**A compelling story of survival from a three-time Newbery Honor winning author**
At the end of *I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This*, Lena and her younger sister, Dion, set off on their own, desperate to escape their abusive father. Disguised as boys, they hitchhike along, traveling in search of their mother's relatives. They don't know what they will find, or who they can trust along the way, but they do know that they can't afford to make even one single mistake. Dramatic and moving, this is a heart-wrenching story of two young girls in search of a place to call home.
**
### From Publishers Weekly
Rendered as eloquently as I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, this sequel follows 13-year-old Lena and her precocious little sister, Dion, as they run away from their sexually abusive father. Lena plans to take Dion to Pine Mountain, Ky., the birthplace of their late mother, but hitchhiking in the dead of winter, wondering what dangers and obstacles lie ahead, takes its toll: "I knew what the sun looked like now.... I knew the way the ending day faded the road to blue then black then made it disappear. And the way the cold could come in and turn the whole world winter-brown." Writing in Lena's voice, striking for its balance of tough-mindedness and tenderness, Woodson conveys the love that the protective heroine feels for her sister as well as the compassion of strangers: the truck driver who gives them money, the waitress who understands their situation all too well, and grandmotherly Miz Lily, who opens her arms as well as her door to the travelers. Soulful, wise and sometimes wrenching, this taut story never loses its grip on the reader. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
### From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up-Like thousands of their real-life counterparts, 13-year-old Lena and her younger sister, Dion, run away from home because of their father's sexual abuse. Disguised as boys and carrying only a few necessities, the girls hitchhike from Ohio to their deceased mother's hometown in Kentucky on the vague and unrealistic hope that some unknown relative might take them in. Readers of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This (Delacorte, 1994) will recognize Lena as the poor, white girl who skips town in the final chapters of Woodson's heartwrenching and brilliant novel of interracial friendship. Here the story continues, this time in Lena's rough voice, a voice that betrays years of developmental neglect yet still speaks eloquently for the tenacity of the human spirit. With aching honesty, Lena expresses the conflicts many abused children face. "My daddy was really messed up but he was all we had," she admits. Readers who long for a happy ending for these heroic children will not be disappointed. Halfway through the book, they are picked up by a kindly woman who takes them in. Miss Lily's nurturing thaws Lena's defenses and she reaches out to the one friend who can truly bring her home. That her friend Marie's father, an African-American college professor, must overcome his own racial attitudes to help the girls, adds to the novel's richness. Once again, Woodson writes with excruciating clarity about difficult issues of childhood and leaves readers encouraged by humanity's potential for insight, compassion, and hope.
*Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA *
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Description:
**A compelling story of survival from a three-time Newbery Honor winning author** At the end of *I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This*, Lena and her younger sister, Dion, set off on their own, desperate to escape their abusive father. Disguised as boys, they hitchhike along, traveling in search of their mother's relatives. They don't know what they will find, or who they can trust along the way, but they do know that they can't afford to make even one single mistake. Dramatic and moving, this is a heart-wrenching story of two young girls in search of a place to call home. ** ### From Publishers Weekly Rendered as eloquently as I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, this sequel follows 13-year-old Lena and her precocious little sister, Dion, as they run away from their sexually abusive father. Lena plans to take Dion to Pine Mountain, Ky., the birthplace of their late mother, but hitchhiking in the dead of winter, wondering what dangers and obstacles lie ahead, takes its toll: "I knew what the sun looked like now.... I knew the way the ending day faded the road to blue then black then made it disappear. And the way the cold could come in and turn the whole world winter-brown." Writing in Lena's voice, striking for its balance of tough-mindedness and tenderness, Woodson conveys the love that the protective heroine feels for her sister as well as the compassion of strangers: the truck driver who gives them money, the waitress who understands their situation all too well, and grandmotherly Miz Lily, who opens her arms as well as her door to the travelers. Soulful, wise and sometimes wrenching, this taut story never loses its grip on the reader. Ages 10-up. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. ### From School Library Journal Grade 6 Up-Like thousands of their real-life counterparts, 13-year-old Lena and her younger sister, Dion, run away from home because of their father's sexual abuse. Disguised as boys and carrying only a few necessities, the girls hitchhike from Ohio to their deceased mother's hometown in Kentucky on the vague and unrealistic hope that some unknown relative might take them in. Readers of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This (Delacorte, 1994) will recognize Lena as the poor, white girl who skips town in the final chapters of Woodson's heartwrenching and brilliant novel of interracial friendship. Here the story continues, this time in Lena's rough voice, a voice that betrays years of developmental neglect yet still speaks eloquently for the tenacity of the human spirit. With aching honesty, Lena expresses the conflicts many abused children face. "My daddy was really messed up but he was all we had," she admits. Readers who long for a happy ending for these heroic children will not be disappointed. Halfway through the book, they are picked up by a kindly woman who takes them in. Miss Lily's nurturing thaws Lena's defenses and she reaches out to the one friend who can truly bring her home. That her friend Marie's father, an African-American college professor, must overcome his own racial attitudes to help the girls, adds to the novel's richness. Once again, Woodson writes with excruciating clarity about difficult issues of childhood and leaves readers encouraged by humanity's potential for insight, compassion, and hope. *Carolyn Lehman, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA * Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.