Higgins, Carter. A Rambler Steals Home. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. $16.99. ISBN 978-0-544-60201-4. 213 pages. Ages 7-12. P8Q9.
Derby Christmas Clark, her brother Triple, and her father Garland are wanderers in the truest form. Their yearly expedition leads from the mountains of Wisconsin where they cut Christmas trees and sell them along the highway, to spring carnivals on their way south, to their summer home in Ridge Creek, Virginia. They travel and live in what they call “the Rambler.” Hitched to the Rambler is a concession stand where they sell apple cider and donuts in the fall, hot chocolate in the winter, carnival cotton candy in the spring, and burgers and sweet potato fries next to a minor-league baseball stadium in Ridge Creek in the summer. This story starts in the summer where we meet Derby and watch her discover her Virginia home while grieving the death of her friend the ballfield caretaker. Derby will grow on you along with her biggest desire to set down roots.
Verdict: This is a sweet story that explores what it means to call home not only a place, but people too.
May 2017 review by Penny McDermott.
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