The Hike to Home

Lin has always lived on the road with her parents, but now Dad will spend a year renovating a house in New Jersey while Mom does a research trip. Lin will go to a regular school for the first time. Worse, she starts in summer camp with a bunch of mean girls. Soon Lin finds there is a mystery about a lost castle. She makes friends with Tinsley, a free-spirited girl, and Leo, a timid boy. They decide they will find the castle, but they have obstacles to overcome—some bullies who follow them and having to trick their parents into thinking they are safe at each other’s homes. What should be a one-night camping trip turns into three!

Jess Rinker has written a really fun, exciting, and compelling story with complex characters and a nice little mystery to keep readers turning the pages. The kids are a great group who learn to work together toward a common goal, all of them learning, growing, and changing over the short time of the story. The writing is wonderful and the dialog snappy. The voice of Lin for the first-person point of view is perfect.