Great Read for Kids

If you’re ready for a fun rollicking read, then try The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. After their parents death, Homer and his older brother, Harold, are sent to live with Squinton Leach, the meanest man in Maine, who just happens to be their uncle. The turning point comes when Squinton forces Harold into joining the Union Army. Well, there’s no way that Homer P. Figg was going to live alone on the farm with Squinton. Homer, who escapes situations by telling mostly truths but some little lies, decides to leave Pine Swamp and find his brother, Harold. This is where the adventure really begins. Spunky Homer encounters many dangers on the path to locate Harold—from alluding slave catchers with the help of Jedediah Brewster on the Underground Railroad to boarding the steamship Orion with Webster B. Willow, a clergyman who gets swindled by Frank Nibbly to joining a traveling medicine man with shifty Professor Fenton J. Fleabottom. Written in first person, Homer describes his exciting journey during 1863 when finding his brother was his only desire. Does he find Harold? And if so, what is his condition since having spent time as a Union soldier?