Module Four: Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

Summary: Holly is living life with no mother and no place to go. She has been chosen to be put into a foster home with nice people but, who lack parenting skills. She is often down and faced with very difficult situations about how she will live her life. She finds herself on a journey to her homeland, Ireland, to reunite with her birth mother.

Citation: Dowd, S. (2009). Solace of the road. New York, NY: David Fickling Books.

Impressions: This was a very difficult book for me to read. In the beginning, I was very confused to where Holly was and who she was with. The chapters seem to jump a little to much for me. This is by no means one of my favorite books from the selections but, it does have important messages. There are situations in Holly's life where she must make some pretty tough decisions. She is a strong character though she has little to no people in her life to draw strength from. I did leave this book with a better understanding of homelessness and what a foster child must go through.

Reviews:
“Holly Hogan is a 14-year-old with a whole host of problems. She is to be lodged in a new foster placement, with the bourgeois and highly organized Ray and Fiona Aldridge. There is nothing terribly wrong with Holly’s foster home, except that it feels as if ‘a nail bomb is about to go off’ in her head. Holly finds a blonde wig, a relic of the period when Fiona was being treated for cancer. With the wig, Holly dons a new persona, Solace, and heads off to Ireland where she believes her biological mother is still waiting for her and will greet her with open arms. Solace has a series of frightening adventures en route to the ferry port at Fishguard – some of which could have been described more concisely. Once on the boat she suffers from memory flashbacks that tell her the past is not quite what she believed. Her anguish is portrayed with conviction, a highly credible aftermath of all she has endured.”- Rebecca Butler

Butler, R. (2009). Solace of the road (Book Review). Books for Keeps, 175. Retrieved from Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database. 

“The journey is well told, tightly plotted and well written. One of Dowd’s strength’s as a writer is her plot mastery.”- Celia Keenan

Keenan, C. (2009). Solace of the road (Book Review). Inis- The Children’s Book Ireland Magazine, 27. Retrieved from Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database.

Library Setting: In the library, have a booktalk with about Solace of the Road. Remind the patrons that there are many people in this area who are without homes or families. As a group, make a special "field trip" where patrons can volunteer at a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Volunteering their time is way of giving back to the community and understanding different people. This could also be a family project as well.