A Song Called Home

Written by Sara Zarr

Narrated by Ferdelle Capistrano

From award-winning author Sara Zarr comes a story of the small moments that show us who we are, and how family is not just something you’re part of, but something you make.

Lou and her family don’t have much, but for Lou it's enough. Mom. Her sister, Casey. Their apartment in the city. Her best friend, Beth. It would be better if Dad could stop drinking and be there for her and Casey, and if they didn't have to worry about money all the time. But Lou doesn’t need better—she only needs enough.

What’s enough for Lou, however, is not enough for Mom. Steve, Mom's boyfriend, isn’t a bad guy, he's just…not what Lou is used to. And now, he and Mom are getting married, and that means moving. Packing up life as they’ve known it and storing it in Steve’s garage. Lou will be separated from everything in her small but predictable life, farther from Dad than ever.

Their last night in the city, Lou receives a mysterious birthday gift: A guitar, left for her by their front door. There’s nothing saying who left it, but it must be from Dad. And as she leaves the only place she’s ever known, she starts to believe that if she can learn how to play it, maybe she can bring a piece of him, and of her old life, home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9780063044951

Sara Zarr

Sara Zarr is the author of six acclaimed novels for young adults, including Story of a Girl, The Lucy Variations, and Gem & Dixie. She's a National Book Award finalist and two-time Utah Book Award winner. Her novels have been variously named to annual best books lists of the American Library Association, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, the Guardian, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library and have been translated into many languages. She splits her time between Utah and California. You can visit her online at www.sarazarr.com.

Reviews for A Song Called Home

[sjgirl-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I felt for fifth-grader Lou (also known as Lu) every time she pocketed someone else’s property, I don’t know much about the compulsion to steal but I very much understood that this kid was hurting, the author made Lu’s emotional struggles apparent, not only in those moments of thievery but throughout this story, as she faces moving away from the only home she’s ever known, navigating a new school, a new stepdad, distance from her best friend, and more difficult than anything, the absence of her alcoholic father. I loved the relationship between Lu and her older sister Casey, they don’t get along perfectly (what siblings do?) but the love is never in doubt, and their misbehavior, their bonding, and especially their reactions to their father as well as to the presence of alcohol at a party all came across with plenty of honesty and heart.