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The Smell of Other People's Houses
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Published:
Random House Children's Books 2016
Accelerated Reader:
IL: MG+ - BL: 5.7 - AR Pts: 8
Lexile measure:
960L
Status:
Checked Out
Description

“Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s Alaska is beautiful and wholly unfamiliar…. A thrilling, arresting debut.” —Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and I Was Here

“[A] singular debut. . . .  [Hitchcock] weav[es] the alternating voices of four young people into a seamless and continually surprising story of risk, love, redemption, catastrophe, and sacrifice.” —The Wall Street Journal
 
This deeply moving and authentic debut set in 1970s Alaska is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.
 
Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
 
Four very different lives are about to become entangled. This unforgettable William C. Morris Award finalist is about people who try to save each other—and how sometimes, when they least expect it, they succeed. 
 
Praise:
William C. Morris Finalist
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
Tayshas Reading List—Top 10 List
New York Public Library’s Best 50 Books for Teens
Chicago Public Library, Best of the Best List
Shelf Awareness, Best Children’s & Teen Books of the Year
Nominated to the Oklahoma Sequoya Book Award Master List
Nominated to the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
“Hitchcock’s debut resonates with the timeless quality of a classic. This is a fascinating character study—a poetic interweaving of rural isolation and coming-of-age.” —John Corey Whaley, award-winning author of Where Things Come Back and Highly Illogical Behavior
 
“As an Alaskan herself, Bonnie Sue Hitchcock is able to bring alive this town, and this group of poor teens and their families that live there.” —Bustle

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Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
Street Date:
02/23/2016
Language:
English
ISBN:
9780553497809
ASIN:
B00Y6Q9BB8
Accelerated Reader:
MG+
Level 5.7, 8 Points
Lexile measure:
960
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. (2016). The Smell of Other People's Houses. Random House Children's Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. 2016. The Smell of Other People's Houses. Random House Children's Books.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, The Smell of Other People's Houses. Random House Children's Books, 2016.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock. The Smell of Other People's Houses. Random House Children's Books, 2016.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Grouped Work ID:
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Needs Update?:
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Date Added:
Mar 19, 2020 16:13:03
Date Updated:
Mar 19, 2020 16:13:03
Last Metadata Check:
Mar 24, 2024 13:35:03
Last Metadata Change:
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Last Availability Check:
Mar 24, 2024 13:35:08
Last Availability Change:
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Last Grouped Work Modification Time:
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      • value: Native American
      • value: Diversity
      • value: teen books
      • value: Fiction
      • value: Young Adult
      • value: native americans
      • value: Alaska
      • value: Emotions
      • value: books for teens
      • value: realistic fiction
      • value: young adult books
      • value: ya books
      • value: books for teen girls
      • value: tween books for girls ages 11-14
      • value: books for teen boys
      • value: teen girl books
      • value: books for 12 year old boys
      • value: teen boy books
      • value: teen fiction books
      • value: books for 12 year old girls
      • value: books for 13 year old boys
      • value: books for 13 year old girls
      • value: books for 14 year old girls
      • value: books for 14 year old boys
      • value: 7th grade reading list
      • value: 8th grade reading list
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      • role: Author
      • fileAs: Hitchcock, Bonnie-Sue
      • bioText: Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock was born and raised in Alaska. She worked many years fishing commercially with her family and as a reporter for Alaska Public Radio stations around the state. She was also the host and producer of “Independent Native News,” a daily newscast produced in Fairbanks, focusing on Alaska Natives, American Indians, and Canada’s First Nations. Her writing is inspired by her family’s four generations in Alaska.
      • name: Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
imprint
Wendy Lamb Books
publishDate
2016-02-23T00:00:00-05:00
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title
The Smell of Other People's Houses
fullDescription

“Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s Alaska is beautiful and wholly unfamiliar…. A thrilling, arresting debut.” —Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and I Was Here

“[A] singular debut. . . .  [Hitchcock] weav[es] the alternating voices of four young people into a seamless and continually surprising story of risk, love, redemption, catastrophe, and sacrifice.” —The Wall Street Journal
 
This deeply moving and authentic debut set in 1970s Alaska is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.
 
Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
 
Four very different lives are about to become entangled. This unforgettable William C. Morris Award finalist is about people who try to save each other—and how sometimes, when they least expect it, they succeed. 
 
Praise:
William C. Morris Finalist
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
Tayshas Reading List—Top 10 List
New York Public Library’s Best 50 Books for Teens
Chicago Public Library, Best of the Best List
Shelf Awareness, Best Children’s & Teen Books of the Year
Nominated to the Oklahoma Sequoya Book Award Master List
Nominated to the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award
“Hitchcock’s debut resonates with the timeless quality of a classic. This is a fascinating character study—a poetic interweaving of rural isolation and coming-of-age.” —John Corey Whaley, award-winning author of Where Things Come Back and Highly Illogical Behavior
 
“As an Alaskan herself, Bonnie Sue Hitchcock is able to bring alive this town, and this group of poor teens and their families that live there.” —Bustle

gradeLevels
      • value: Grade 4
      • value: Grade 5
      • value: Grade 6
reviews
      • premium: False
      • source: Booklist, Starred
      • content: "An exquisitely drawn, deeply heartfelt look at a time and place not often addressed. Hitchcock's measured prose casts a gorgeous, almost otherworldly feel over the text, resulting in a quietly lovely look at the various sides of human nature and growing up in a difficult world."
      • premium: False
      • source: Publishers Weekly
      • content: "Using alternating narratives, debut novelist Hitchcock deftly weaves these stories together, setting them against the backdrop of a native Alaska that readers will find intoxicating. . . . will resonate with readers of all ages."
      • premium: False
      • source: Shelf Awareness, Starred
      • content: "An affecting story of fractured love and surprising redemption."
      • premium: False
      • source: Kirkus Reviews
      • content: "The Alaskan author depicts places and an era rarely seen in fiction for teens....All benefit from her journalist's eye for detail."
      • premium: False
      • source: The Horn Book
      • content: "Grounded in emotional honesty."
      • premium: False
      • source: Eowyn Ivey, author of the New York Times bestseller The Snow Child
      • content: "An honest, gritty, and moving portrait of growing up in Alaska. Only someone who knows and loves this place through and through could tell this story. This book is Alaska."
      • premium: False
      • source: Tim Tingle, author of the series How I Became a Ghost
      • content: "As only a native of Alaska can, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock blends narratives of indigenous and non- into a buffet of pain and beauty. Highly recommended."
      • premium: True
      • source: Publisher's Weekly
      • content:

        November 9, 2015
        Set in Fairbanks, Alaska, in the 1970s, this lyrical debut follows four teens whose stories gradually converge through a well-plotted series of loves, tragedies, and adventures. Dora only wants to find a safe home and loving family, but when good fortune strikes, it may be her downfall. Ruth misses her parents and hopes to escape the harsh life she has endured with her Gran, but a relationship with a popular guy at school might not be the escape she needs. Stowing away on a ship proves dangerous for Hank, who seeks a safe haven for himself and his brothers, and Alyce must choose between her love of dancing and her father’s expectation that she continue to spend summers fishing with him. Using alternating narratives, debut novelist Hitchcock deftly weaves these stories together, setting them against the backdrop of a native Alaska that readers will find intoxicating. The gutsiness of these four teens who, at heart, are trying to find their places in the world and survive against challenging odds, will resonate with readers of all ages. Ages 12–up. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency.

      • premium: True
      • source: Kirkus
      • content:

        November 15, 2015
        In 1970, a decade after statehood, the difficult lives of four Alaska teens are transformed when their paths intersect. Growing up poor is tough anywhere; it has its own flavor in Fairbanks. Raised with her younger sister by their grimly religious grandmother, Ruth is isolated and unprotected. For Inupiat Dora, life improves when she's informally adopted by a kind Athabascan family, but although her violent, alcoholic dad's in jail, she still feels unsafe. Alyce, whose parents have separated, lives with her mother in Fairbanks, fishing with her dad in summer. She wants to audition for college dance programs and that means staying in Fairbanks, disappointing her dad. Fleeing a troubled home, Hank and his brothers sneak onto a ferry heading south; then one disappears. The Alaskan author depicts places and an era rarely seen in fiction for teens: shopping for winter clothes at the Fairbanks Goodwill, living in a summer fish camp on the Yukon River and on a small fishing boat. All benefit from her journalist's eye for detail. Though compact, the novel features a large cast of sympathetic characters. At first somber but resonant, the plot eventually veers onto a different course. As the tone shifts to highly upbeat, outcomes feel pat, rewards unearned. The effect is to gloss over and minimize the aftereffects of childhood poverty, fractured families, and domestic trauma. The talented author and original subject matter largely counterbalance missteps. (Historical fiction. 12-16)

        COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

      • premium: True
      • source: School Library Journal
      • content:

        January 1, 2016

        Gr 7 Up-In the 1970s, in Fairbanks, AK, four teenagers' lives intersect in unexpected ways. Dealing with problems that continue to propel modern teens-unwanted pregnancy, alcoholism, difficult family situations, and ambition-they try to find a future that is theirs. Their struggles feel especially poignant set against the backdrop of a young state also battling to define itself. Uniquely Alaskan issues and industries weave throughout the background of the story by an author who is a fourth-generation Alaskan. Point of view moves among the four characters. But rather than appearing disjointed, this vantage allows readers a multifaceted glimpse into the rich cast of characters. Perhaps the primary flaw of this book is its brevity-each character has a unique journey and personality that readers will want to spend more time with than they are allotted. This leads to a glossed-over treatment of the relationships among characters, implied rather than shown. However, that is not enough to rob this work of its beauty and gentle emotional richness. VERDICT An excellent debut sure to appeal to teens who prefer relationship-based fiction.-Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK

        Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

      • premium: True
      • source: Booklist
      • content:

        Starred review from December 15, 2015
        Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* A 1970s Alaskan fishing town is the setting for this tale of four teenagers struggling with hardship over the course of a year, during which their stories occasionally collide and intertwine. Ruth, who lives with her tough grandmother after her father's death and mother's breakdown, thought she was in love; now, she's pregnant at 16 and sent to live in a convent until the baby comes. Everyone knows Dora's father is abusive, and even though she gets him sent to jail and comes into some luck, she feels like she'll never be free from him. Alyce, whose parents are divorced, is a talented dancer, and a dance scholarship is her ticket outif only she didn't feel like she was abandoning her fisher father. And Hank and his two brothers have run away from their mother and her horrible boyfriend, stowing away on a boat, where it quickly becomes apparent that Hank can't keep his brothers as safe as he would like. Less a narrative and more a series of portraits, this is an exquisitely drawn, deeply heartfelt look at a time and place not often addressed. Hitchcock's measured prose casts a gorgeous, almost otherworldly feel over the text, resulting in a quietly lovely look at the various sides of human nature and growing up in a difficult world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

      • premium: True
      • source: The Horn Book
      • content:

        January 1, 2016
        Through sensory details that viscerally evoke the story's physical and emotional landscapes, readers are transported to 1970s Birch Park, Alaska, where hunting and fishing are both livelihood and way of life for most families. As the book's title suggests, richly described scents are pervasive. Sixteen-year-old Ruth associates the smell of freshly cut deer meat with her happy early-childhood home, in sharp contrast to the clinical, Lemon Pledgeclean of Gran's house, where she and her sister have been raised in rigid austerity since their father's death. A wealthy family's lake house smells of cedar, while the heavily trafficked Goodwill smells like everyone's mud room in springmoldy and sweaty. Four distinct first-person narrative voicesno small featbreathe life into the adolescent protagonists, whose engaging individual stories, thematically linked by loss and yearning throughout the seasons, are enriched by their intersections. Escaping her alcoholic father's abuse and mother's neglect, Dora finds a welcome haven in the bustling energy of Dumpling's family's fish camp. A few stolen nights with handsome Ray Stevens lands Ruth scared, alone, and pregnant on a bus to Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow, an abbey with unexpected ties to her family. While some character crossings strain credulity, all the story lines are grounded in emotional honesty. lauren adams

        (Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

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“Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s Alaska is beautiful and wholly unfamiliar…. A thrilling, arresting debut.” —Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and I Was Here

“[A] singular debut. . . .  [Hitchcock] weav[es] the alternating voices of four young people into a seamless and continually surprising story of risk, love, redemption, catastrophe, and sacrifice.” —The Wall Street Journal
 
This deeply moving and authentic debut set in 1970s Alaska is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.
 
Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to...

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      • value: William C. Morris Debut Young Adult Award Finalist
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      • description: Young Adult Fiction / Family / General
      • code: YAF046150
      • description: YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Native American
      • code: YAF058110
      • description: Young Adult Fiction / Social Themes / Emotions & Feelings