Road Home

By Erica Kingsbury

A story about waiting, belonging, and the ache of hoping you're wanted - written for kids who've ever felt like they were standing on the outside, looking in.

Maggie Hartley finally found her little sister, Grace - living safely with Miguel and Elena Garcia. There's just one problem: Grace got a family. Maggie got a waiting list.

While the Garcias work through the long approval process to take Maggie in too, she's stuck back at Kentwood House, watching her sister grow more at home with someone else's family with every visit. Every "soon" from a social worker. Every well-meaning "it's almost time." And underneath all of it, the fear she can't shake: what if they only wanted Grace?

Road Home is the second book in the Juniper Creek Kids Series, following Maggie through the in-between - the hardest, least talked-about part of foster care: not the leaving, and not the arriving, but the waiting in the middle.

Why parents trust this series:

Erica Kingsbury doesn't rush past the hard parts. Road Home sits with grief, jealousy, and the fear of being forgotten with real honesty - and meets every one of them with steady, patient kindness from the adults who keep showing up for Maggie. Faith runs through the story as comfort, not lecture. Nothing here will frighten a sensitive reader, and a great deal of it will help a child name feelings they didn't have words for yet.

Perfect for fans of Anne of Avonlea and The Penderwicks - gentle, character-driven stories about the families we build and the ones that find us.

Book Two of Juniper Creek Series. The Hartley sisters' story began in Girl in the Barn and continues in Uprooted.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 196951518X
• ISBN13: 9781969515187
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Rose & Pearl Publishing, LLC
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7