Soupy Leaves Home

The story of Pearl who runs away from her abusive dad and finds refuge with hobos during the Great Depression. She befriends an older man, R., who teaches her some streetwise life skills and helps her regain confidence. After months of travel, she slowly heals her grief and sets a new direction for her life. The ending made me feel uneasy. I enjoyed the drawing and the beautiful variations of watercolor. Overall a too simplified and romantized depiction of life in the streets, and a serious issue with the ending. I would not recommend it.

When a young girl runs away from home and decides to ride the rails away. She disguises herself as a boy and luckily enough finds a hobo mentor to travel with. The story was ok, the layout was nice, and the coloring was very unique! I actually learned a lot about the hobo lifestyle, very nice to have all the songs and rules cited. It was really interesting to see the meaning of the symbols (and how nicely it was worked in with the title) and I really love the inspired reading list included in the back! I think this was worth the read and I would recommend it to those interested in historical fiction. ~Ashley