National Network for Equitable Library Service

In I’ll Be Home Soon, Luanne Armstrong takes the reader on a tension-filled ride as Regan, a young girl living in the inner city, searches for her mother who has mysteriously disappeared. Homeless but by no means hapless, Regan is on her own much of the time but also receives help from a wide diversity of people: a young homeless boy like herself, her kung fu teacher, a university researcher, her grandmother, and a group of people who survive as bottle pickers. On the street, she must learn who it is she can truly trust, and it is not always those whom she (and the reader) might expect. Through her search for her mother, and in her connections with the people who truly help and care for her, Regan discovers her own inner strength and independence. In this fast-paced and sensitive story, Armstrong draws us into the shadowy and difficult side of inner-city life to show us both the dark and the compassionate sides of the people who survive in its midst.