It's clear from the get-go that Agnes' presence is about to change the lives of everyone in the Moscatelli household.  Over the next decade and a half, as they embrace the little girl and work together to love away her pain, the Moscatellis experience all the sorrows, challenges, and triumphs that define family life.  With one special girl at their center, all of them will find healing like they've never known before.

Describing All the Children Are Home by Patry Francis is difficult because the novel really doesn't have a plot.  The story meanders here and there as it details everything that happens when Agnes disrupts the Moscatellis' lives for the better.  Because the tale is so unfocused, it definitely sags in places.  Still, all in all, I found All the Children Are Home to be quite compelling.  The characters are sympathetic and likable, even if some of them (Dahlia and Louie in particular) are not exactly warm, fuzzy types.  Their story feels authentic.  It's sad, with a realistically untidy end, and yet, it's also a hopeful tale about the beauty of found family in all its complicated glory.  I liked the novel overall.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of Fighting Words by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley)

Grade:

I'm not a BookTuber or a Bookstagrammer (I do have an Instagram account for Bloggin' 'bout Books, but I don't post there very often).  To be honest, I sort of forget these mediums exist even though they revolve around my favorite subject: books.  Thank goodness for the lovely Nicole over at Bookwyrm Knits who posted about a fun Fall reading challenge that was announced a couple weeks ago on BookTube (just FYI: her links go to the 2020 challenge).  The Fall Into Reading Challenge is a prompt-based challenge that is hosted by four YouTubers:  Tia at Tia and All the Books, Kelly at Cozy Reader Kelly, Angie at Literary Labors, and Rainey at Rainey Day Reads.  Because the prompts are very general, I'm going to do the harder 24-square level:

I'm not going to pre-plan any reading for the challenge since the books I'm already tentatively "planning" to read in the next few months fit these categories pretty well.  We'll see what I end up doing.  You can track my progress with this challenge—and all the others I'm participating in—by checking out the left sidebar of my blog.  For more details, like which books I'm using for which challenges, click on the "Reading Challenges" tab in my blog header.

Also, you may not know or may not remember that I started Ready for a Reading Challenge? at the end of 2019 to act as a database for all the reading challenges going on around the Internet.  While there's not a lot going on over there at this time of year, pretty soon it will be hopping with lots of announcements about new challenges for 2022.  If you are hosting a challenge in the new year or if you see one announced, please let me know so I can add it to the database.  Free advertising!