Runaway
Runaway
Wendelin Van Draanen
For anyone who has read Van Draanen's wonderful Sammy Keyes books, you'll remember that one of Sammy's friends started out as homeless when they first met. The author was haunted by this character, and eventually wrote this book to tell her story.
After her drug-addicted mother dies of an overdose, 12 year old Holly is thrown into the cold clutches of the foster care system. With each successive placement worst than the previous one, she decides that she has to run away to get out of both an abusive home, and a system that takes the word of grown-ups over endangered kids. Her story is told through a journal she begins keeping for school, and despite her resentment of the teacher she can't believe would really want to help her, and her believe that homeless people don't keep journals, she keeps coming back to it. Eventually she finds herself opening up, and also trying her hand at poetry, two things she has never done before.
This is a riveting book which is both a middle school tragedy and a thrilling story of survival. The author researched extensively while writing this book, spending time in shelters and even sleeping outside without gear! It comes off as very authentic, and has great potential to create a strong sense of empathy for the homeless in readers. Highly recommended.