Home > Categories > Books > Kids - Junior > The Runaways review
Grandpa's in the hospital and hating it. He swears at the nurses and makes trouble for everyone. Dad finds it too stressful to visit, but Gottfried Junior visits Grandpa as often as he's allowed, and when he's not allowed, he goes anyway.
Grandpa thinks only of the place he was happiest - the island where he lived with Grandma. He wants to go back one last time, but they won't let him out of the hospital.
Gottfried Junior and Grandpa take things into their own hands. If running away is the only way to the island, then they'll be runaways.
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The Runaways centers on the relationship between a young boy and his grandfather. His grandfather is now living in a rest home and is a grumpy, surly old man who is never happy. When he mentions to his grandson that he wants to go home one last time, they find a way to trick everyone name runaway. The book progresses well, though I did find some lines didn't translate quite as well as they'd hoped for, but that can happen. The runaway is successful and we follow the duo as they go off home. I didn't find any of the characters to be anything amazing and there didn't really feel like there was any depth to them.
This isn't a book that I would reread. The story did deal a little with the 'what happens when you die' question and managed to do so without being preachy and ultimately going with what would offer the most comfort. My biggest dislike for this book is the illustration, it looked amateurish to me and if I was to have considered this book by the illustrations, I would have put it back on the shelf and walked away, I really, really don't like the pictures. The story is sweet but it's not a read more than once kind of book.
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