Daniel Johnston

Seeing by Joseph Falank Review

February 19, 2015 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

Seeing by Joseph Falank is a novel about a kid named Jake who has a couple different tragedies happen to him. The book navigates us through it with Jake as he battles with it himself.

I heard of the book on strong recommendations and so I reached out to the publisher, Winter Goose Publishing, for a review copy, which they very kindly gave me. Unfortunately I have to say that I cannot recommend it, which I regret because I was really hoping to enjoy the book.

Summary

Seeing starts with the main character at a funeral, but we don’t know exactly how we got there. Obviously the start is meant to hook the reader, which it does. The book then proceeds us to take us back to the days leading up to the death, in Jake’s life at school.

We find Jake at school, competing in a race for Field Day. Although he is going up against a girl who runs for the school team, he manages to beat her, to his great surprise. We are also introduced to a kid named Andy, who is new to the school and doesn’t have any friends.

Soon we meet Jamie, who used to be Jake’s best friend but is now his “best enemy,” as the book says. By winning the race Jake has qualified to face Jamie on Field Day. Jamie bullies him and tries to fight him, and he is consoled by his grandfather. His grandfather and he are living together and have grown especially close since Jake’s father simply walked away. Jake’s mom also has a new boyfriend Tim, who Jake understandably doesn’t like.

Jake gets help from his grandfather to train for the race on Friday for Field Day. His grandfather inspires him to increase his time all the way from 12 seconds to 10, and promises that nothing will keep him away from being there at the race.

Jake’s grandfather and he talk about death and Jake’s grandmother. I wouldn’t go into this much detail in the story if I was recommending it, but since I am not it is necessary to fully explain why. So Jake’s grandfather dies, and Jake is of course devastated. Andy comes over to his house to say he’s sorry, and Jake decides to invite him to play baseball, after which they become kind of friends. Tim also talks with him and they become a little more tolerant of each other.

When Jake goes to school, Jamie continues taunting him and attacking him, and soon Jake pummels him. The principal isn’t too mad at him because he knows what’s happening in his life and how Jamie has been bullying him all year.

There have been hints of a romance between Jake and Zoey, the girl he beat in the race, all book, and she reveals that she purposefully threw the race against him to make him feel good because she thought he needed the boost. Jake decides to do the race, even without his grandfather there, and he manages to win and defeat Jamie. He feels better at the end and looks forward to a better year in eighth grade than in seventh.

Review

There are several things that I consider lacking about the book. First of all it’s centered around tragedy, which isn’t really too attractive to me. When I read a book like this I can’t help but chuckle. All the things wrong in the world and this book I’m supposed to be reading for my own pleasure can’t help but tell me about even more.

That’s not to say that stories can’t be have death or horrible things happen; I love many that do. But the book doesn’t revolve around them; the book is about what the main character does in response to it. In the On the Run series, for example, which is one of my all time favorites, Aiden and Meg’s parents are in jail for life of terrorism and they are stuck in a juvenile detention farm. They break free from the farm and run around the country to prove their parents’ innocence, avoiding deadly terrorists and the FBI.

If a comparable book to Seeing had been written for that series, it would consist of Aiden and Meg lying around, depressed and trying to get over it, wallowing at their prison farm, but not doing anything. Do I want to read about that? Not a chance. Do I want to read about them being heroes and saving their parents while making monkeys out of the government? Oh, yeah.

This is the big problem with Seeing: Jake does absolutely nothing in the book. Sure, he wins a race at the end, and beats someone up, but that’s really not good enough to have a whole book around it. I want to read not about what happens to kids, but what the kids do. Jake does nothing of note.

Another big problem is that a ton of the book is fluff. You can literally read this 203 page book in fifteen minutes because you can completely skip over multiple chapters without missing a single thing. All of that space was spent in saying cliches and making observations, none of which was really all that beneficial to the story.

There are other problems with the book as well. Zoey throwing the race for Jake doesn’t make any sense, nor does Jake’s reaction. I don’t really think a teenage cross country racer would throw a race, and the action doesn’t make sense. Zoey says that she was helping him back up, when in reality by throwing the race she was setting him up for far more potential humiliation by getting smoked in the final by his worst enemy in front of the whole school.

Plus, I really don’t think that letting someone else win a competition is a good way to look out for them. I’ve run in races in the past, and let me tell you that if someone intentionally did poorly and let me win, I would be absolutely furious. Jake, however, surprisingly considers it a good thing.

To me one of the worst scenes in all of children’s books is the last scene in Crash where the narrator kid throws the race to the Quaker kid. Being nice and a good person is great, but the purpose of a competition is to judge who can compete the best, period.There’s nothing personal to it, and there’s nothing special to it.

If I’m racing someone I don’t care if I turn out to be faster in that given race or the other guy does, but I’m going to give it all I’ve got, and I think that’s the right way to go about life. So not only is Zoey throwing the race unbelievable, but it also gives the wrong message by promoting something like as being a good thing to do, instead of promoting working your hardest and doing your best.

This goes back to another problem in the book; Jake is described as “invisible” and “hiding,” which really doesn’t make much sense to me. Basically what it’s implying is that since his father’s desertion Jake has become more withdrawn and doesn’t have as many friends, and that’s a bad thing and he needs to learn to come out of it. To me, however, he seems perfectly fine. Sure, he’s upset about his dad leaving, but who wouldn’t be? He may not have a ton of friends in the seventh grade, but is that really such a bad thing?

It’s a problem I’ve seen in a lot of children’s/YA books where the author describes someone as being in bad shape or having something wrong with them, but most of the time there is no evidence to support that conclusion. Things in the real world are not so cut-and-dried and people are not categorized into boxes that say “ok and where he should be” and “struggling and needs help.” In actuality, almost everyone is really fine and simply living the life that seems the best to them, including Jake. So character growth and struggles are awesome, but trying to simply say that something is wrong with a character is to me a losing proposition.

I will say I love the idea of Jake getting inspiration from his grandfather, since I really look up to mine (now deceased). But it seemed to me that, starting the book from the funeral and then going back, the author made the grandfather the one really likable character just so he could kill him off. It definitely wasn’t cool to use him as a tragedy inflicting tool like that. Not that a great character can’t die like that in a book, of course, but for it to work there has to be a lot more to the book and a lot more action from the kid, as I already said. Still, the grandfather character while he was alive and his interactions with Jake were well done and the best part of the book to me.

So now you can tell why I don’t recommend this book. I commend the author for what was surely his hard work to write the book as well as Winter Goose Publishing, a small publishing company that has gone out of their way to promote this book and seems to be a house that authors should love. But because of the large flaws in the basic structure as well as in more specific aspects of the book, I cannot advise reading it.

Kid Writers Magazine Edition #2 Is Out!

February 16, 2015 by Daniel Johnston 4 Comments

Hi everyone! Thanks for you all being great and helping me through with the launch of Kid Writers Magazine, the only writing magazine in the world managed by kids, for kids. As you may know, it’s a place where kids can learn about writing and get published.

I’m proud to announce that the second edition of the magazine is out today! This edition is jam-packed with even more awesome content that first one. We’ve had tons of submissions from kid writers throughout the country, and I’ve worked with many of them to get them published in this edition.

Get the magazine here!

We’ve got our usual seven stories, the cover story being The Superfly Scavengers, a tale written by me where a kid finds a secret message on an old record player and tries to track a treasure down only to have to steal it by from a dishonest relative. Sounds pretty crazy, huh?

Some other great ones are The Treehouse Tussle by Nancy Burton, where a kid has new neighbors who try to get the property line redrawn to remove his treehouse, and the second part of The Treasure Chest Trackers by Lisa Fitzgerald, continuing from the first edition where two kids have found a hundred year-old treasure and now have to travel across the country to get it.

Perhaps my favorite story in this edition is Jack and Mary’s Spy Club: Mission 2: The Crooked Classroom Cheaters. In this mission Jack and Mary’s class is taking state tests, but when some students seem to be cheating and inflating their scores at the expense of other kids, it’s up to Jack and Mary to stop them. We’ve also got a mini-book coming out for the JMSC where they track down a writer who apparently doesn’t exist, so stayed tuned for that.

We’re also lucky enough to have an interview with Linda Sue Park, author of some books in The 39 Clues, the Newbery Medal winning A Single Shard, and A Long Walk to Water. Ms. Park lives just minutes from my house and she kindly agreed to an interview at the local Rochester Book Festival. You can hear more of those interviews here.

To make this magazine even better, I’m releasing a mini-book in conjunction with it as a free gift to the first thirty people who order. It’s a hilarious tale called The Wrecking Ball Employee where a kid attempts to get a job but is more successful in things like getting eaten by a girl who thinks he’s a hot dog and being accused of poisoning by a government agent. After the first thirty buyers it’ll be coming out as a separate book you can purchase, but you can get it as a bonus now (you might want to hurry because I’ll have some more publicity for this later in the week but I wanted to make sure my loyal blog readers got the first go).

I’ve got tons more exciting projects in the works as we speak, so be ready. Head on over to kidwriters.org and get the magazine and let me know what you think! You can also check out a preview of the magazine here. We’re always accepting new submissions from kids so adults make sure they all know about it and kids get busy!

Unleashed by Gordon Korman Review

January 16, 2015 by Daniel Johnston 2 Comments

Gordon Korman’s Swindle Series has been going on for quite a long time, and now the seventh book of the series has been released: Unleashed, in which Griffin Bing’s (aka The Man with The Plan) school is going an invention contest, and he’s competing against Darren Vader. There is thievery, breaking into government buildings, and knocking off the power grid for miles around

Summary

When Griffin starts getting congratulatory remarks at school one morning he can’t figure out why. Then he realizes it’s because his school is competing in a statewide invention contest. Because Griffin’s dad is an inventor, everyone figures Griffin is going to ace the contest. The problem: Griffin doesn’t know the first thing about inventing.

His worst nemesis, Darren Vader, however, goads him into the contest, and they even make a bet that whoever wins will write a script that the other will be forced to read to the entire school. Now Griffin really doesn’t want to lose.

When Melissa Dukakis, one of Griffin’s best friends and tech wizard, signs up for the contest for herself, Griffin is not pleased; he was expecting Melissa to help him. She’s about to agree, but then their friend Pitch comes in, fresh off not being allowed on the wrestling team because she’s a girl, and levels an outrageous accusation at Griffin that he’s being discriminatory. Melissa doesn’t know what to do, but now their group has split into two; the boys and the girls.

Savannah is having trouble with Luthor constantly chasing after a delivery truck, so Melissa invents a machine that emits a high-pitched noise whenever Luthor starts chasing that keeps him off the road. Savannah is overjoyed, but that doesn’t last too long when Melissa’s invention disappears.

Not that Griffin’s invention is going along too well, either. He’s trying to invent a silent vacuum cleaner, but for some reason it’s knocks out the electricity everywhere when he turns it on. Finally the team gets back together to help find Melissa’s stolen invention. Melissa is shattered and refuses to talk to anyone anymore.

The gang thinks Vader might have stolen the Hover Handler, as Melissa calls it, but he’s so confident about his own professionally made invention that they realize he’s not even worried that anyone could pose a threat to him. Their next target is their new neighbor, Mr. Hartman; or Heartless, as Griffin has dubbed him. When he moves in he no longer allows the kids to take a shortcut across his property to school, making an extra twenty minutes of work for them. He’s very suspicious of the government, and even worries that the Hover Handler was actually a means of spying on his house.

When they hear the noise of the Hover Handler emitting from Mr. Hartman’s house, they spy on it and eventually are forced to raid it in an attempt to take it back. But when they realize the noise is really coming from a piece of mechanical equipment, they wonder whether Mr. Hartman was right about the government all along: Did Uncle Sam really steal Melissa’s Hover Handler?

Review

Unleashed was good, combining typical Korman action and excitement with awesome plot twists and outrageous characters. The book also showed that the series may be growing a little old and not be as fresh as it once was.

What made the Swindle Series continually good, despite the fact that this is the seventh book, published seven years after the first one, is that Korman has managed to construct an entirely new and exciting plot in every book. I was a little wary about the last book, Jackpot, but Korman managed to keep it new and inject it with an entirely different storyline. The overall theme is not new here, with the plot of the team looking for a stolen item basically taken from Framed, to which the plot bears many similarities.

Griffin becoming an inventor, and his invention succeeding in a way he doesn’t want it to by sucking all the power for itself is hilarious. Many new characters in this book were also very funny, including Mr. Hartman, who has the floor plan of every government building a 100-mile radius, and the U.S. government itself.

The characters are becoming more important in the series, in the past being mostly a backdrop to the plot, and now being interesting and real enough to make an interesting story just on their own. It seems to me that Korman probably didn’t have too much trouble writing this one, since he’s gotten to know the team so well, but there are still tons of jokes and other cool things sprinkled throughout the pages. While the arc of the story may have been somewhat recycled, the characters and the actual details of the plot make up for it easily, Korman clearly giving 100% into making the whole book engaging and funny. We are still seeing new sides and actions from the characters all the time, instead of just recycling the same things, which continues to make the books interesting.

One weird thing is that Victor Phoenix, a big new character in the last book, is simply missing. Korman told me that he didn’t suspect anyone would miss Victor, and that the story isn’t really going in a continuous order. I’ve seen other people raising questions about Victor’s absence, however, and it is kind of shocking to see him simply gone, considering the fact that while Griffin is still the leader, Victor was sitting at lunch with the team through all of the previous book, and it only reasons that he still would.

I think the storyline works a lot better without Victor (after all, who wants more than one book of a guy whose main characteristic is that he was bullied?), but it would’ve been helpful to give some explanation like that he was on vacation or moved away or something like that. Victor’s disappearing act isn’t really that big of an idea, though, and it doesn’t really impact the strength of the book apart from being a little disappointing.

Overall, I love Unleashed, and any middle grade kid will like it. All the books in this series are pretty much equally good, with the possible exception of Showoff, and though some say that the series is getting old, Korman continually proves them wrong. He has said there is at least one more book, which I’ll be looking forward to. This is the first one that slightly lacked originality, but it’s still a great addition and it’ll be interesting to see other adventures Korman has up his sleeve for the team led by The Man with The Plan.

Blue Birds by Caroline Starr Rose Review

January 14, 2015 by Daniel Johnston 1 Comment

Blue Birds is the second book by Caroline Starr Rose, and I was fortunate enough to have been given a copy of the ARC. Caroline is also the author of May B., a good book that I especially liked for its allusion to “the place where the earth meets the sky.” Both are historical fiction novels, with the first focusing more on the main characters own inner struggle and the second geared towards a girls’ interaction with the world in a very big way.

Summary

Blue Birds is set in Roanoke, starting in 1587. Of course Roanoke is the location of the famous Roanoke Colony, which mysteriously disappeared but not without leaving some strange markings. Throughout the book we follow the adventures of Alis, a girl from Britain who has sailed over to America with her family, and Kimi, an Indian girl.

When Alis gets there with her parents, however, things are not as they planned. They were intending to go and establish the colony of Ralegh in Chesapeake Bay, but their pilot Ferdinando abandons them in Roanoke. The colony has been empty for a long time, and it appears that her beloved Uncle Samuel may be dead.

Still, they are going to make the best of the situation. Alis’ mom has a baby and Alis starts helping out with taking care not only of him but also of other children. Alis doesn’t fully like this, but at least she has her blue bird that her Uncle Samuel gave her.

She loses it one day, though, running away from the Indian girl, Kimi. Alis soon she becomes curious about the girl, having no one else her own age and gender to hang out with. Although they don’t speak the same language, they still communicate and have a good time together.

The Indians are suspicious of the English, considering the war that has just happened. Kimi has lost her own dear sister, and Alis is something of a replacement. The English know nothing about the previous conflict, however, only seeing the dead bodies. The leader of a neighboring tribe, Manteo, tries to bring people together, but no one is sure which side he’s on, even though he’s been given authority by the Queen.

Tensions continue to escalate, with the Indians wanting revenge and the English attacking Manteo’s colony, their ally. There are deaths, but Alis and Kimi are able to help warn each other about their groups’ plans so that nothing catastrophic happens. The English eventually are planning to leave, when Alis gets caught with Kimi. She is seen as a traitor, and her dad loses his honor. She apologizes and says she is wrong, but in the end chooses to leave her family and live with Alis and her family.

Review

This book is very historically accurate, verified by a lot of research on the author’s part. I was able to learn a lot about what happened at Roanoke leading up to the disappearance, none of which I knew before. Some of the characters in the book are actual people, so it is based on the historical record except for the ending where the tribe leaves, which is Caroline’s own theory.

The verse format is nice, and the author does it very well. We hear the characters talking to us and get to know them well, living the story through their eyes. Verse narration is nice because it allows a sensitivity that is not possible in normal first person narration. The only problem is that some of the details of what is going on are a little blurred because the verse references can be kind of ambiguous about them. Following along with everything was easy while I was reading, but later I didn’t remember the details of what happened much, probably somewhat because it was often not stated directly.

What I really liked about the book is the fact that Alis chooses to abandon her family and live with a people whose language she does not speak, solely based on her friendship with Kimi. That is really awesome and it shows a great courageousness which stems from Alis valuing and choosing what is most important to her, in this case a friendship based on a common human bond whereas her own family and village are in all sorts of confusions and do not trust her.

Blue Birds sets up tensions early and there are plenty of mysteries and unanswered questions to keep readers going through the book. It’s very good that even though the theme of the book is clearly friendship, Caroline knows that intrigue is what keeps kids reading. Nevertheless, original action driven by the main characters does not really take place until the very end of the book.

Overall, this is a good book, but I wish more original stuff had happened in addition to the history. The history is interesting to learn about, but the really important part of a book is what the characters themselves choose to do. At the end Alis makes an awesome decision, and she and Kimi help each other out a bit throughout, but there was opportunity for a lot more action and a lot more excitement instead of merely reading about the girls’ reactions to what is happening around them. Just having a couple of fun side plots to keep the story moving would’ve been really helpful.

I think a lot of girls will like this book anyway. I find it difficult to imagine too many boys reading it, even just based on the cover, although some boys would no doubt enjoy the historical side of the book. It is definitely not for kids who do not read a lot, just because of the lack of character action early on. It has many strengths, however, and middle grade girls who read a lot and are at least somewhat into historical fiction will find this a very worthy read.

This post is part of a week-long blog tour for the book Blue Birds. Author Caroline Starr Rose is giving away a downloadable PDF of this nice Blue Birds quote (created by Annie Barnett of Be Small Studios) for anyone who pre-orders the book from January 12-19. Simply click through to order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, IndieBound, or Powell’s, then email a copy of your receipt to [email protected] by Monday, January 19. PDFs will be sent out January 20.

A Very Short Story by Ernest Hemingway Audio and Analysis

January 7, 2015 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

A Very Short Story by Ernest Heminway is just that, a short tale of a man and a woman (Luz) who are madly in love and consider themselves to be married, but whose relationship falls apart in the end after Luz finds another man when her lover is away in America.

The story is very deliberately short to show how even though while it was going on the two “felt as though they were married,” it ended up not turning into anything. Hemingway often wrote about the transiency of romantic relationships, and this is a good example of him reminding that even though they were so close, still within just a few months the romance was over.

He also does not even give us the name of the man, implying that he could be any man, that any man could lose a lover like that. A purely romantic relationship like this one can be tampered off easily, the story shows, and therefore it is presumably best to be aware that attraction to people is not so special as it may seem and can easily be changed and that lasting relationships can be a result of luck, as well as presumably not just a romantic attraction.

On the Run Series by Gordon Korman

January 7, 2015 by Daniel Johnston 1 Comment

Imagine if one day, in school, your house just happens to be on CNN. And FBI officers just happen to be raiding it, taking your parents away in handcuffs. Imagine if, before you know it, people all across the country are decrying them as the worst traitors imaginable.

That’s what happens to Aiden and Meg Falconer. Aiden (15) and Meg (11) have their world rocked upside down amidst charges that their parents, respected criminologists, helped aid and abet terrorists. Sure, their parents have an alibi that they were working for the CIA, under the guidance of agent Frank Lindenauer. The problem: Frank Lindenauer has disappeared, and the CIA say they never employed an agent by that name.

With their parents stuck in prison for life, Aiden and Meg are thrown on Sunnydale Farm, a prison farm that is run by the Department of Justice. One night a fire sets the place to burn, and Aiden and Meg realize that this is their opportunity to escape; and to prove their parents innocence. But how likely is it going to be, with the whole country, the FBI, and a bald assassin after them?

Book 1: Chasing the Falconers

Here we get the backstory, and the fire that engulfs Sunnydale. Aiden didn’t start it on purpose, but he didn’t exactly jump to stop it, either. He hurries and saves Meg, and they take off. They are forced to walk all night, and to steal clothes in order to remain inconspicuous. They travel a great deal, but the cops are after them and they are forced to team up with the manslaughterer, Miguel Reyes, in order to survive.

The Falconers in this book don’t really know what they’re going to do, but they figure that somehow they’re going to do what it takes to save their parents. We are introduced to Aiden as a cautious and practical, and Meg as brilliant and filled with unbelievable spunk, plus the gift of gab. We also meet J. Edgar Giraffe (their nickname for Emmanuel Harris, the massive FBI agent who put the Falconer parents away for life), and have a strange encounter with Hairless Joe, a man who is out to kill them.

Book 2: The Fugitive Factor

The series now starts to really pick up, Aiden and Meg trying to track down former associates of their Uncle Frank for leads. In this vein they head to Boston, where they attempt to meet with their Aunt Jane. She doesn’t prove helpful, but Aiden and Meg are able to enjoy themselves in a super luxury hotel thanks to their parents skymiles accounts that hadn’t been shut down.

Unfortunately, Meg gets captured, and Hairless Joe dresses up as a police officer to take her into custody. The book gets its title because they are now very well known as fugitives, making it dangerous for them to venture into public. Still, the Falconers prove resourceful and manage to not only solve a crime going on in their expensive hotel, but more importantly get information on the trail of Frank Lindenauer.

Book 3: Now You See Them, Now You Don’t

The third book has Aiden and Meg hot-footing it to LA on the basis of old driving tickets issued to their Uncle Frank. Unfortunately their skymiles accounts have been compromised, so the government is aware of their location and they are forced to hang out with a gang after Aiden saves the life of Bo, a gang leader. Although Meg grows close to the gang members, they are soon off put by the violence and killing that surrounds gang life. Still, Bo manages to come in for them and in a big way, and Aiden saves his life a second time.

In addition, Aiden and Meg learn more about Lindenauer, gaining access to an old locker of his that shows he may have been connected with the terrorist group HORUS. That may prove Lindenauer’s guilt, but that doesn’t mean their parents are out of the woods yet. Aiden and Meg also stumble into a vicious trap threat by Hairless Joe and narrowly escape with their lives.

Book 4: The Stowaway Solution

Aiden and Meg have to get from LA to Denver (where HORUS headquarters used to be located), but they have no cash and the whole city is on the lookout. They solution: Get shipped out by sea.

It proves to not be so easy, though, when they get caught stowing away and are forced to jump overboard during a massive storm. Aiden is badly hurt and captured, and it’s up to Meg to save him with none other than Emmanuel Hairless standing in her way. The next order of business is still to get to Denver unnoticed, where possible salvation for their family awaits.

Book 5: Public Enemies

This is the best book is the series. Aiden and Meg manage to steal a motorcycle and head unnoticed to Denver, where they are able to pick up some clues about HORUS. While resting in the library Meg is furious about the hatred the famous radio broadcaster Mr. Mouth is spewing at them, and dramatically calls him to set the record straight.

The FBI see them on a surveillance video and are heading over, but unfortunately Hairless Joe is already there, ready to kill them. This time he’s not giving up, and makes several brutal attempts on their life. Only the help of The Mouth and his millions of listeners can save the Falconers from certain capture. Aiden and Meg also learn the real identity of Frank Lindenauer…and Hairless Joe.

Book 6: Hunting the Hunter

Aiden and Meg now realize that the bald assassin after them is Frank Lindenauer, and the only way to exonerate their parents is to force a confession. They lie low out in a farm and try to draw Hairless Frank into a trap, but soon learn that it is not going to be so easy. Desperate, Aiden decides he’s going to sacrifice his own life to save their parents.

Meg is not going to allow that, so she goes to the FBI and turns herself in, arranging for them to show up at the suicide meeting between Aiden and the killer. It doesn’t look like Hairless Frank is going to wait, however, and a dramatic battle ensues with the fate of the Falconer family in the balance.

Review

This series is pure gold. It is by far the best adventure series Korman has done, and is reminiscent of the style of the books he wrote when he was younger. In fact, he himself has on occasion said On the Run is what he’s the most proud of.

This six book series is packed with intense and crazy action that will keep you guessing, on the edge of your seat, and barely able to wait to learn what happens next. I’ve read all six books many times and they’re still just as good as the first time I read them.

Aiden and Meg are very identifiable characters, and I especially like Meg, an eleven year old girl with almost unbelievable tenacity and strength and yet who seems very real. Even Emmanuel Harris and other characters along the way feel both intriguing and quite real-life.

This series is an absolute must, period. It is one of the best kids book series ever written. There is also a second series of three books, Kidnapped, in which Meg is taken and held for ransom. It’s definitely not on the same level, but it’s a very good series nonetheless, and anyone who enjoyed On the Run will be excited to read it.

Get Book 1 of On the Run on Amazon

Get Book 1 of Kidnapped on Amazon