The runaways - Softcover

Ruth Thomas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0397323441 ISBN 13: 9780397323449

Publisher: Lippincott, 1989

Synopsis

Having found an enormous sum of money and been threatened with punishment by their parents for not turning it in to the police, gawky eleven-year-old Julia and her bad-tempered friend Nathan flee London for Brighton and the open countryside.

About this title

About the Author:

Ruth Thomas was born in Wellington, Somerset, in 1927. She received a BA Honours Degree in English and a Diploma in Education from Bristol University and went on to teach in a number of primary schools in the East End of London. Ruth began writing soon after she retired in 1985. Her first novel The Runaways won The Guardian Children's Fiction Award. This was followed by four further critically acclaimed novels including The Secret, which was televised by Thames Television. She died in 2011.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5-8-- At the heart of this contemporary survival-friendship story are two unlikely 11-year-old allies, one black and one white. Nathan is small, wiry, bad-tempered, and an avid reader; Julia is tall, clumsy, a whiner, and virtually illiterate. The forces that unite them are their shared status as outsiders, and more importantly, their joint discovery of a treasure trove of cash in an abandoned house. Fearing retribution when their secret is exposed (they have flaunted their new-found wealth in front of classmates and teachers), they decide to run away together. What follows is a realistic record of a developing relationship as two former foes learn to respect, trust, and even make sacrifices for one another. In addition to compelling characterization, Thomas maintains interest with a storyline that is both believable and suspenseful, and a skilled writing style. This should appeal to young adolescents who can identify with the protagonists' feelings of inferiority, their desire to transcend their problems, and the conflicting needs for security and independence. --Julie Corsaro, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lippincott
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0397323441
• ISBN 13: 9780397323449
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 297