runner

__Runner__ by Carl Deuker ISBN: 978-0618-54298-7 ©2005 216 pages

Good sections to read aloud: p. 1 where our main character talks about his drunk father pp. 56-59 where our main character is approached by a guy about “running”

Summary: Our main character, Chance, is basically living on his own. His father is a drunk and hardly ever is “home.” Home is a tiny sailboat called the “Tiny Dancer.” Chance goes to school, doesn’t talk much, and runs almost every day afterwards to let off steam and stress. One day he meets a man who asks about his running and if he could do some “favors” for him. Chance knows getting mixed up with this guy is probably not the best thing, so at first, he says no. Only after thinking about it for a few days does he realize that the money could really help him and his father out, so he agrees. Toss in the mix of a “friend,” Melissa, and things really get troublesome for Chance in a hurry. Can he dig himself out of the hole he put himself into before it’s too late?

YA fiction-- teen issues; smuggling; alcoholism; single-parent families; poverty; terrorism; Puget Sound, Washington

©Jennifer Lang - WDMS - 2007