Runaway by Wendelin Van Draaen

Runaway, by Wendelin Van Draaen. The genre of this book is fiction.

Runaway is about a girl named Holly, around the age of 12. Holly currently lives with foster parents ‘The Benders’. Holly’s foster parents do not treat Holly well, she lives in the laundry room, with the floor as her bed and the entire laundry room as her literal room. Her English teacher Ms.Leone one day gives each student of her a class a journal to write in. Throughout the journal Holly talks about her day to day life, and many more things. One day she gets fed up with her living conditions and her life conditions so she makes a wise decision to well Runaway. Personally I would have to say my favorite part of this book is whenever Holly writes a poem, mostly because it helps me understand more about how she feels about a situation in the book.

The main character (aka Holly) is lonely. I know this because on the very first page the text reads Holly saying, “Words can’t fix my life. Words can’t give me family.” This shows that even though Holly has foster parents (that treat her poorly). She still feels as if she doesn’t have a family. Holly wants to feel as if she is wanted. She wants a family that loves her and a family that will treat her great.

I like this book because, it helps you see what many foster children go through in their life. Holly’s a very great part of this book as well because, she is portrayed as a very strong girl in this book. The book is read out of the perspective of Holly’s journal as well, which I find unique because not many authors do this. Overall I found the book very addicting, emotional, funny, and a great book that I would recommend to others.