SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

June 28, 2016 by Amanda MacGregor

Book Review: Run by Kody Keplinger

June 28, 2016 by Amanda MacGregor   2 comments

Publisher’s description

RUNBo Dickinson is a girl with a wild reputation, a deadbeat dad, and a mama who’s not exactly sober most of the time. Everyone in town knows the Dickinsons are a bad lot, but Bo doesn’t care what anyone thinks.

Agnes Atwood has never gone on a date, never even stayed out past ten, and never broken any of her parents’ overbearing rules. Rules that are meant to protect their legally blind daughter — protect her from what, Agnes isn’t quite sure.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Despite everything, Bo and Agnes become best friends. And it’s the sort of friendship that runs truer and deeper than anything else.

So when Bo shows up in the middle of the night, with police sirens wailing in the distance, desperate to get out of town, Agnes doesn’t hesitate to take off with her. But running away and not getting caught will require stealing a car, tracking down Bo’s dad, staying ahead of the authorities, and-worst of all-confronting some ugly secrets.

 

Amanda’s thoughts

Well, this was fantastic. The narrative voices, the vivid setting, the story, the writing… all fantastic. The girls take turns narrating the two timelines of the story, with Bo narrating the present and Agnes narrating the backstory. This is a great friendship story about opposites attracting. Bisexual Bo has a bad reputation—she comes from a “bad” family and her peers label her a slut and spread infinite rumors about her. Legally blind Agnes is a good girl, a “poor sweet blind girl” who’s never been given the chance to be “bad.” Or the chance to do anything. Both girls are in desperate need of a real friend. Despite their differences, they grow close, forming a tight bond based on respect, support, kindness, and true friendship. We see their friendship grow through Agnes’s narration. Meanwhile, in Bo’s timeline, we know the girls are on the run, but we don’t know why. It appears that they are headed to make a new start somewhere… that is, if the police don’t catch them first.

 

Also, and probably obviously, this book is noteworthy because it features a blind main character. Agnes uses a cane, talks repeatedly about using enlarged print or braille and other school accommodations, and has lived her whole life with people treating her like she’s some kind of special angel because she’s blind. Agnes longs to be given more freedom. Bo knows Agnes doesn’t need her help to do lots of basic stuff, but is always there for her if she does need assistance. Agnes’s relationship with her parents and her expectations for her future are both heavily shaped by her disability. We learn a lot about what being blind means for Agnes on a day-to-day basis but also what it means for her in a larger sense.

 

One of the main problems with alternate narration is that it’s often so hard to tell the characters apart. Keplinger does a great job of making Bo and Agnes sound very different both in the things they say and how they say them. We can tell early on that Bo isn’t as tough as she seems and Agnes isn’t as meek as people believe her to be.  This is an easy recommendation for anyone who likes a road trip book, an adventure, a Thelma and Louise-type story, a friendship story, or an opposites attract story. Highly recommended. 

 

 ISBN-13: 9780545831130

Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

Publication date: 06/28/2016

Filed under: Book Reviews

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments
BisexualBlindBook reviewsDisabilitiesDrugsFoster CareFriendshipLGBTQIA+PovertyRunaways

About Amanda MacGregor

Amanda MacGregor works in an elementary library, loves dogs, and can be found on Twitter @CiteSomething.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

May 2022

Take 5: Recent graphic novels reviews

by Amanda MacGregor

May 2022

Post-It Note Reviews: Gothic tropes, post-apocalyptic friendship, small town Minnesota, and more!

by Amanda MacGregor

May 2022

Book Review: Let the Monster Out by Chad Lucas

by Amanda MacGregor

May 2022

Book Review: The Science of Being Angry by Nicole Melleby

by Amanda MacGregor

May 2022

Book Review: Dead Flip by Sara Farizan

by Amanda MacGregor

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

Right Now, on The Yarn Podcast . . .

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Quite the Treat. A Yellow Dog Blues Interview with Alice Faye Duncan and Chris Raschka

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Bug Scouts: Out in the Wild! | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

Many May Suggestions: First Quarter Mock Newbery Possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

Take 5: Recent graphic novels reviews

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

Farewell From The Classroom Bookshelf

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Grant Snider Visits The Yarn!

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

19 Enlightening & Highly Engaging Nonfiction Titles for Teens | Summer Reading 2020

12 YA Titles Publishing in 2022 That Feature Asian American Protagonists

YA Anthologies: Discovering and Using New Collections For Teen Readers

10 YA Sports Novels That Knock It Out of the Park | Summer Reading 2021

Educators Weigh In on Summer Reading Lists in SLJ/NCTE Survey

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. riley says

    December 12, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    How many pages is this book?

Trackbacks

  1. July New Books! – RML New YA Books says:
    August 3, 2016 at 8:32 pm

    […] / Kody Keplinger (“Teen Librarian Toolbox” review by School Library […]

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2022


COPYRIGHT © 2022