Interesting story in that it shows how homelessness, poverty and mental illness can all be entwined. Told in alternating chapters between Leo, a half English, Half Chinese girl who has run away from her creepy Uncle and his family, and Finlay, a wanna-be Goth who is involved with 2 part time jobs as he tries to save money for an electric guitar. Leo stumbles across Mary, an elderly lady with mental illness who is friends with all sorts of strange people - drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally unstable - who gives her a place to stay while she searches for her estranged Chinese grandparents. Leo meets Finlay when in her hunger she steals some donuts for the van where he works. After following Leo to Mary's flat, the two join forces to try and find the missing relatives. All they know is that they used to own a Chinese rest. in Glasgow and their name was Chan. All the while, Leo's creepy uncle is hot on her trail.

Julia Donaldson - the author famous for the Gruffallo and Zog, adorable rhyming picture books aimed at preschoolers - has written a grim young adult novel about running away from home, sexual abuse, death of parents, mental illness, and being disowned by your family. So if the lure for you is the famous name, the book you're getting is not going to be the feel you're expecting! Still, it's a good pacy story with a wide range of characters.

Leo has been orphaned, and after a few months living with her creepy uncle, decides to run away in search of her grandparents (who disapproved of her father's marriage and don't know she exists). She ends up taken in by a mentally ill Glaswegian lady, and makes friends with the local paperboy.

Full marks for avoiding the obvious 'there is a boy and a girl, they become Friends only on the way to being More Than Friends' story - they are friends and help each other, and he is interested in other people.

The plot only works because of some happy coincidences, but none of them feel impossible, even if they do feel very well timed. (Definitely no worse than Jane Eyre for that!) ( )

Running on the Cracks, by Julia Donaldson
Rating: 3-ish/5

My Summary: Leo is scared. She’s not quite sure what to think of her kooky uncle anymore, and she doesn’t want to take chances. What if he does something to her… Leo runs away. She goes in search of her grandparents, her only living relatives. She accidentally gets her photo in the newspaper, and had to hide. She meets a boy named Finlay, who seems to be the one who’s going to put an end to her new freedom… at first anyway. But then Finlay becomes a friend to Leo, and he becomes her key to staying away from her uncle. Leo will do anything to keep from being found and being sent back there. She ends up staying with a crazy lady who is hospitable enough, but refuses to take her medication and whose friends aren’t much better. Then she realizes that her Uncle is on her tail. How will she stay away?

What I thought: Running on the Cracks was an enjoyable read. When I first saw the cover, I imagined an action filled YA novel with a lot of suspense. Although there was suspense, it wasn’t anything that got your blood racing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book when I sat down to read it, but I had to be in the right mood to do it.

The Writing: The format of writing was different than I’d read before, but it was very engaging. It switched viewpoints, had pieces of the story in written-story form (meaning a whole chapter was just a letter or a newspaper article or an e-mail), had whole sections where it was just dialogue (those were my favorite sections—mostly it was when characters were on the phone, and they were all very funny) and even had a few chapters from the “crazy” person’s perspective (it’s always interesting being inside the head of a madman…). Also, the writer has written the book in an accent, meaning that some of the words are spelled wrong so that you can hear it pronounced with an accent in your head—quite engaging and welcoming. The writing was good, but as it was foreign it was a little odd (i.e. “lead” instead of “leash” etc), but not in a bad way.

The Characters: The characters were pretty relatable. I felt scared for Leo when she was running from her Uncle, and sorry for Finlay when we was stressed about lying to his mom. The characters were really cool, well developed, and some of them were kooky. I really liked Leo and Finlay. They had such cool names! I loved the “President”, but the “Godfather” was my favorite. He was just so… weirdly cool… (I don’t know, maybe that’s because I’m a little insane myself). Not too much, I rather enjoyed it actually. It’s always fun to read something a little different.

The Plot: The plot was pretty believable, and I know that (sadly) there are true stories like this all the time. I don’t know how the police are over in Scotland but I doubt very seriously that Leo would have gotten away with hiding from the American police for as long as she did from the Scottish police (but that’s my opinion as a police and spy novel writer). Although there was suggestion of the Uncle trying to sexually abuse women in the book, it never actually happened, and it was very age appropriate.

My Recommendation: I would recommend it to a friend ages 11-15, maybe even a little younger, but not older than that. Again, I enjoyed it when I sat down to read it, but it wasn’t quite my personal attention level (I’m 18). All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot.

Thank you to Henry Holt In Group for supplying my review copy of this book!

~Haleyknitz

PS- don’t forget—enter my giveaway for LOCKDOWN before October 20! enter at haleymathiot.blogspot.com ( )