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The O'Sullivan Family #2
Francie on the Run
Dutch storyteller Hilda Van Stockum called Francie O'Sullivan her favorite character. He's a spunky little Irish boy with the qualities of Jack the Giant Killer and the boy David. Homesick for his family at Bantry Bay, Francie decides to leave the hospital where he is being treated for his lame foot and walk home even though he's not altogether sure of how to get there.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
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About the author
Hilda van Stockum
54 books74 followersBorn February 9, 1908, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Hilda van Stockum was a noted author, illustrator and painter, whose work has won the Newbery Honor and the National Conference of Christians and Jews Brotherhood Award. She was also a charter member of the Children's Book Guild and the only person to have served as its president for two consecutive terms.
Van Stockum was raised partly in Ireland, and also in Ymuiden, the seaport of Amsterdam, where her father was port commander. With no car and few companions, she recalled turning to writing out of boredom. She was also a talented artist. A penchant for art evidently ran in the family, which counted the van Goghs as distant relatives.
In the 1920s, she worked as an illustrator for the Dublin-based publishing house, Browne & Nolan. She illustrated her first book, an Irish reader, in 1930, and her last book in 2001, giving her a 71-year career as a book-illustrator.
Van Stockum attended art school in Amsterdam and later in Dublin, where she met and later married Ervin Ross "Spike" Marlin, who at the time was her brother Willem's roommate at Trinity College. Willem Van Stockum was killed piloting a bomber over France in 1944. Van Stockum memorialized him in her book The Mitchells (1945), about the travails of raising a family in Washington, D.C., during the war. She often used her family as models for the written and illustrated characters in her books.
Not surprisingly then, Van Stockum was, in fact, raising a family in Washington, D.C., at the time, having married Marlin, who by 1935 was a Roosevelt administration official.
She had written and illustrated her first book for children, A Day on Skates , in 1934. It had a foreword by her aunt-by-marriage, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and won a Newbery Honor. During the next four decades she averaged one book per year written, illustrated, translated or some combination.
Van Stockum and the couple's six children were in tow for Marlin's peripatetic assignments, and it seems nothing short of miraculous that she managed to write and illustrate a score of children's books. In addition, she translated and illustrated editions of many other authors.
Asked in 1942 by the Washington Post how she did it, Van Stockum replied with characteristic aplomb, "By neglecting my other duties." Highly organized in her work, she illustrated and painted in the winter and wrote in the summer, when she could get her children out of the house.
Known for their warm, vivid, and realistic depictions of family life in the face of danger and difficulties, van Stockum's books typically featured families and were set wherever she happened to be living; Francie on the Run (1939), about a child who escapes from a hospital, was set in Ireland. Friendly Gables (1958) completed the Mitchells' saga — by then they had moved to Montreal from Washington.
Her most popular book, The Winged Watchman (1962) is the story of two Dutch boys who help the Resistance during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The book is based on letters Hilda received from relatives in the Netherlands, and has been praised for conveying an accurate sense of life under Nazi occupation.
Hilda van Stockum died in 2006 at the age of 98.
Van Stockum was raised partly in Ireland, and also in Ymuiden, the seaport of Amsterdam, where her father was port commander. With no car and few companions, she recalled turning to writing out of boredom. She was also a talented artist. A penchant for art evidently ran in the family, which counted the van Goghs as distant relatives.
In the 1920s, she worked as an illustrator for the Dublin-based publishing house, Browne & Nolan. She illustrated her first book, an Irish reader, in 1930, and her last book in 2001, giving her a 71-year career as a book-illustrator.
Van Stockum attended art school in Amsterdam and later in Dublin, where she met and later married Ervin Ross "Spike" Marlin, who at the time was her brother Willem's roommate at Trinity College. Willem Van Stockum was killed piloting a bomber over France in 1944. Van Stockum memorialized him in her book The Mitchells (1945), about the travails of raising a family in Washington, D.C., during the war. She often used her family as models for the written and illustrated characters in her books.
Not surprisingly then, Van Stockum was, in fact, raising a family in Washington, D.C., at the time, having married Marlin, who by 1935 was a Roosevelt administration official.
She had written and illustrated her first book for children, A Day on Skates , in 1934. It had a foreword by her aunt-by-marriage, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and won a Newbery Honor. During the next four decades she averaged one book per year written, illustrated, translated or some combination.
Van Stockum and the couple's six children were in tow for Marlin's peripatetic assignments, and it seems nothing short of miraculous that she managed to write and illustrate a score of children's books. In addition, she translated and illustrated editions of many other authors.
Asked in 1942 by the Washington Post how she did it, Van Stockum replied with characteristic aplomb, "By neglecting my other duties." Highly organized in her work, she illustrated and painted in the winter and wrote in the summer, when she could get her children out of the house.
Known for their warm, vivid, and realistic depictions of family life in the face of danger and difficulties, van Stockum's books typically featured families and were set wherever she happened to be living; Francie on the Run (1939), about a child who escapes from a hospital, was set in Ireland. Friendly Gables (1958) completed the Mitchells' saga — by then they had moved to Montreal from Washington.
Her most popular book, The Winged Watchman (1962) is the story of two Dutch boys who help the Resistance during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The book is based on letters Hilda received from relatives in the Netherlands, and has been praised for conveying an accurate sense of life under Nazi occupation.
Hilda van Stockum died in 2006 at the age of 98.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 26, 2020
I've been really struggling this year to find historical fiction that's enjoyable and to my personal taste, and Francie on the Run did not disappoint. Nothing like a little Hilda van Stockum.
This is a story about a little six-year-old boy who escapes from the children's hospital and tries to find his way home to County Cork all by himself. He ends up traveling the length and breadth of Ireland before he finally gets home, helped along the way by kind strangers. It's very firmly a 'fantasy' in that we KNOW nothing truly bad will happen to little Francie, but the stakes are still high enough to be a rollicking good adventure. The worldbuilding is simply unparalleled: a rich, detailed, colorful portrait of country life in Ireland in the late 1930s by an author who speaks from authentic personal experience. The detour in the Aran Islands in particular IS. SO. SO. SO. GOOD. If you've ever dreamed of visiting Ireland, do yourself a favor and read Francie on the Run.
This is a story about a little six-year-old boy who escapes from the children's hospital and tries to find his way home to County Cork all by himself. He ends up traveling the length and breadth of Ireland before he finally gets home, helped along the way by kind strangers. It's very firmly a 'fantasy' in that we KNOW nothing truly bad will happen to little Francie, but the stakes are still high enough to be a rollicking good adventure. The worldbuilding is simply unparalleled: a rich, detailed, colorful portrait of country life in Ireland in the late 1930s by an author who speaks from authentic personal experience. The detour in the Aran Islands in particular IS. SO. SO. SO. GOOD. If you've ever dreamed of visiting Ireland, do yourself a favor and read Francie on the Run.
January 10, 2025
In this sequel to The Cottage at Bantry Bay, Francie O’Sullivan has finally had the surgery required to heal his foot, and he is ready to head home. Unable to stand being cooped up in the hospital any longer, he takes to the streets of Dublin, determined to get himself home to show his twin brother Liam how well he can walk. When Francie gets on the wrong train, however, he sets into motion a series of encounters with kind strangers who, through roundabout means, help him to get home to Bantry Bay.
The premise of this book is the kind of thing I tended to avoid as a kid. I was always troubled by the idea of a child going off somewhere without his parents knowing, and the idea of Francie having fun on the road while his mother doesn’t know where he is bothers me even now. Still, Francie’s indomitable spirit comes alive on the page, and it’s hard not to get caught up in his cheerful enthusiasm. It was really fun reading about how each new friend Francie made reacted to his strong little personality, and of course, there was never any chance that everything would be anything but well in the end.
Francie on the Run is a great everyday adventure story. Though best enjoyed as part of the series, it could also stand on its own. Personally, as it is part of that larger series, I would have liked to see more of the rest of the family, but it does work just fine as just Francie’s book.
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
The premise of this book is the kind of thing I tended to avoid as a kid. I was always troubled by the idea of a child going off somewhere without his parents knowing, and the idea of Francie having fun on the road while his mother doesn’t know where he is bothers me even now. Still, Francie’s indomitable spirit comes alive on the page, and it’s hard not to get caught up in his cheerful enthusiasm. It was really fun reading about how each new friend Francie made reacted to his strong little personality, and of course, there was never any chance that everything would be anything but well in the end.
Francie on the Run is a great everyday adventure story. Though best enjoyed as part of the series, it could also stand on its own. Personally, as it is part of that larger series, I would have liked to see more of the rest of the family, but it does work just fine as just Francie’s book.
This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.
October 17, 2024
Delightful!
January 12, 2016
My 11 yr old son and I liked this book, second in a series of three, even better than the first! The first introduces the family members with a little adventure. This adventure has even more action, with 6 or 7 yr old Francie boldly deciding to make his own way home from hospital in the city to his home in the Irish countryside. He meets kind and interesting people along the way, who all want to help him get where he wants to go, and finally an old family friend. There are funny moments where his complete innocence in saying what he thinks almost get him into trouble but honesty wins over any enmity he creates. He is a little boastful too, but what boy doesn't think his own home/cattle/people are better than any other? This one and the sequel Pegeen (named after a sweet friend he meets in this book) are really fun. No skimping on language, since this is an older book, before literature was "simplified" for children, oh, and a fair bit 'o readin' in dialect since this is set in Ireland. May be some words to look up, too, like "praties" (potatoes).
May 16, 2017
In the hospital Francie is taken aback when he meets a boy who is a Protestant. Reading this as a 6th grader in 1959 I recognized that Catholics might feel about Protestants as I, a Presbyterian, had been taught to feel about Catholics.
May 19, 2015
A brilliant, rollicking tale that cleverly includes some fantasy (through dreams). The 300 pages go by too quickly!
April 3, 2022
Funny that this was Hilda van Stockum’s favorite of her books, as it is my least favorite of the 4 I’ve read (in the past week.) It’s the most far-fetched and leaves some unsatisfactory loose ends imo (the castle family). It’s also the most Catholic of this series and has some strange fireside stories told in the course of the book, one of which is about angels and demons and fairies, which I wasn’t particularly comfortable with. Still an excellent read and one I will be OK with my girls reading but probably wouldn’t add it to a reading list for others.
May 1, 2020
Great read aloud book. My favorite book in the series.
June 24, 2023
Simply adorable
July 26, 2015
Francie "steals the show" in the second book of the delightful The Cottage at Bantry Bay series. Although I would have liked to see more of the other O'Sullivans, this book is still as charming as the first one and the reader meets more lovable characters.
February 18, 2011
I love every book by this author. This was another read aloud to Paul, and we just the story. We couldn't wait to find out what new adventures Francie would have as he traveled across Ireland.
June 29, 2013
Francie is a bit bull-headed. He decides his legs are better and escapes from a Dublin hospital, walking to the west of Ireland and having many adventures along the way.
July 20, 2014
10YO girl liked a lot.
July 17, 2016
Good read! Francie is an Irish 'hobbit child' on an adventure, complete with fairies.
October 12, 2016
My kids enjoyed this read aloud, which almost had me reading with an Irish brogue.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews