Charlie's Run

by Valerie Hobbs

When Charlie Bascomb's parents announce that they are separating, he knows that even though they aren't saying divorce, it's only a matter of time. To Charlie's mind his family is perfect, and he can't bear the idea that things won't be the same, so he decides to change his parents' minds. He needs to do something big, something he would never do, to show them that he's serious. But his plan to keep his family together takes on a life of its own, and leads him further from his family than he'd ever have guessed. In this moving novel, Charlie discovers, the hard way, that divorce isn't the worst thing that can happen to a kid. This title is included only in Juvenile 10.

Genres: Young Adult

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Valerie Hobbs is the author of many award winning novels for young adults including Sonnys War, Tender, and How Far Would You Have Gotten If I Hadnt Called You Back, for which she was designated a Flying Start author by Publishers Weekly in 1996. Hobbs was the winner of the 1999 PEN/Norma Klein award for an emerging voice of literary merit among American writers of childrens fiction and the Arizona Library Association Young Adult Author of the Year in 2003. Defiance, her most recent middle-grade novel, was given the 2006 most distinguished fiction award by the Childrens Literature Council of Southern California and has been nominated for twelve state awards. "

Reviews

[Christopher Hachet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth a read, I enjoyed it.

[Katlyn Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

CHARLIE’S RUN
By: Hobbs,Valerie
The setting takes place in Los Angeles. My main characters are Charlie a 11 year old boy and Doo a 14 year old girl Charlie later meets in the story. I found this book in the library. It looked pretty interesting so I read the back of it and ended up liking it and taking it.
Charlie thinks his family is perfect, until.. his parents decide to get a divorce. He try’s to make up a good plan that will convince them to stay together. So he decides to run away to try to make them see what it would be like with a broken family. Charlie ends up going further than he plans to. He gets into lots of trouble and thinks he knows everything about Doo but really actually nothing.
I think the book ended great. Charlie got home safe and wasn’t in as much trouble as he thought he would be. He is glad to be home in his comfortable bed and eating good home cooked meals. Everything ended up being technically just fine than what it seemed in the middle of the story.
My opinion I really like this book. Hobbs energetic, honest storytelling will get other readers hooked on this book. You always want to know what’s about to happen next.

[Makiyah P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charlie's Run is about an eleven year old boy. In this story the boy runs away from home because of something his parents told him. What they told him will ruin they're family. What they told him will change almost everything. No more family dinners and no more family outings. "Divorced"!

[Roberto Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think it was an interesting book. There was a lot of drama in it.it was about a bot who wanted to bring his family together. Then he meets a girl who gets into a lot of trouble. She also has things to work on in her life. Then they go on a trip to find her dad.