Safe from Harm

by Rollo Armstrong, Jason White (Illustrations)

Aimed at adults and older children, this is a beautiful and simple story about a boy who runs away from home, a forest, some big monsters, a golden horn, and a strange ending. It also contains some of the finest, most insightful quotes of this or any other age—from T.S. Eliot to Aristotle, from Matthew Arnold to Thomas Hobbes. A short, lazy pleasure of a read, it is a book for grown-ups who are never too old inside to remember what it was like to be a child, and for children who sometimes wish grown-ups understood them and the world a little better.

Genres: Fiction, Picture Books, Fantasy

80 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Emily Carter-Dunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This looked like a great read, but it was such a let down. Whilst this could have been a powerful story, it was just crammed full of unneeded quotes on EVERY page and so the flow of the story was lost. I couldn't make out what the story was trying to achieve and was left very disappointed.

[Robert Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming little book released alongside an album by one third of Faithless. Despite being full of quotes from a wide variety of sources the actual narrative is quite slight and ultimately unresolved, giving the whole thing a scrapbook quality.

[Adrian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is simple; a child running away. The artwork well done and the quotes throughout the book add to the experience, but i never felt truly absorbed by the charity shop find.

[Dan Berggren · Rating 5 out of 5]

...Ihan kuin itsestään pikkupoikana olisi lukenut...herätti paljon jo unohdetuksi luultuja muistoja mieleen.

[Clare Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread 2024
I guess I never got onto that review to come. This book contains multitudes. Not so much a bedtime picture book, as a book for upper primary+ to unpack the myriad meanings and interrogate the quotes which add rich layers to Jack's tale.

I love that the map includes literary houses and places, but Jack's nighttime journey only takes place in a small part. So many more places for the imagination to explore.

I had difficulty with the layout of the sources. Possibly my brain needs a caffeine boost, or is deciphering this page is an extension of Jack's quest?

* A Typical Monster Song

**************
2019
Wow!
RTC when sleep deprevation is not so much

[winda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the illustration of this book.
actually this book tells about a simple story, but sometimes I think deeper in some quotation from this book.
This book has nothing ever ends. So the story ending with new beginning story. I like this idea ;)

The love of a family is like the room you grew up in the size is known but never measured. it is the love from which an other love flows. it's teaches us what love is but it is not a lesson we know we've had until its over and cannot be unlearned.

[Joanne Buckle · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute gem - profound in its simplicity and very effective illustrations - Ive read this to my older children and its a subtle message that Im not sure they can see yet....like Jonathon Livingston Seagull, but, with the illustrations it sends the message home. Wish there were more visually arresting books for the adult child in all of us

[MARTHA PARKS · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mum bought this for me as child thinking it was age-appropriate. The world felt very real and sobering earlier than it should have, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Core memory literature right here folks!