Run

by David Skuy

Overweight and bullied, Lionel tries to attract as little attention as possible. Then he discovers something about himself: he's a fast runner. He joins the running group and is recruited for the school track team. But being on the track team and getting more attention brings Lionel closer to the bullies he's been avoiding and makes him a target.

Genres: Canada, Sports, Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2017

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another well deserved Red Maple nomination. Lionel is a bullied, anxious teen who picks up running and, in doing so, rediscovers himself. It is a well written and engrossing story. A great read.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

2019 MYRCA Northern Lights nominee. Fairly straightforward high school bullying drama. Some of the dialogue is pretty cringey (e.g., the way the "cool kids" talk to each other, anything from the Mom's boyfriend). It would be nice if the novel focused more on Lionel's journey to become a runner (it seems he runs a handful of times and all of a sudden he is a track star), and less time cleaning things (seriously). I liked it, though.

[Mrs. Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I perhaps rated this too poorly which might be because I'm tired of reading about bullying and the storyline was sad. But there is also enough realistic portions that aren't too heavy for kids that I would recommend it to anyone who thinks they may like the plot. In the end I did really like the main character it was just sad for me to watch a child go through such difficulties that perhaps tainted my judgement above the overall depth of the book. You get to know the characters well enough that it feels very realistic and the writing style isn't half bad. I think it just didn't appeal to me because of the storyline.

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lionel has incredibly low self-esteem and is the brunt of many cruel jokes and language at school and, sadly, at home too. Lionel accidentally discovers a love and a natural talent for running. Through running he slowly connects with others and finds a new self he feels better about. Slightly predictable, but overall Run is well-written and enjoyable.

I recommend Run for school and classroom libraries serving students in grades 5-8.

Short-listed for the 2019 MYRCA Northern Lights.

[Cami · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.3 so far red maple 2018 has been a bit of a let down but Run I truly did enjoy. First pages I found a bit slow but it gets so much better. Love the concept of the story and over all it's was an enjoyable read. Recommend it!

[Isabelle Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is definitely not one of the best I’ve read. I hate to say this, and this makes me sound really mean, but up until his friends had to basically coerce him into taking a single risk, Lionel was a complete, pathetic, loser(, but a polite one). I know that everyone else who read this book is saying that Lionel is a really brave and determined character, but I strongly disagree. I have read this entire book, and for the record, only once has Lionel stood up to Nick, the bully, and that was near the end of the book, after all his friends had pushed him out of his comfort zone, and after he knew that there were other people who disliked Nick as well. All the other countless times where Nick and his friends had bullied him, Lionel had pretended to be invisible, and bent himself according to the will of all those bullies, and that made me frustrated and angry, not at Nick, but more so at Lionel. So what if they’ll insult him? Why should he care what other people think of him? If he thinks that he’s doing the right thing, he should just do whatever he pleases. Lionel thinks Stephane is annoying and oblivious, always attracting the attention of the bullies? At least Stephane isn’t trying to make himself disappear completely! I mean, Lionel, get a grip! If he’s sick and tired of them always bullying him, why doesn’t he do something about it? Why does he only realize this until later on in the story? This makes me believe that Nick’s insults hurt Lionel because they were true. Lionel WAS a loser. Instead of sitting around and gaming all day, he should’ve been formulating plans, schemes, to get rid of Nick and his cronies. I mean, couldn’t he have banded together with the other victims of the bullies’ harassing and stood up to them? That’s what I would’ve done if I was in his place! At least he’d have friends! And he must’ve been terrified of Nick to have rather gotten a zero on the story he worked so hard on writing than to get tormented! What’s the worst Nick could’ve done? Any physical harm done to him, and Lionel would have proof that he’d been bullied! If it wasn’t for Kiana, Afonso, and Deepak, Lionel would’ve been the same failure he was before. Okay, maybe Lionel was this feeble because of his past with both his dad’s and Brent’s abusive behavior towards him, but shouldn’t he have realized that it’s about time he stopped being an utter pushover and fight back? I know I sound exactly like Nick and the bullies, but this is my honest opinion. However, once Lionel became conscious of his general inadequateness at everything in life, he decided to change himself for the better, with the help of his amazing friends who kept believing in him, no matter what happened. That is when my hate for Lionel started to dissipate. Once he started building his confidence and embracing himself, his potential drastically increased. I like how the author added the part about the two Lionels, and how he was torn choosing between the two, and who he really was. I thought the plot was really slow going up to the climax, but maybe the author just wanted to build background on the characters. The third person narration wasn’t really good, either. It only stated the book’s events in really choppy, monotonous sentences. There were barely any descriptive words or anything about what was going through the character’s minds, only their outside features, such as “she was crying”. Instead of that, couldn’t the author have written, “sadness overcame her,” or something more descriptive? One other minor thing that I noticed was that multiple times in the dialogue, Skuy kept using the word “said” after each sentence. The first time I noticed this was on page 39, and this happens many more times throughout the book. Surely synonyms could be used to replace them, such as “mumbled”, “groaned”, “commanded”, or “bellowed”? After the first few sentences of dialogue every time this happened, I became very disinterested. The final topic I would like to write about is this book’s ending. Lionel and Kalu are almost finished the race, with Lionel just ahead, and Kalu seems tired. Then, the book abruptly ends. So what happened? Are we just to assume Lionel wins? Anything could’ve happened in those final moments. The cliche ending, with Lionel taking first place, or Kalu could’ve won. After all, wasn't it mentioned earlier that Kalu had been the consistent winner of this race? Maybe he had a strategy. There is a possibility that faking exhaustion was Kalu’s plan all along, to make it seem like the other person was winning, and then running behind them to use less energy because he didn’t have to run against the wind. Then, at the last possible moment, Kalu could’ve tapped into his last reserves of energy and sprinted ahead, beating Lionel. Or Kalu could’ve played dirty like what Bryan did in the race against Lionel, tripping him. My point is, this book didn’t have a definitive ending.

[Sam Hudec · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about a fat young 8th grader named Lionel who gets bullied all the time. Over the course of the beginning of the book he is just trying to struggle through everyday and has nothing to look forward to. As the book moves on we see a line that turns the point in his life, "'Lionel? What are you...? Do you live around here?' Kiana asked." During this line he meets the person who will become a large part of his life later in the book. This girl Kiana is someone who he used to never want to be around, because it meant that his bully Nick would be there too. As you get further into the book you begin to see Lionel and Kiana form a unique bond in running together and eventually begin to date. This turns Lionel's life around and he finally has something to look forward to everyday. His life takes a turn for the better and it is extremely clear to the people around him. He finally stands up to his bullies and ends up free from the stress.

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Run was a good book it was about a kid named Lionel that gets bullied because he is weak and tried to stay in the shadows to not be noticed. Then Lionel started running and that made him feel better and lost weight, and because Brent his moms boyfriend said he was a does nothing.
The book was good because it tells about what happens to other people who get bullied around the world.
The only part I do not like is that Brent is to cruel to Lionel and that part was not that good.
The book made me feel bad for kids that get bullied around the world because they are getting sadder. The good part is that he was able to stand up for himself and defeat Brain (the person who bullied him) in a race around the track.
On the way he meant some friends like Kianna and some of Kianna friend and started dating Kianna.

[Shakeel Jivraj · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not impressed by "Run". This sports novel is rather blasé. The characters are under-developed and the plot is uninteresting as the story winds on expectedly. I would have liked to see more suspense in the story. A unique and exciting plot, filled with some unexpected events would have created interest and resulted in a meaningful story. This novel certainly does not belong on your must-read book list.

[Ahmed Hawamdeh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A boy saved by sport, Lionel is a fat and socially awkward middle schooler who just wants to pass by without having the spotlight shine on him, not even for a bit. He knows that when there is a spotlight comes bullying. However he is constantly bullied about his size and the way he acts. When he’s at his all time low, he realizes, he’s a fast runner. Lionel decides to join a group where he finally is able to make what he calls “sorta friends” and maybe a “sorta girlfriend”. However, will Lionel let bullying overcome his success?

[Mrs. Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a realistic fiction genre the overall sense of the book portrays real life difficulties and triumphs fairly well. The character is relatable despite his unique set of circumstances in life. You don't have to be overweight, with an alcoholic abusive stepfather and bullies to relate to the everyday highs and lows of his teenage life.

[kate :) · Rating 1 out of 5]

i was forced to read this myrca book in 2019 and honestly it was a terrible book. i don't even know WHY i picked this book out of all the 2019 myrca books. EVEN THE COVER is terribly ugly and very unattractive. this book was just about a kid who wanted to run but he was also being bullied. the plotline was generic and boring. save your time you do NOT need to read this book.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Red Maple nominee

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a FANTASTIC book!!! It has a very happy ending!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book in my opinion, and it tells an interesting story. I can definitely tell why this book was voted to be a part of red maple.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow to start. Overall a good read.

[Shafaat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book!! I couldn't put it down when I was reading it .The way the author wrote it was wonderful. However I was disappointed by how Lionel didn't have friends at all. I thought Lionel was going to have at least 2 or 3 friends. And also how he was so quiet. But I still enjoyed this book because the ending sentence was really good, it said " Kiana had given him all the advice he ever needed, the one word that had changed his life. Run!" and that sentence made me think that one word can change a life. I also appreciate how kiana decided to be friends with Lionel except for being nick's friend. In my opinion, I think this book would have been better in Lionel's pespective

[Leo.L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Run is about an overweight kid named Lionel who started running to get in shape.
I liked this book but it was a bit too predictable and there weren't many surprises, but i still liked the plot and it kept me interested throughout the whole book.