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Found
Because her mother cannot afford to keep her, Ren tries to survive along with other homeless persons who are united in their determination to care for an abandoned baby.
199 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
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74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 23 reviews
October 18, 2018
As a child, there was little I looked forward to more than the Scholastic Book magazine. In my tiny, evangelical Christian school, somehow it remained uncensored even as amazing, thought-provoking books were purged from the school’s own library.
I bought lots of books from Scholastic, and nearly twenty years later, I’m pretty sure Found by June Oldham is the only one I still own. If asked why I held onto it, my reasons would be somewhat vague: I remember reading it well past my bedtime—an infraction that could have gotten be grounded from reading—even on my second and third pass. I remember snatches of scenes, devoid of context, but so intense that my memory is more my emotional reaction than a piece of the plot. And that’s it.
Still, I held onto it, simultaneously afraid of losing the book to faded memory and the adult-scrutiny that would strip my fading memories of their joy.
Psht. I’m realizing now I had great—or, at least, consistent—taste.
Found is a dystopian novel about four children who fall in together, and with each other’s help, tend to an abandoned infant. There’s no grand act that forces them to work together—they simply do what they think is right. If that’s sharing your meager food stores with a hungry stranger, then so be it.
It might be naïve, but it’s a middle-grade book. It should be naïve. And as an adult struggling not to drown in the cynicism, infighting, and blind hatred of our time, the unexpectant generosity and camaraderie of this book touched me in a way I couldn’t have guessed.
I hope modern middle-grade books still offer up kindness as if it’s a given.
Another favorite aspect of the book is how the history and lore the world echo to the characters. They hear gunshots, explosions, marching feet, dragging chains. As a child, it was hard to tell if these echoes were real—a physical or psychic disturbance—or a young imagination left unchecked. As an adult, I realized that it doesn’t matter. History always echoes, if only we pay enough attention to hear it.
Both of these elements of the book are delivered with delightful, evocative, and, at times, intense prose. Though Found is aimed at children, the author doesn’t spoon-feed her audience. Sluiced, absconded, apportioning, viaduct, skein—June Oldham breaks out words that adults I know would struggle with. As a kid I loved feeling challenged, looking the words up in the dictionary, and repeating them to myself until they were a part of my vocabulary.
And these words, weaved into beautiful descriptions, paint a vivid world in so-few pages. Take, for example:
“[The moon] splashed into the broken roof and through the tree’s branches, which made filigree shadows on the bright floor.”
Perhaps the reason why I loved Found so much as a child, and why it stuck with me over the years when its companions on my bookshelf didn’t, was because I never felt talked down to. Found has a middle-grade plot and middle-grade characters, but the vast majority of the writing could easily belong in an adult novel,
The only thing I could see people struggling with is the somewhat simple thoughts the child-characters have. With a close, shifting POV, we can watch Brocket ponder, then discard a half-second later, the question of what his father—who he’s never met—is like. It can feel abrupt, and too direct, but that’s how a lot of kids are. In too many books about children, the characters are a poor imitation of what the author remembers childhood to be like. Found doesn’t fall into that trap, even if people want it to.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
I bought lots of books from Scholastic, and nearly twenty years later, I’m pretty sure Found by June Oldham is the only one I still own. If asked why I held onto it, my reasons would be somewhat vague: I remember reading it well past my bedtime—an infraction that could have gotten be grounded from reading—even on my second and third pass. I remember snatches of scenes, devoid of context, but so intense that my memory is more my emotional reaction than a piece of the plot. And that’s it.
Still, I held onto it, simultaneously afraid of losing the book to faded memory and the adult-scrutiny that would strip my fading memories of their joy.
Psht. I’m realizing now I had great—or, at least, consistent—taste.
Found is a dystopian novel about four children who fall in together, and with each other’s help, tend to an abandoned infant. There’s no grand act that forces them to work together—they simply do what they think is right. If that’s sharing your meager food stores with a hungry stranger, then so be it.
It might be naïve, but it’s a middle-grade book. It should be naïve. And as an adult struggling not to drown in the cynicism, infighting, and blind hatred of our time, the unexpectant generosity and camaraderie of this book touched me in a way I couldn’t have guessed.
I hope modern middle-grade books still offer up kindness as if it’s a given.
Another favorite aspect of the book is how the history and lore the world echo to the characters. They hear gunshots, explosions, marching feet, dragging chains. As a child, it was hard to tell if these echoes were real—a physical or psychic disturbance—or a young imagination left unchecked. As an adult, I realized that it doesn’t matter. History always echoes, if only we pay enough attention to hear it.
Both of these elements of the book are delivered with delightful, evocative, and, at times, intense prose. Though Found is aimed at children, the author doesn’t spoon-feed her audience. Sluiced, absconded, apportioning, viaduct, skein—June Oldham breaks out words that adults I know would struggle with. As a kid I loved feeling challenged, looking the words up in the dictionary, and repeating them to myself until they were a part of my vocabulary.
And these words, weaved into beautiful descriptions, paint a vivid world in so-few pages. Take, for example:
“[The moon] splashed into the broken roof and through the tree’s branches, which made filigree shadows on the bright floor.”
Perhaps the reason why I loved Found so much as a child, and why it stuck with me over the years when its companions on my bookshelf didn’t, was because I never felt talked down to. Found has a middle-grade plot and middle-grade characters, but the vast majority of the writing could easily belong in an adult novel,
The only thing I could see people struggling with is the somewhat simple thoughts the child-characters have. With a close, shifting POV, we can watch Brocket ponder, then discard a half-second later, the question of what his father—who he’s never met—is like. It can feel abrupt, and too direct, but that’s how a lot of kids are. In too many books about children, the characters are a poor imitation of what the author remembers childhood to be like. Found doesn’t fall into that trap, even if people want it to.
[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See more at forfemfan.com]
September 21, 2021
While I had greatly enjoyed this story I am unsure about the ending. It gives me so many mixed feelings...and I really don't like that. In one way it just seems wrong but I can also see why it is right. So it is just a confusing jumble of feelings! I mean one is supposed to respect your elders...
This story is set in a rather gloomy dystopian future where only one child is allowed. And if you have more than that then they must be sent away. The story follows an ordinary girl who was raised in an average town where anything needed is supplied (and controlled). Suddenly she finds herself hiding in the wild and everything around her is strange and frightening. And she meets a few others too as she sets out to explore this new world and hopefully adjust to it. This part of the story I truly enjoyed. It was pure adventure. They learn to work as a team and have some truly close calls too!
The bit about the baby carriage in the wilderness was a tad hard to swallow...but ok...
The story also tries to be scary in places too. It sure is creepy and at times one really is unsure what is going on or who the enemy truly is.
Until the end comes crashing down and you discover the truth.
And that is when I ended up with the mass of confused feelings. So now I am unsure what to think.
This story is set in a rather gloomy dystopian future where only one child is allowed. And if you have more than that then they must be sent away. The story follows an ordinary girl who was raised in an average town where anything needed is supplied (and controlled). Suddenly she finds herself hiding in the wild and everything around her is strange and frightening. And she meets a few others too as she sets out to explore this new world and hopefully adjust to it. This part of the story I truly enjoyed. It was pure adventure. They learn to work as a team and have some truly close calls too!
The bit about the baby carriage in the wilderness was a tad hard to swallow...but ok...
The story also tries to be scary in places too. It sure is creepy and at times one really is unsure what is going on or who the enemy truly is.
Until the end comes crashing down and you discover the truth.
And that is when I ended up with the mass of confused feelings. So now I am unsure what to think.
November 10, 2020
June Oldham's "Found" (1995) is a YA dystopian novel concerning a near-future world in which most adults spend their lives at computer work in their "living-work units," rarely if ever venturing outside. A punishing tax is levied on any family with more than one child. And the countryside is run by packs of Security agents, harassing and chasing down outsiders, runaways, and cast-off children.
4 young people find each other one day and bond over the responsibility of protecting and caring for a baby that one of them discovers abandoned. Oldham touches on a lot of raw humanity here as the characters quarrel, face extreme need and one trying night of violence. The one week, or so, that these children pass with each other is vividly depicted in their struggles, decisions, and journey. While some readers will be disappointed that Oldham does not give a bigger-picture view of her dystopian world, the book will reward patient and perceptive audiences. Truly a memorable and unusual story.
4 young people find each other one day and bond over the responsibility of protecting and caring for a baby that one of them discovers abandoned. Oldham touches on a lot of raw humanity here as the characters quarrel, face extreme need and one trying night of violence. The one week, or so, that these children pass with each other is vividly depicted in their struggles, decisions, and journey. While some readers will be disappointed that Oldham does not give a bigger-picture view of her dystopian world, the book will reward patient and perceptive audiences. Truly a memorable and unusual story.
April 3, 2009
This book was incredibly odd and intense in terms of what I could consider typical YA or kid lit. The description of the kids' surroundings--and the conditions the characters are living in-- are so intense, I found myself wondering every single time I picked it up whether I would've been able to get through it or even understand it when I was a kid. (I had a hard enough time getting through it as an adult!) I don't like futuristic-y, sci-fi -ish stuff very much at all, but this one was a good mix of futuristic feel while the actual physical setting was one that seemed almost prehistoric (or pre-colonial)? The writer's prose was amazing at the sentence level. I still can't decide if I really liked the book, even though I admire the writer's achievement in creating it. I would really like to know some actual kids' reaction to the book.
March 1, 2010
I read this book at least a decade ago, and specific moments from it still pop into my head sometimes. It is a very strange and intense book, very dream-like. Not to say illogical; it definitely has a plot (very dark in places), and some very complex and appealing characters. But the setting--this future-world's abandoned countryside--is like something from "The World Without Us," and it's that sharp, empty, oddly beautiful melancholy that has stuck with me for so long. If you've ever been fascinated by the broken remnants of a forgotten building, I think you will like this book.
April 16, 2020
A story of adventure, survival, and family. Ren's mother is pregnant and can't afford the tax she will have to pay for having more than one child. So Ren is sent to live in the country with another family. When the travel plans go wrong, Ren finds herself on her own in unfamiliar territory. She meets up with a few other "absconders," one of whom is an abandoned baby. Together the four of them form a family of sorts and work together to fight off danger.
The ending was abrupt, but you get the sense that Ren's guardian eventually finds her.
The ending was abrupt, but you get the sense that Ren's guardian eventually finds her.
September 3, 2018
rating: 2.5
A promising plot, but ...
Short sentences. Choppy. ("It's getting colder. We must go on." p 113) Flat. Characters not developed. More like an outline than a story. Conversation that doesn't sound like kids talking.
p. 113. Here's a good thought: Each longed for warmth and shelter and older shoulders upon which could be hung their troubles.
but that wording doesn't fit the target audience nor its position in the story (the kids are frightened and exhausted).
A promising plot, but ...
Short sentences. Choppy. ("It's getting colder. We must go on." p 113) Flat. Characters not developed. More like an outline than a story. Conversation that doesn't sound like kids talking.
p. 113. Here's a good thought: Each longed for warmth and shelter and older shoulders upon which could be hung their troubles.
but that wording doesn't fit the target audience nor its position in the story (the kids are frightened and exhausted).
April 6, 2024
I like dystopian literature, especially targeted at kids/YA. This moved along at a good pace, had some interesting/quirky characters and strange/dangerous situations. All the kids in this story grew and learned and became better through their experiences. Writing style is a bit clunky, and may not appeal to everyone, but I enjoyed it. Recommended.
July 28, 2019
I can't be a judge on how good the writing is since I last read it as a 12 year old, but the story has stuck with me for over 15 years.
November 3, 2024
A little slow at first, but then it really pulled me in and I couldn't put it down.
September 9, 2015
Vividly written and an evocative description of the fells "up north" in a dystopian future where cities are made up of living-work units that the inhabitants rarely leave and in which they live a claustrophobic screen based existence, and where the countryside is largely deserted, inhabited by a few hardy old women, and absconders like Ren.
Ren is a girl whose mum is basically illiterate - we eventually learn that she named her daughter after the wren, a small bird seen on TV. When her mum became pregnant and could not afford the tax on a second child, she sends Ren off with a lorry driver to someone living in a smaller less urbanised community but the person fails to turn up to meet her and Ren is left in a cave with some basic supplies to await collection. She is befriended by Brocket, a boy raised by an old woman after he was abandoned, and later meets a street person, Lil, an older girl.
When Brocket finds an abandoned baby, the fun really starts as the children trek across the forbidding land - in which Brocket is at home - to evade the authority patrol men and their dogs who would put Ren in a Surplus Children Unit and possibly do something worse to Lil. Eventually they discover someone else is tracking them, after the baby, that they name Found, though they have help from the old woman who raised Brocket, and Hilary, another boy, educated and well equipped, who is researching the area to complete a book that his deceased father had intended to write.
Despite the well described privations and filth, there are positive aspects to the children's experiences, because Ren develops confidence and competence, and the two boys face personal demons, but it does have a fairly pessimistic ending
Note: this book was later republished under the title 'Found'.
Ren is a girl whose mum is basically illiterate - we eventually learn that she named her daughter after the wren, a small bird seen on TV. When her mum became pregnant and could not afford the tax on a second child, she sends Ren off with a lorry driver to someone living in a smaller less urbanised community but the person fails to turn up to meet her and Ren is left in a cave with some basic supplies to await collection. She is befriended by Brocket, a boy raised by an old woman after he was abandoned, and later meets a street person, Lil, an older girl.
When Brocket finds an abandoned baby, the fun really starts as the children trek across the forbidding land - in which Brocket is at home - to evade the authority patrol men and their dogs who would put Ren in a Surplus Children Unit and possibly do something worse to Lil. Eventually they discover someone else is tracking them, after the baby, that they name Found, though they have help from the old woman who raised Brocket, and Hilary, another boy, educated and well equipped, who is researching the area to complete a book that his deceased father had intended to write.
Despite the well described privations and filth, there are positive aspects to the children's experiences, because Ren develops confidence and competence, and the two boys face personal demons, but it does have a fairly pessimistic ending
Note: this book was later republished under the title 'Found'.
November 13, 2012
It's been years since I read this book, but it's stuck with me--partly because it was one of my first encounters with dystopian literature, and partly because it was such a disappointment.
I really, really wanted to like it; the story sounded powerful and intriguing. But there were just too many things wrong with it.
First, that Ren's mother is so cavalier about just throwing her daughter away. Okay, I understand that she can't afford to take care of two children, but the woman not only makes absolutely no effort to find an alternative, she doesn't even seem saddened by the thought of kicking her daughter out to fend for herself in the country. Which brings me to the second problem: none of the characters ever display any kind of emotional depth. Nothing, from the fear of being alone in an unfamiliar place, to the newly-formed friendships, to the confusion and excitement of caring for an abandoned baby, felt real. The dry, juvenile prose didn't help.
I wish I had liked it better--it had promise--but unfortunately it fell flat.
I really, really wanted to like it; the story sounded powerful and intriguing. But there were just too many things wrong with it.
First, that Ren's mother is so cavalier about just throwing her daughter away. Okay, I understand that she can't afford to take care of two children, but the woman not only makes absolutely no effort to find an alternative, she doesn't even seem saddened by the thought of kicking her daughter out to fend for herself in the country. Which brings me to the second problem: none of the characters ever display any kind of emotional depth. Nothing, from the fear of being alone in an unfamiliar place, to the newly-formed friendships, to the confusion and excitement of caring for an abandoned baby, felt real. The dry, juvenile prose didn't help.
I wish I had liked it better--it had promise--but unfortunately it fell flat.
December 2, 2012
Found was... Okay. Just okay. It had its moments... And it definitely pulled on my heart strings every once in a while. But I didn't like how little we knew about their pasts (with the exception of Brocket), and I really didn't like how they didn't expand on the end. It frustrated me that the people I wanted to stick together after the story didn't... and, of course, there's Found's sickness. They never even say what it is, or (definitively) where she got it. They say she needs antibiotics... But what infection kills in five days, yet can be cured by three doses of antibiotics? It just didn't make much sense...
Ah, well. I'm glad I read it.
Ah, well. I'm glad I read it.
August 30, 2014
I read this so long ago, maybe before dystopian ya post-apocalypse novels became in vogue. However, I don't know why this didn't take off like The Hunger Games, because it is worthy of being compared to that, The Maze Runner, Divergent and The Giver. There are strong characters and a plot that will make you root for them. There is no e-copy on amazon or bn. Perhaps it is out of print, which would be very unfortunate. Buy a used copy! You won't regret it.
March 1, 2010
This book was OK. If it was sitting around near you, I wouldn't discourage you from reading it, but I would necessarily encourage it. Ultimately, it scared me a little bit. I would wake up during the night to check and make sure my baby was safe in his crib. But I'm a paranoid over-imaginer like that when it comes to books.
March 14, 2016
Found is a haunting dystopia about a group of children in a world that has decided there are too many children. Reader warning there are many scary scenes and real adult situations the kids face. My main fault with the book is the lack of closure. But perhaps in this eerily similar to our world dystopia this is as close to closure as you can get.
March 6, 2015
Maybe it was my own lack of time to read this, but I found it very hard to ever really get in to. There was so much more I wanted to know about the setting and the characters, but it just wasn't there.
Want to read
June 26, 2011Colchester Library Book Sale June 26, 2011
May 17, 2012
This was an entertaining, quick read.
September 16, 2014
Read with Ethan for his nightly reading assignment. Pretty dark and creepy story. Guess it's what you get when he's reading two grade levels above his own! Overall, it was a good read!
November 26, 2022
This story was ok but not good enough to keep in my ibrary.
March 27, 2017
Interesting story about the possible future.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 23 reviews