Review by Booklist Review
Liam is a runner, practicing for the Junior Great Northern Run. But he can't go running today because he has to help his mother close down the house of old Harry, who is going to a nursing home. The neighborhood has always been fond of Harry, and he's always encouraged Liam in his running, and now the boy finally discovers why. In an extended flashback, Harry tells the story of how, as a lad of Liam's age, he and a couple of mates ran 13 miles from Newcastle to the sea. In a heavy Northern accent, full of slang, Harry describes the arduous run, marked by heat, thirst, a sweet little gal, and ice cream. A tender and surprising ending gives the book extra weight. The language may be a hurdle for some readers, but it is tempered by Rubbino's watercolor, gouache, pencil, and ink illustrations that delight with every page and bring the story to life. This intergenerational story sweetly captures the importance of memory and shows how the yearning for fun and adventure never really changes.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a moving and exuberantly illustrated short story, 11-year-old Liam has entered the Junior Great North Run with his friend Jacksie, but his Saturday morning practice is preempted by his mother, who takes him to visit their elderly neighbor. Harry sits shakily in his chair, waiting to be moved to a nursing home: "It smells of old bloke in here," thinks Liam. "Pee and sweat and ancient clothes and dust." But a long talk reveals that when Harry was Liam's age, he and three friends ran all the way to South Shields from Newcastle one hot summer's day: "Thirteen miles," he tells them with pride. Treasured photographs help Harry tell the story of his epic run, and of the girl he loved. Narrated in the working-class British dialect common to several of Almond's books, the story may require parental translation in places, yet it's near impossible to remain untouched by Harry's tale. Rubbino's airy full-color pictures, splashed across the pages, reveal that the frail, elderly Harry lived a life every bit as full of action, fun, and pleasure as Liam's. Ages 7-9. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Nearing the end of his life, a beloved old runner passes the torch to an eager young one.Weaving past and present together in ways that infuse deep themes into common incidents, Almond sits 11-year-old Liam, already proudly wearing his official shirt for the upcoming Junior Great North Run, down with the failing Harry to share old photos and hear about a 1938 run to the sea. It begins as a lark but becomes a marathon, and by the time Harry and his friends stagger exhaustedly into the waves 13 weary miles later, they (and readers) have picked up some insights about the profound importance both of keeping on and of accepting help along the way. Much of that help comes from Veronica, a robust girl who leads them part of the way and by the end is holding Harry's hand. Her oblique reference to an internal disorder or weakness, coupled with her absence from Harry's later life, paints a whole tragic story of its own. Harry's valedictory "Me great achievement is that I've been happy, that I've never been nowt but happy," is a win in itself. Rubbino's loosely brushed watercolors expertly capture both the tale's period and its high spirits, rendering the present-day story in a gray wash and Harry's reminiscence in full color. All the characters appear to be white. A rich and resonant short story. (Illustrated fiction. 10 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
