Review - The Beginner's Guide to Running Away from Home

The Beginner's Guide to Running Away from Home
by Jennifer LaRue Huget
illustrated by Red Nose Studio
Date: 2013
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: library

What kid hasn’t wanted to make their parents feel sorry for treating him badly?

And how better to accomplish this than to run away? Here’s a guide showing how, from what to pack (gum–then you won’t have to brush your teeth) to how to survive (don’t think about your cozy bed). Ultimately, though, readers will see that there really is no place like home. Like Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, here’s a spot-on portrait of a kid who’s had it.

And like Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, it’s also a journey inside a creative kid’s imagination: that special place where parents aren’t allowed without permission.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book made me super uncomfortable. Sure, kids sometimes get fed up with their families and threaten to run away. And while this book does tread a careful line with safety and the boy does eventually realize he's better off at home, I don't like the overall message that seems to encourage running away to solve your problems, as well as the fact that it sort of trivializes the whole "running away from home" thing, reducing it to the result of silly problems when there are children who feel compelled to run away for their own safety or well-being.

The illustrations are unique enough that they sort of carry the book, but I don't find them particularly pleasing to look at. Some of them are downright creepy. I can appreciate the work that went into them, but they're not something I really want to look at again.

If there's an audience for this book at all, it's older kids who'll be able to grasp the idea that running away doesn't solve your problems. Still, that'll also be the age when running away because your mom threw out your candy wrappers starts to seem like an overreaction. So I'm not quite sure if the audience is a match for the subject matter in this case.

Premise: 2/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 3/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 2/5

Enjoyment: 1/5

Overall: 2 out of 5