Runaround

Children's Literature - Heba Salama

Eleven-year-old Sassy is looking for love. Curiosity and boldness prompt her to ask everyone around her about falling in love. Sassy becomes interested in a boy named Boon Chisholm, also known as the town's bad boy from a family with a bad reputation. She meets Boon at the Cheap Cash grocery store and pays for his groceries when she realizes that he does not have any money. Soon afterward, Sassy wants Boon to be her boyfriend. After sending him a love note, she kisses him and he tells her that he likes her. This story portrays young love and teenage drama that keeps the pages flipping, especially since Hemphill gives each character in the book a vibrant and interesting personality. Reviewer: Heba Salama

Children's Literature - Augusta Scattergood

Young Adult literature can be a slippery slope. An offending word here, a sticky situation there, and educators, parents and booksellers may find themselves in a censorship quandary. Helen Hemphill's latest novel gives young teens and even ‘tweens just the right mix of romance and reality without the potentially offending situations. She accomplishes this by setting the story in a small Southern town in the 60s and by giving her young protagonist a strong authentic voice. Two teenage sisters, a single father trying his best to raise them with the help of a housekeeper, a handsome boy, and back issues of Love Confessions magazine contribute to a plot that will appeal to young readers, especially females in the "ten and up" bracket. With no mother around to tell her about the "birds and the bees," Sassy looks first to her magazines, then to the housekeeper, and eventually to her own older sister. No one provides a satisfying answer, so Sassy takes matters into her own hands. She attempts to convince the local bad boy that he is in love with her. But Hemphill's story is not just about young love gone wrong. Even if readers come expecting a love story (the book jacket illustration of a kissing couple takes off on big screen romance), they will also discover a tale of family relationships. When the crush on the boy comes between the two sisters, Sassy's eventual realization— that her father loves his daughters more than they know—brings this coming-of-age story to a thoughtful conclusion.