The Running Dream

Imagine the emotions of a 16-year-old star runner, who loses her leg when her team's van is struck by a car. Narrator Laura Flanagan captures every feeling in Jessica's emotional story: her trepidation when she gets her prosthesis, her dismay when she realizes she's not really part of the running team that wants to buy her a special running prosthesis, her horror when she realizes her parents' dismal finances. In addition, Flanagan credibly portrays the characters who make up Jessica's new life: her rigid teacher and her new friends--a girl with cerebral palsy and a boy she'd love to date. All of them escape stereotyping in Flanagan's insightful reading. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

February 14, 2011
When track star Jessica loses her leg in a school bus accident, she is devastated that she will never run again. After weaning herself off painkillers (upon which she's become dependent) and learning to walk with crutches, she returns to school at the urging of her supportive best friend. When her track coach shows her videos of amputees running on prostheses, she's riveted at the thought of reclaiming her passion—if, that is, her team can raise the $20,000 needed to buy the leg. A tender subplot about Jessica's friendship with a girl with cerebral palsy seems scripted to underscore the message about seeing beyond disabilities ("Don't sum up the person based on what you see, or what you don't understand; get to know them," Jessica says). But Van Draanen sensitively conveys Jessica's struggles, from getting into the shower to her fear that no guys will be attracted to her. Jessica's gradual acceptance of her new life's limitations and her discovery of its unanticipated gifts should satisfy readers, who will root for her as she learns to run again. Ages 12–up.