The Running Dream // Book Review

Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooooo *face turns red* *gasps in deep breath* everybody!

*says with flourish* Welcome to this Sunday's post! *bows* 

*clears throat and motions downwards on the page* Hello again, and please follow me into these paragraphs on this blog where we will find a book review by me to you to introduce you to . . .

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen has graduated to my favorite book at the moment *hugs book to chest* It tops all the other books I've devotedly loved. Why? It's emotional, funny, relatable for me, and is about a girl who loses something precious to her and pushes through with courage.

This novel is in first person, present tense. That is my least favorite way of writing, but because Wendelin Van Draanen is such a good writer, I easily coasted into it and realized - although I write in third person, past tense - her style of writing is much like mine. I was hooked from page one. 

Jessica, the MC, is incredible. She's passionate, sensible, easy to listen to, and her story is captivating. She's brave, and cute. 

This book is contemporary fiction, 332 pages long, and published by Ember, a division of Random House Children's Books. It won the Schneider Family Book Award. (DISCLAIMER: I know some people do not like romance in books, and that's okay. The Running Dream has one kiss in it that is not described any more than just two adjectives and the word "kiss" (I'm not giving the moment away, folks *laughs*). The romance is SO mild in this book, no more than a high school "romance," if you can even call it that. Of course, Jessica has a crush, and there's dating amongst her friends. If you don't care for those things, this may not be the book for you, and again, that's absolutely fine *grins*)

Jessica is a passionate runner. She sprints and wins and wins and wins, and it is her LIFE. Running is her life! And then the tragedy happens. 

She loses her leg.

I related to this book - not because I've lost my leg, because I haven't, so I didn't relate to that - but in the first few chapters, she's in the hospital. I resonated with her pain of being in the dry, lonely, drowsy fog of hospitalization. Any of you who have been through something like that, you may enjoy this book more than you think. 

I relished in following this valiant girl throughout her pain, how she grows to accept who she is now without her leg, and how she conquers the odds and comes back with the lash of a brilliant streak of lightning *pauses and thinks for a moment* But maybe I shouldn't explain it like that. Maybe I should say she comes back in a gentle manner and rocks what she has, and brings a very special person - Rosa - with her. 

The back of this book:

Running is the thing that makes Jessica feel most alive. So when she loses a leg in a tragic accident, she is shattered - inside and out. The doctors say she'll walk again with a prosthetic limb, but to Jessica that's cold comfort. Walking isn't running; and, at this point, just standing up causes her to shake. As she struggles to re-enter her life, Jessica gets to know Rosa - a girl with cerebral palsy - and begins to see that her future is full of opportunities. Soon Jessica starts to wonder: Is it possible to cross new finish lines? The Running Dream is an inspiring story about Jessica's fight to reclaim what she's lost, and the distance she'll go to take Rosa with her.

Snippet:

"So I take a deep breath and ask about the one thing that means the most to me. 

      The one thing I absolutely don't want to hear about. 

      'How's track?'

      All her [Fiona's] fidgeting motions stop. She studies me a moment, then says, 'We lost to Mount Vernon by six points. They swept the four hundred and won the four-by-four-hundred. It lost us the meet.'

      I have a twinge of comfort.

      Maybe the merry-go-round at least slowed down with me gone.

      'Did Marcy pick up my leg?' I ask.

      Her [Fiona] mouth drops open and she blinks at me.

      I blink too, realizing what I've just said. 'I meant my leg at the relay!'

      'I know what you meant,' she says, and her face is twitching all over the place.

      I snicker, then blurt out, 'Did she pick up my leg!' and suddenly we're both hysterical.

      I wipe my eyes with my napkin, and somewhere inside me I feel a shift.

      I'm turning a corner."

-The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

My rating of this fabulous book? Five entire stars.

~Izzy~

P.S. I am not able to upload the Hawaii photo onto my computer, so sadly, there will be no Hawaii photo dump until further notice. I will be posting other things until the time comes where the photos, my phone, and the email cooperates *sighs* Anyway, if you want to see my Hawaii highlights, you can follow me on Instagram. Email me if you want my username! <333